When do the new Airbnb house rules start?

They apply to every reservation booked on or after November 20, 2026. What counts is the booking date, not the stay date: a booking made before November 20 keeps the old rules even if the stay is later.

Can I still ask Airbnb guests to do anything at checkout?

Yes, small things. Airbnb's own examples allow asking guests to put used dishes in the sink and to separate trash and recycling into the indoor bins you provide, and "lock up at checkout" is now one of the standard house rules. Stripping beds, washing and putting away dishes, and taking trash offsite are not allowed.

Can I ask guests to load the dishwasher?

Airbnb's policy bans washing and putting away dishes and allows asking for used dishes in the sink. Loading and running the dishwasher is not named either way, so the safe request is the one Airbnb gives as an example: dishes in the sink.

Can Airbnb hosts still charge fines?

No. Hosts may not impose fines or other penalties on guests. If a community association, building or local government may fine for something, the host can give notice of it in the designated section of the listing, and that is all.

What happens to a listing that breaks the policy?

Airbnb may first educate the host. If the issue continues, the listing can show a notice that flags it to guests and lose visibility in search.

Airbnb's new house rules: no more checkout chores (what hosts must change by November 20)

Airbnb rewrote what hosts may ask of guests. Here is what the policy actually says, what you can still request at checkout, and what to change in your listing before it applies to your bookings.

In October 2026 Airbnb published a new policy on house rules and requests, and the checkout list is what everyone noticed: no more stripping beds or washing dishes before you leave. NBC News and CNN both covered it the same week, with guests celebrating and hosts split. The policy is longer than the chores, though. It also covers fines, contracts, IDs, amenities and where your rules may be written. It applies to all reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026, so a booking made today for a stay in December is still under the old rules, and a booking made on November 21 for the same dates is not.

What hosts can no longer ask

Airbnb's Help Center article on reasonable house rules lists what hosts are generally not allowed to do. In plain terms:

Chores that take real time or effort, or that a cleaner would normally do. Airbnb names three examples: stripping the bed, taking trash offsite, and washing and putting away dishes.
Fines or other penalties. You cannot charge a guest for breaking a rule. Any fee for an advertised part of the listing has to be in the price shown at booking.
Separate contracts. No extra agreement to sign, unless the law requires one or in limited circumstances.
Personal information such as a government ID, with the same exceptions.
Restricting a feature the listing advertises. If the hot tub is in the listing, it cannot be off limits in the rules.
New rules after booking. Every rule and request must be in the designated section of the listing at the time of booking. Adding one later by message, by a sign in the home or in person is not allowed.

What you can still ask

The policy bans effort, not courtesy. Airbnb's own examples, shown in the guidance it gives hosts, keep the small asks: put used dishes in the sink, and separate trash and recycling into the indoor bins you provide. The policy also weighs the listing's context, so a request that exists because of where the home is stays fair: shorter showers during a drought restriction, or trash in animal-proof containers in bear country.

If your building or HOA, or the city, can fine for something (noise, parking, trash days), you cannot pass that fine on, but you can warn guests about it in the designated section of the listing. That notice is the only place it may live.

The new house rules editor

Rules now sit in one place in the listing editor, under house rules and requests, and Airbnb shows them more prominently: on the listing page, in the guest's Trips tab and in reservation reminders. You pick from seven standard rules, two of them new:

Maximum number of overnight guests (new)
Lock up at checkout (new)
Pets allowed, with a maximum
No smoking, including vaping and e-cigarettes
Quiet hours
No parties or events
No commercial photography or filming

Anything else goes under Requests, as short free text: "Please put the hot tub cover back on after use" is the kind of line that fits. Other checkout instructions go there too, as long as they stay reasonable under the policy.

What happens if a host ignores it

Airbnb says it may start by educating the host. If the violation continues, the listing can get a notice on its page that flags the issue to guests, and reduced visibility in search. For most hosts the second one is the real cost: a listing that drops in search loses bookings before anyone reads the notice.

Checklist before November 20

Rewrite your checkout list. Keep it to things that take a minute: dishes in the sink, trash in the indoor bins, windows closed, doors locked, keys back where you say. Remove stripping beds, starting the dishwasher, laundry and taking trash out to a dumpster.
Move every rule into the house rules and requests section. Then remove the ones that live anywhere else: the description, the house manual, signs on the fridge, the welcome message. If it is not in that section at booking, you cannot enforce it.
Delete any fine, deposit-style penalty or "cleaning surcharge" for broken rules. If an HOA or the city fines, write the notice in the designated section instead.
Check every advertised amenity against your rules. A pool, grill or hot tub in the listing cannot be closed by a rule.
Remove any separate agreement or ID request that the law does not require where you are.
Look again at your cleaning fee and your price. Guests now expect the cleaning to be covered by it, so a high cleaning fee on a short stay, with chores on top, is the first thing they question.

Where the listing has to do the work now

With fewer rules to lean on, the listing page carries more of the expectation setting, and guests compare the total price with what they see. The photos are where that comparison is won: a living room shot on a grey afternoon looks smaller and colder than it is, and guests price it that way. Correcting exposure, white balance and straight lines on the photos you already have keeps the room exactly as it is and lets it look the way it does in person. That is what LiftMyStay does, and it shows your own cover before and after before you pay anything.