Never have I worried so much about a pile of dirty dishes. But when I read the news about Airbnb’s sweeping global policy change on October 22, those dishes in the kitchen sink started to fill me with real dread.
The short-term rental platform is introducing a new policy about rules set by hosts — meaning that, from November 20, they can no longer require guests to complete “onerous” tasks.
“This update comes from direct feedback from both guests and hosts that rules can be confusing or missed,” Airbnb told Yahoo Lifestyle in a statement.
“By standardising rules, we hope to make it easier for guests to understand what is expected of them, and for hosts to set clear, reasonable rules and requests for guests to easily follow.
“Hosts remain in control of their house rules and can change them anytime. Guests who repeatedly violate house rules may be suspended or removed from Airbnb.”
Sounds fair enough. But when I dived into the details as an Airbnb host myself, I started to get really frustrated.
Tasks deemed too onerous under the policy change include stripping beds, washing dishes and removing rubbish upon checkout.
Instead, guests can be asked to do simpler stuff like place used dishes in the sink or gather used towels.
It’s a change that’s been heralded as a win for guests, but I’m here to tell you that this is soul-crushing news for hosts, and in the long run, I fear that it’s guests who will pay the price.
The reality of running an Airbnb in Sydney
So you know where I’m coming from, let me set the scene about my own situation and why I ended up listing my 53 sqm Sydney unit on Airbnb.
Amid a cost-of-living crisis and rising interest rates, my partner and I are stuck in mortgage prison.
It means we are unable to refinance our mortgage for a better deal, for reasons outside our control.
In a bid to boost our cash flow, we started renting out our unit as a one-bedder on weekends and holidays, storing our stuff in the second bedroom, while we relocated to our little campervan.
Doing a holiday in a van might not sound relaxing to some, but it was an incredible way to get around.
(supplied)The plan has so far helped us raise a few thousand dollars, which we put into our mortgage offset to reduce the cost of our monthly repayments.
It sounds like a win — and in a way it is — but there is an added cost that consistently eats away at what we’re able to save: the price of cleaners.
I haven’t always paid for the unit to be professionally cleaned.
At the start, I thought I could just do it myself.
But after guest feedback, I realised I simply didn’t do a good enough job trying to fit cleaning around full-time work.
Quite frankly, I sucked at it — and it was affecting my hugely important guest rating.
So I knew I needed to hire an expert to leave the flat sparkling before every guest arrived.
Hidden costs for Airbnb hosts
The problem is that an Airbnb turnover clean in Sydney costs me almost $140 as a bare minimum.
And if I need the cleaners to do extra chores like give the inside of the oven a good go, and drop off and pick up laundry, that can rise to as much as $240.
Add on the $40 laundrette fee for sheet-washing, and we’re now looking at a possible $280 in cleaning costs before a booking.
Of course, I don’t charge guests that much.
I set my cleaning fee much lower, do as many tasks as I can myself and just take the hit for extras as and when I need to.
But the cost of cleaners is why I am forced to have a two-night minimum on my Airbnb.
It would be ridiculous to charge a cleaning fee that steep on a one-bedder if someone was staying a single night.
The need for hotel-quality cleanliness in Airbnb homes is precisely why these new rules are so utterly unfair.
An Airbnb guest left dark hairs smeared all over Katherine’s bathroom.
(Katherine Davison)If guests can no longer be expected to do tasks like washing the dishes or taking the rubbish out, then somebody’s got to do it, and the cost will be passed on.
I liken it to the Albanese government’s recent ban on credit card surcharges.
That was meant to benefit shoppers, but with small businesses being forced to absorb the costs, it’s been warned that overall prices will rise.
I deem that policy a failure, and I see this in the same light.
Why the new Airbnb rules could backfire on guests
Yes, the new Airbnb rules sound great on paper for guests, but they will pay in the end, as hosts are forced to raise their cleaning fees across the board.
Some might say hosts like me are making a mountain out of a molehill.
Most Airbnb guests are wonderful and wouldn’t think twice about doing the dishes or putting out the garbage before checkout in any case.
But I know firsthand that isn’t always so.
A guest I had recently had left rubbish and tissues strewn across the floor of my Airbnb, along with piles of used plates in the sink and alarmingly long, dark strands of hair smeared all over the shower screen.
Under the new Airbnb rules, I wonder if that would now be considered as leaving the property in a reasonable condition.
If so, I’m appalled — and I’m not the only one.
I spoke to an Airbnb host friend about the new changes, and she, too, was worried about the fallout.
She raised a topic that got me worrying all over again: cockroaches.
Having bins and sinks left unemptied in a country like Australia isn’t just an added cost.
It’s an invitation for unwanted visitors to come into your home, especially in areas where there may be a lag between checkout time and cleaning.
The nightmare for hosts is real — and I hope someone is listening.
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