{"id":17951,"date":"2026-11-05T17:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T17:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/?p=17951"},"modified":"2026-11-05T17:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T17:16:06","slug":"handling-airbnbs-new-cleaning-rules-as-a-cleaning-business-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/handling-airbnbs-new-cleaning-rules-as-a-cleaning-business-owner\/","title":{"rendered":"Handling Airbnb’s New Cleaning Rules as a Cleaning Business Owner"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ZenMaid<\/div>\n

Brought to you by expert cleaning business owners<\/em><\/h2>\n <\/div>\n \"ZenMaid\n <\/div>\n\n
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Tips and advice shared here have helped us grow our own maid services.<\/strong> The ZenMaid team currently has 5+ current and former cleaning business owners on our team, including our Founder and CEO, Amar. We’ve been in the maid service industry for 10+ years and counting.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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We partner with amazing leaders in the cleaning industry,<\/strong> including Debbie Sardone, Stephanie Pipkin, Angela Brown, Chris Schwab, and many more — all to provide you with the latest industry insights.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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Wait, What Happened?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 20, 2026, Airbnb announced<\/a> it was limiting how much hosts can ask guests to clean during or at the end of their stays. The new policy is slated to go into effect on Nov. 20, 2026.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airbnb initially changed the \u201cHouse Rules\u201d section of their booking pages and added a \u201cRequests\u201d page, telling hosts that they can no longer require guests to perform certain cleaning tasks before checking out. They walked this change back on Nov. 3, changing \u201cRequests\u201d to \u201cAdditional rules,\u201d stating that hosts should still be able to communicate important details about homes or stays with guests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airbnb states that these rule changes were made to address guest concerns about unclear restrictions and surprise cleaning fees that date back years. Guests have also noticed an uptick in unreasonable cleaning requests, limitations on what they can do within the property, and other checkout chores that hosts ask of them on top of charging cleaning fees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Nov. 3 change, Airbnb stated that hosts could still use the \u201cAdditional rules\u201d section to be more transparent with guests about the home\u2019s needs and what hosts expect of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What Are Airbnb\u2019s New Cleaning Rules?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Airbnb now restricts hosts from requiring guests to do things like take garbage off-site, start loads of laundry, strip beds, or avoid using listed amenities like A\/C. The only new rule implemented is that guests cannot be required<\/em> to perform cleaning or check-out chores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosts may ask them to perform certain tasks, but they cannot charge an additional fee if guests did not complete tasks that are typically part of a professional cleaner\u2019s task list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The updated guidelines<\/a> state that hosts can set seven standard house rules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Maximum overnight guests<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Quiet hours<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Events<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Pets<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Smoking<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Commercial photography<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Lock up at checkout<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to these rules, hosts can add other, “reasonable” requests to their \u201cAdditional rules\u201d section. This is where most of the uproar comes from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s an example Airbnb provides of a rule that violates the new policy, and how they will notify hosts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"image\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Hosts are largely worried about losing control over the rules they set for their homes, but this is not the intended impact of the rule changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What Can Guests Still Do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Airbnb can still ask guests to place used dishes in the sink, gather used towels in a single spot, sort trash and recycling, lock doors and windows when they leave, and place dishes in the sink or dishwasher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Guests can also appeal rules they feel are unfair, should hosts continue to make unreasonable requests, or if they are charged additional cleaning fees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How Cleaning Business Owners Responded<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    There was a mix of responses to this news across Facebook<\/a>, Reddit, and Twitter\/X. Some cleaning business owners immediately pointed out that short-term rental cleanings may take more time, which reduces their profit even if they hire additional cleaners to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other owners took the news more easily, noting that many short-term renters already leave their rentals in decent condition, and offering helpful ideas for how to adjust their services to accommodate the changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Still others focused on the reality of the previous rules: a guest who leaves dishes in the sink and sheets on the bed was never going to clean those things just because the host had a rule about it. Professional cleaners should be trusted to do those jobs \u2014 and paid their full cleaning fees in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Our Advice for How to Manage These Changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    As we sifted through reactions to this news, one thing was clear: while changes are happening, there are still plenty of ways you and your cleaning staff can accommodate these changes without affecting your profitability, the length of a cleaning, or losing short-term rental clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s our advice for addressing these changes and keeping an eye on how they develop:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Monitor how long it takes to do a turnover<\/strong>: Your production rate<\/a> remains your key metric for profitability. If a vacation rental turnover takes more than 15 additional minutes to complete now, consider increasing your fee.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Increase the base duration for short-term cleanings<\/strong>: You may just need more time to complete short-term rentals, and hosts will have to understand that. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Reconsider same-day turnovers<\/strong>: Same-day rental turnover cleanings are notoriously difficult to keep on schedule. If the hosts you work with are still running on this schedule after the new rules come into effect, consider increasing your prices or removing same-day turnovers from your offerings. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Apply fees for rentals that accommodate six or more people<\/strong>: This is a simple scaling solution. A rental that accommodates two people will likely be cleaner than one that hosts eight. Price accordingly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Adjust your service<\/strong>: Many cleaners worry about how long it will take a dishwasher or load of laundry to run, and whether that will affect the length of the cleaning. Starting with these items before you do anything else gives you the chance to let the machines work while you do. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Build Systems That Support Your Business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      ZenMaid offers purpose-built scheduling software for cleaning business owners. Whether your business focuses on short-term rentals or recurring residential cleanings, ZenMaid will help you stay organized, communicate clearly with clients, and manage changes that are outside of your control \u2014 just like this Airbnb change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Start your free trial of ZenMaid today and build the systems you need to stay flexible while growing. Sign up now!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Wait, What Happened? On Oct. 20, 2026, Airbnb announced it was limiting how much hosts can ask guests to clean during or at the end of their stays. The new policy is slated to go into effect on Nov. 20, 2026.   Airbnb initially changed the \u201cHouse Rules\u201d section of their booking pages and added a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":17959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17951"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17961,"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17951\/revisions\/17961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zenmaid.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}