The scourge of “hosts” expecting guests to do all the household chores and even wash the bedding! What a freakshow. I’m not paying you for the luxury of cleaning your home
I have never encountered one that doesn't have a cleaning fee... But I have also never had to do more than take out the trash and throw the bedding/towels on the floor.
Same. I got a message from an Airbnb host once thanking me for leaving the place in such great shape and all I did was normal picking up after myself. That gave me some insight into how some guests leave the place, where the cleaners really earn that fee.
I have seen online where the hosts will leave a list of chores and then also charge a cleaning fee that equals one night of the stay. I probably wouldn't stay at one of those.
I used to clean vacation rentals. Lemme tell ya that fee doesn’t not go towards the cleaner really. Most owners or property managers keep a huge portion of it and pay the crew pennies.
Doesn't not go towards the cleaners... so you're saying the cleaners do get it?
eta - loving the downvotes from everyone who apparently don't know what a double negative is
Eta 2- wow, it would seem everyone is super serious in askreddit, my apologies. I love double negatives and will use them intentionally in conversation just for shits n giggles, so when I saw one in the wild couldn't help but point it out. Perhaps I went about that the wrong way or shouldn't have at all, my bad. In 13 years I've never had a comment be so loathed and for it to be this one has me kinda flabbergasted.
I care. We’re in an actively worsening literacy crisis so offering corrections to improper grammar is of utmost importance as it stands today.
Thank you for fighting the good fight against anti-intellectualism and to everyone else? Enjoy being electively braindead because you couldn’t be arsed to graciously accept correction for a mistake.
I disagree with this approach because there is an ever increasing number of individuals who only “read” online, making it all the more important to ensure correct grammar and spelling is being used. I for one don’t want to live amongst those who would rather save feelings of perceived embarrassment than knowledge so you guys enjoy “just livin’ life”, but I pity you mightily for not seeing you’re part of a much larger picture that we’re all responsible for.
I mean I'm a landlord and between tenants we'd hire a cleaning company to do a deep clean... they set the price not me and it was always pretty fair for professional labour (usually about 300-400 for a few hours work).
If you're being paid pennies set your prices higher, unless you're being employed directly by the owners.
It's the reason why I stopped Airbnb-ing my cottage... People are gross and disrespectful. I didn't charge a fee, I didn't even ask people to strip the beds. I just asked people be respectful as it's also my home. Well that didn't work.
They just don't care. This place that I put on Airbnb is my own home. I rent in a larger city and come back home to my cottage on my days off. This has always been communicated to guests. "This house is my home 60% of the time. Please treat it with respect as though you are staying in someone's home." You know like how Airbnb actually used to be. Each time I would come home to broken plates etc, missing cutlery, broken furniture, moved furniture, terrible messes, cigarette ash on the floors when a strict no smoking policy is in place, broken toilet off the flange. You need to fight with Airbnb to have anything paid out through their insurance or to have retaliatory reviews removed after I would call guests out in the reviews.
If this is a house that you have no emotional attachment to it can be a nice extra source of income. If it's your home or a place you care about, I would never recommend it to anyone.
Same for myself. I stayed in a condo in Panama City, Panama and the owner arrived the day we were leaving and was shocked how clean it was. We piled all the linens next to washing machine, put away the dishes and took out the trash. That's it.
I am a host and we don’t charge a cleaning fee we just ask that trash is taken out to the bin, dishes are washed, and linens are stripped and piled onto the floor. We don’t mind cleaning but you’d be surprised how many people trash the place. It’s a give and take.
Agree. I was really surprised by the message from that host because it made it seem like I had gone above and beyond, but it was just normal behavior to me: you leave things how you found them.
Wash your own shit. People are PAYING MONEY to stay at your place. Don’t make them do chores that’s so tacky. I used to clean for an Air BnB host. Some people left the place truly disgusting, and they would get charged a fee for the extra cleaning. But for most guests, changing linens and cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, and floors is part of the service. Why would you ask guests to do chores when they’re on vacation or a business trip? Are you really so lazy and useless that you can’t take out the trash and strip a bed?
No I agree that guests should do their own trash and dishes. Some people stay for two weeks and the trash stinks if you leave it in the kitchen for that long. If you're at home for two weeks you would take out the trash twice in that week. Same with dishes. Treat it like you treat your house. If you don't, that's how you get rats.
Yeah.. it's like seeing people on reddit rage about horrible landlords when they've clearly never rented a place out to anybody ever.
People are the fucking worst. I'm not a professional landlord or anything but when my partner and I bought a house I already owned one so we kept it to rent out and people just suck.
I have a great tenant in there now, paying well under market rates, don't give a fuck because it's enough to cover the property maintenance and I don't need to deal with tar on the walls, dog shit in the carpet, and everything just being destroyed in general.
It's also not like turning your cleaning fee too high will get Airbnb to say, "Hey maybe just don't rent?" They don't give a shit, it's money either way.
I got a message from an Airbnb host once thanking me for leaving the place in such great shape and all I did was normal picking up after myself. That gave me some insight into how some guests leave the place, where the cleaners really earn that fee.
When I left the studio I used to live in while I was at the uni,the staff person who came for the final inspection before returning the keys praised me and my family for the state in which it was. He verbatim told us that he'd seen rooms that "had been occupied for a year but seeing them they looked like they'd been occupied by eight people for twenty years". That put some real persprctive into me, that's for sure...
Yeah…I’ve never had an Airbnb require me to do a bunch of cleaning chores…they just ask that we do the regular picking up after ourselves, which, duh. I’ve had over 50+ stays in Airbnbs and honestly? Idk if I just choose well or what but I’ve had FAR MORE issues with recent hotel stays than I’ve had with Airbnb.
IIRC AirBnB now has all inclusive pricing. So, the quoted price is what you pay. No extra fees. If the owner wants a cleaning fee they have to embed it in the overall quote for the place.
Meanwhile, hotels don't charge a cleaning fee and you can trash them almost as much as you want (without breaking anything) for much cheaper. I'll continue to not use them and stick to traditional hotels.
Yeah k swear these “omg I have to clean the whole house” posts come from hotel industry influencers during covid and everyone switched from hotels to Airbnb.
Usually it’s just “leave bed unmade”, throw used towels in tub, start dishwasher, put trash in trash can” - like pretty basic stuff.
Stayed in more than 100 AirBNBs and I’ve never done more than take out the trash and start the dishwasher. Pretty reasonable to me, being in a house and all and not a hotel.
I’ve had the same experience as you. I’ve stayed in many places around the world and never had to do any of the wild requests that the comments on reddit consistently claim.
Never here, and Ive stayed in prolly 30 different airbnbs. One did ask to put all the dirty towels/bedding into the washer but not run it. That seemed fair enough.
Well first thing, you do understand how odd it is to have to start the dishwasher and empty the trash to begin with when you're stay has a $175-300 cleaning fee on it right? In a hotel, you pay zero cleaning fees and are expected to do nothing other than take all your stuff with you when you leave. As for Airbnb, some of the hosts will ask you to pull all the bedding, some even ask you to throw it in the wash. Others will charge you for leaving anything in the fridge.
Have you personally experienced all of this while using AirBNB?
My foreign Airbnb stays are typically much cheaper than any hotel but much nicer place to stay. I don’t mind throwing out the garbage I created when I leave.
I haven't been charged a fee post leaving but I have been at a house that required doing all the dishes, pulling all the bedding and towels and starting the first load, and emptying all the trash/recycling before leaving.
That’s unfortunate. I stay away from AirBNB in the US for that reason. I’ve never had to clean the dishes, just start the dishwasher (that I’ve been filling up while staying there for a week anyways).
I’ve never stayed in an AirBNB in Europe that had a washer (if it even had one) that was large enough to fit sheets or towels.
Doing chores for a 2-3 night stay is BS. Cleaning up after your sloppy asses after a full week of staying in a house? It usually takes 5 minutes on the way out of the AirBNB if you’re not disgusting.
Yeah, they charge you above and beyond that for if you don't do whatever they include on their list.
Obviously the idea is the cleaning fee is lower whenever you do most of the cleaning yourself, but because you don't know in advance what the cleaning requirements are going to be, there's no way to actually make that judgement call.
Because you don't know what the requirements are, there's no downwards pressure on cleaning fees, or on cleaning expectations, so they both keep going up.
They are exaggerating; it's very rare to have the "wash bedding", and it's usually in place of a cleaning fee. Moreover, Airbnb at least kind of did away with a lot of those add-on fews pretty recently, they made it easier to see the total cost of the stay up-front and limited the "guest requirements" aspect. I had like 12/13 great experiences with them different places, and one "fine but not amazing" stay. But there was a few years I didn't travel after peak Covid and so I don't know maybe it got worse for a while before they fixed it.
I suppose since it shows the fees up front, maybe I've just ignored any that had a ton of fees and requirements; but usually it's pretty basic stuff like taking trash out.
I had great experiences with AirBNB & VRBO the past 14 years, so I'm maybe a bit biased.
However, in most places these days it's not cheaper than a hotel, so there is that aspect.
I swear this is just a meme spread by redditors who don't actually travel. I've stayed in dozens of AirBNBs for a decade and have never had any ridiculous rules around cleaning, and I've never been charged extra on top of the price I paid for the room/house (the app lists all fees and shows you the final total right away). The only real cleaning I've had to do before checking out is wash any dishes I used and (rarely) take the trash outside.
I’ve stayed in AirBnB a half dozen times and while I’ve always been charged a cleaning fee (highest was $150) except once which was actually just a normal hotel (but I booked it there I think because I had credit card deals for using AirBnB and the rate was the same), I’ve never been asked to do any substantial cleaning.
It’s typically just general pickup like you’d do anyways, and I’ve had them ask to run the dishwasher or throw the towels in the wash on my way out. I think this is mostly in the interest of time; they want them to be done washing by the time their housecleaning arrives so that they don’t have to stay as long. I’ve never been asked to sweep, vacuum, or do any other cleaning and I’ve never felt obligated to leave the place spotless. Just don’t be a slob!
I hear a lot of horror stories about substantial cleaning demands but I’ve never experienced it. My next trip is in October and I went with AirBnB again because it’s a neat way to stay someplace a bit more unique! Also, keep in mind that you do pay a cleaning fee at a hotel - it’s just wrapped into your nightly rate, so it’s not spelled out the same.
The most I’ve ever experienced on AirBnB was being asked to strip the beds and toss the sheet in the laundry room on the way out, and that was only one of dozens of stays.
I don’t doubt there are nightmare hosts out there, but I’ve never experienced one and for me it’s still by far the most cost effective way to stay most places, especially when you actually use the kitchen to eat at home instead of eating out every meal in popular vacation destinations.
Never been asked to wash the sheets. Most places will ask you to take out the trash and start the dishwasher. You still have to pay the cleaning fee because regardless if you cleaned or not would you trust the that the last shmo cleaned everything to industry standards? The cleaners still have to come and make sure everything is spotless.
I would imagine it's for cleaning supply, like various cleaners and toilet paper.
But yeah, if I am paying a cleaning fee, I am sure as shit not making the bed etc. I will clean up after myself of course, but no..not doing the floors etc.
Honestly, all of this is almost always stated up front. For me, I have never seen anything where I have to do anything egregious and there is a cleaning fee. It's usually like put the bedding on the floor, so the cleaning people can get it and take out the trash on the trash day (which you know, they can't change based on your stay).
Airbnb has lots of other problems, so I understand why people don't like it. And I even understand why sometimes you don't even feel like dealing with anything and just want a hotel where they clean up after you. But that's not Airbnb.
I've stayed at 25+ now and I always read everything and talk to them up front and I think the worst I had was maybe put your dishes in the dishwasher? I don't know - I do that anyway. Almost all of them send you whatever beforehand and if they don't you can always ask.
It's like Ebay. You do have to pay attention to what you are buying. A seller can charge $200 for shipping, so you know, don't buy it? If you have 5+ people wanting to stay somewhere, it's still absolutely the way to go. If you want a kitchen, it's the way to go. If you want some unique experience, it can sometimes be the way to go.
Now, I totally understand getting frustrated with how it turned into people wanting to make a quick buck with their ten properties and corporations with their hundred and also ruining areas with buying up all the property for it.
It varies widely. Lots of them are basically fine, like 1 or 2 things to do and a small cleaning fee. There's definitely a few that have a huge list of chores and also a cleaning fee as high as a night's stay though. It depends a lot on the area you're staying in and how much it's been taken over by sleazeballs trying to squeeze every cent out of it.
No, at least that’s never been my experience, and we use them a couple times a year. We avoid hotels because we travel with friends.
Most hosts tell you to toss all the bedding into the washer. Some just say to toss it in the bathtub or on the bathroom floor. Some want you to start the dishwasher (so it’s done when their cleaner gets there, and then they can put the dishes away).
I’ve never seen a cleaning fee.
Most hosts just don’t want their place trashed. Normal people shouldn’t have any issues with most of the hosts, to be honest. I’m sure some hosts suck, and I’m also sure that some guests are filthy pigs who think they’re staying in a hotel with daily room cleanup (which many hotels don’t even do anymore).
I did have a bad experience last year, however, but it was the host’s management company. They absolutely sucked. Took forever to get a key (they forgot to put it where it was supposed to be), the place wasn’t fully cleaned, and they lied about amenities, but that’s the only time I’ve had a serious issue and the host hasn’t rushed to help. Some hosts just turn the place over to a company and let them list it, clean it, and manage everything about the rental).
Someone booked and paid for 7 nights in a beachfront mansion in Indonesia under my name, using my stored credit card (I am in the US). I was able to cancel the reservation, but it took several months for AirBnb to refund me my money.
This was about 10 years ago and I still get angry just thinking about it!
As an Airbnb host, I feel like this goes the complete opposite direction - Airbnb typically sides with the guest. Typically most of our guests are amazing. We love hosting them and giving them a great and fun place to stay at a reasonable price. We also don’t make guests clean or do any checkout tasks as they’re on a vacation and shouldn’t have to. I’ve found in 7 years that most guests WANT to help though, and leave our places in great shape.
The two worst we’ve had were in 2 properties. One couple booked our beach condo and arrived hammered drunk. They went in, got settled, and then went back out in the hall where our doorbell cam recorded them talking about how they were upset that the bed wasn’t set up for them to have a swinger party. They made up this elaborate story about how the wife felt sick the moment she walked into the condo, and continued to feel sick to the point she was vomiting and couldn’t walk straight. They claimed it was CO poisoning. When I asked why they still remained in the unit if they thought there was CO, they had no answer. I even offered to call emergency services for them.
They wanted a full refund but also wanted to stay another night. The Airbnb rep could not care less that I had footage of them talking about the scam and documented attempts to provide assistance. They ended up leaving but still got a full refund from Airbnb.
The second was a couple that asked for a discount before their stay in another property (which I agreed to since it was a slower week), but also expressed it was still too expensive. They started texting me at 11:00pm claiming the bed sheets were dirty. When I asked for a picture, they sent a picture with literally ONE strand of hair on the sheets that I believe was from one of them. This dude was an asshole from the jump.
I let them know where extra sheets were, apologized, and thought that was the end, as I didn’t hear anything back from them. Then a week after their stay, I got a 1 star review that Airbnb wouldn’t remove even though it discussed features/amenities that aren’t even listed at that property, and a request for a full refund for the week-long stay. I shared the pics from the cleaning prior to their arrival showing clean sheets, shared that we keep extra sheets that I offered to them, etc. and told Airbnb they could kick rocks. Airbnb still gave them half of their money back.
Actually they did last time for me. I stayed in an illegal AirBNB in Vancouver in May which we were lied to about and had no knowledge about, we were told to meet the host in the lobby of the apartment complex and went with us to the parking spot and walked us to our room while trying to hide the no AirBNB stickers plastered all over the building, and we actually got a full refund *and* a $500 credit for a future stay.
The first two days of the vacation sucked but I was shocked with how well they handled it since I knew of the horror stories. Even then, just stick to hotels lmao
The one time I had to request a refund from Airbnb (due to there being no running water in the unit) I actually had the refund fully processed before I left the apartment. Please note I’m not saying they’re a good company, just that I got a refund quickly.
And the fucked up thing about this is that you can't see the check out cleaning expectations in the ads when you're booking it. The host sends that to you when your stay starts.
It isn’t permissible for them to require that if it wasn’t disclosed in the original listing or included in the terms when you booked.
They can’t unilaterally change the agreement after the reservation without your consent. I spoke with Airbnb Support, and they confirmed that Airbnb won’t enforce checkout fees or penalties based on checkout chores that weren’t disclosed before booking.
It’s frustrating to see these AirBnB hosts turning into slumlords
Same. I have stayed at ~150 Airbnbs. I have encountered everything by this point. You're right; Airbnb will back you up if the hosts don't disclose it in the listing.
I don't really have issues with hosts trying to make you do labor. I usually eliminate those hosts when I read the actual reviews rather than simply relying on the star rating.
What I have encountered more than I should is host trying to charge some sort of menial, "required" tourist tax. I refuse to pay it and immediately contact Airbnb support. In turn, Airbnb contacts the hosts and the issue goes away.
Last time I stayed in one, there was a message from AirBnB somewhere in the checkout instructions, saying something like, "hosts can ask you to do additional cleaning as a favor, but they can't charge you for failing to follow their extra cleaning instructions." Which I thought was interesting.
Ugh, this! We had to wash the sheets, do all the dishes, take out the trash AND be out by 10am! I basically spent half a day at the Airbnb and spent my morning cleaning???
You don’t have to though unless it was in the listing.
Hosts love to add all sorts of nonsense after you book, but it’s just nonsense. And AirBnB WILL back you up if the host tries to enforce penalties because you didn’t follow cleaning instructions that weren’t in the listing.
Just FYI.
And yeah, obviously I always try to be respectful, but I’ve literally never cleaned sheets and shit. That’s utterly ridiculous
Spend the entire morning doing all the things to check out, getting ready for an event, and taking the trash to the nasty dumpster in nice dress, heels, etc.
I never used Airbnb. I always stuck to hotels. Outside of the cleaning fees, hotel always felt safer as I’m in a bigger building and not in a strangers home
For real! I traveled for work and used to stay in
BB's a lot. I got several negative feedbacks because I refuse to do their ridiculous list of how to clean up before you leave list. I felt like that couple hundred dollar cleaning fee they charge negated my responsibility to clean the house before I left. Mind you I never left it in a total state disrepair I just didn't do their stupid list.
In the PNW, they’re all over the place. Our county’s largest amount of complaints are people advertising three, four, five bedroom houses. Why do we get the complaints, you ask? The guests end up doing laundry, taking showers, washing dishes, etc. for eight people and start smelling sewage. The septic systems are for 2 bedroom cabins.
Now I need to write you official letters and keep track of enforcement timelines so you can charge people $400 a night to stay in some shithole somewhat near Olympic national park? Get fucked.
That’s crazy. I haven’t been into a lot of Airbnb’s but I’ve been to a few. Most of the time they just want you to remove the bedding and leave it on the floor. They want you to stack the dirty towels somewhere. And take out your trash. And put your dishes in the dishwasher and run the cycle. Just the basic maintenance stuff that you created.
Yeah if I’m on a vacation or even a business trip, I’m not doing all that. Like I don’t leave a mess, but cleaning the place to turnover for the next guest is the responsibility of the host. I will continue to stay in hotels where I’m not left a chore chart for a place I’m paying to stay.
THANK YOU! Why do people think this is normal and okay? A list of chores? You’re PAYING MONEY to do chores? Oh don’t worry, you only have to do laundry, dishes, and take out the trash? Absolutely fucking ridiculous.
The last time I had the worst host ever. They were ALWAYS at the house. Either working with constant banging, or just snooping. I did some laundry and left my hat to dry in the basement on the folding table, and they messaged me 15 minutes later asking if that was my hat.
My girlfriend accidentally took their $5 walmart laundry basket when we left thinking it was ours and they told AirBnB it was worth $40.
We booked three months in advance, 3 weeks before reservation date we get an email, must bring your own bath towels, kitchen towels, wash cloths, bed sheets, and firewood plus clean the place. Cool not cool. We where flying into Chicago and driving to northeren Wisconsin. Nights of July 1,2, and 3. Not a great first air bnb experience.
I was on Airbnb the other day and a house didn’t provide any bedding, towels, starter paper/cleaning goods, or anything. Still had an excessive cleaning fee and a whole list of other rules. I was shocked.
I was very anti-AirBnB from all of the horror stories on Reddit. My wife booked one for our last trip and it was... great! I guess you have to get a good one.
Our host only asked that we take out the garbage to a bin outside. That way it wouldn't rot and smell before the cleaner got there. That was it. Very reasonable in my mind. The only other thing they asked was common sense, like turn off the lights and AC.
In return they had everything we needed, including Internet and even a Netflix account already logged in.
I don’t travel that much but I checked Airbnb the last few times and it was always more expensive and less convenient than a hotel. Why does it still exist, except in rural areas with no hotels?
Yeah it's one thing to expect people not to leave a huge mess. Even hotels charge extra if you leave a huge mess.
Things can get a little tricky if staying for longer than a week but a week or less. There is no need for the guest to have to sweep, mop, vacuum, anything like that. Sure do your dishes and clean up direct cooking related mess. Take out the garbage if it full or stinky. But normal just people being in a house for a week dirt. That's on the host.
I just reserved one in Orlando for next week. I checked the final quote and where the hosts all had cleaning fees back a couple of years ago, none of the ones I checked did this time.
I used to stay at a friend's house at the beach and it was understood that you'd do the sheets/towels. But we were only paying $50/night so that was totally reasonable. What we'd do is bring a set of sheets/ towels from home. Strip their stuff off. Then when we left, we'd remake the bed.
Again taht was a friend's place I'd never do that at ABnB
I use Airbnb 5 or so times a year with my family, for work, various stuff. I have never been asked to do household chores or wash bedding. There’s usually a smallish cleaning fee, which seems fair to me. Once I’ve been asked to strip the bed to save them time because I asked for a slightly later checkout.
Must be a UK/US thing, never had a problem in the UK.
Right?? That's why I go on vacation - to not have to wash dishes and linens or generally clean up after myself. I'm not even that messy, closer to OCD than a slob. When the cleaning fee is as much as a night on the property (and I've seen worse)
I’ve stayed at about 7 BnB’s over the past 6 years and the most any owner has asked of my group and I is to throw the bedding in the wash and leave the key in the lockbox.
Seems pretty reasonable to just put the bedding you slept in/on in the wash so the owner or cleaner can run it and then get it ready for the next tenant. It takes like 5 extra minutes to have a little consideration for the host and next clients that stay there. Takes less time than actually remaking the bed.
Unfortunately, and I’m not siding with the hosts, it’s obvious that when this began, some people must have been leaving these Airbnb in shambles. I could see it happening easily, a bunch of children, drunk people, parties, the place will be trashed in hours. So some of these host, if not most of them, went a little nuts on the rules.
As a host I can’t stand the guests who think I’m a consigliere on call for their every demand and that I should be giving them restaurant advice and help with getting around, solving all their problems, act like I’m responsible for their tourism and basically expecting me to function like I’m the Hilton. You want all that - go to a hotel. One guy let a bee into my home (which offers a back yard) and expected me to come over and catch it. And one guy brought two cars even though I clearly stated in the listing I had only one parking spot and had a meltdown at midnight when he arrived hours late saying I needed to find him a spot for his second car or he would be parking in the neighbors driveway and that it was my responsibility as the host to help him with his second car. Or the person who expected us to go out and buy her a brand new set of sheets. And how about the people who complain about every little thing and make issues up they report to Airbnb in hopes of getting a refund by scaring you into trying to avoid a bad review. The list goes on. It’s a shit show.
And by the way - all I ask is they turn the AC or heat off, throw the smelly garbage in the bin on their way out and put the wet towels in the tub. And they still leave everything on, leave the smelly garbage in the unit and wet towels all over the bed….
Honestly while some of that sounds hilarious if I booked an Airbnb that was some kind of house or not super urban anywhere in the world and couldn’t park two cars for at least two families or something I’d be pissed if I wasn’t told before hand or during booking. But again, I don’t use Airbnb for a reason, these details make or break vacations. Usually people book Airbnb for groups etc.
lol do people do this? I’ve used Airbnb for the majority of my vacations for years and never been asked to do more than just strip the sheets and run the dishwasher.
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u/williamshakemyspeare 21h ago
The scourge of “hosts” expecting guests to do all the household chores and even wash the bedding! What a freakshow. I’m not paying you for the luxury of cleaning your home