‘Guess my cleaning fee just went up’: Airbnb hosts are mad they can no longer require guests to do chores like taking out trash

According to some Airbnb hosts, the app is “like an abusive partner”: It keeps manipulating them, but they keep coming back for more. The platform’s latest offense? Banning hosts from requiring guests to perform tasks “that require significant effort or time, or would typically be performed by a cleaner.” That includes things like stripping beds, taking out the trash, and washing dishes, all of which some hosts have made standard as part of their “House Rules.” Hosts are still technically able to make requests of their guests, but they must “be reasonable.” One Airbnb host who tried to include instructions to wash the dishes and take out the trash in the “Requests” section was unable to save their changes, instead prompting an error message saying, “Guests shouldn’t be asked to do this task.” The new policies go into effect for bookings made on or after November 20, but even a month out, hosts are already melting down on social media over what they see as an unfair change. Guests, meanwhile, are celebrating the end of being their own cleaners, only to pay cleaning fees on top of it. Bending the rules In one Reddit exchange (which has since gone viral in its own right), a host comp…

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