10/22/2026
🚨 AIRBNB, WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU THINKING?! 🚨
AIRBNB’S NEW RULES ARE GOING TO HAVE REAL CONSEQUENCES FOR PROPERTY OWNERS, GUESTS, AND PROFESSIONAL CLEANING COMPANIES!
As a professional short-term rental cleaning company, I have a LOT to say about Airbnb’s newly announced changes regarding checkout procedures and guest responsibilities.
Let's get one thing straight: PROFESSIONAL SHORT-TERM RENTAL CLEANERS ARE NOT MAIDS.
We are professional detail workers. We are the people responsible for meticulously cleaning, sanitizing, resetting, restocking, inspecting, and putting an entire property back together so that the next guests can walk through the door and feel like they're the first people to ever stay there.
And we are often expected to accomplish ALL of this within a SIX-HOUR WINDOW — sometimes less — while turning over an entire property on the SAME DAY the previous guests check out!
Now Airbnb wants to change the rules without adequately considering what these changes mean for the people actually doing the physical work. 🤯
🧹 LET'S TALK ABOUT CLEANING FEES.
If Airbnb expects additional tasks to be completed, those tasks require additional labor, manpower, supplies, and TIME.
What exactly does Airbnb expect to happen? Do professional cleaners magically produce more hours in a day? Do we hire additional staff for free? Do we absorb the additional labor costs out of our own pockets?
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Cleaning fees WILL need to increase when additional work requires additional time and labor. That's not greed. That's the reality of running a professional cleaning business and paying people fairly for their work.
And some property owners may need to reconsider their check-in and check-out times to allow enough time for these additional responsibilities to be completed properly. You cannot keep adding tasks to an already tight turnover schedule and expect absolutely nothing else to change.
🍽️ AND THE DISHES?! LET'S TALK ABOUT THE DISHES!
Personally, I don't understand why rinsing your dishes, loading the dishwasher, and starting a cycle has become such a controversial issue.
Most of us do these basic things in our own homes every day. It is a simple courtesy, and it helps maintain reasonable sanitation standards between stays.
Here's the reality Airbnb seems to be overlooking:
Sometimes a property sits vacant for a couple of days before the cleaners arrive. Food residue, dirty dishes, and standing moisture do not magically become more sanitary with time.
And when we are turning over a property on the SAME DAY guests check out, many professional cleaning companies work in TEAMS to get everything completed within the available window, and then move onto the next home which can be milessssss away!
What happens when the dishwasher is still washing or drying while the rest of the entire property has already been cleaned, sanitized, reset, and inspected?
Do we wait around for the cycle to finish? That means additional labor hours and potentially delays for the next guests.
Do we leave the dishes inside the dishwasher for the incoming guests to unload?
Do we send someone back later? (This isn't realistic for most of us, nor even an option AT ALL)
WHO IS PAYING FOR THAT ADDITIONAL TIME?
This is just ONE example of how poorly thought-out checkout expectations can create unnecessary complications for the very people responsible for preparing these homes for the next reservation.
And let's not pretend that dishes are the biggest challenge we face.
🛏️ NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT LINENS AND LAUNDRY!
This is ANOTHER area where a little help from departing guests can make a HUGE difference, especially when it comes to SAME-DAY TURNS!
Professional STR cleaners aren't just washing a few towels. Depending on the size of the property, we may be dealing with multiple beds, sheets, pillowcases, bath towels, hand towels, washcloths, bath mats, and sometimes MULTIPLE COMFORTERS that need to be washed, dried, and put back on the beds before the next guests arrive!
And here's something people often don't think about: WASHING AND DRYING TAKE TIME! We cannot magically make a washer or dryer run faster, and we cannot always fit multiple loads into the limited hours available to turn over an entire property.
When departing guests can get a load of linens started before checkout, it gives the cleaning team a valuable head start. That extra time can make a significant difference when we're trying to coordinate multiple loads of laundry while simultaneously cleaning bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, living areas, and every other part of the home.
Imagine a property with several beds, multiple comforters, and a full set of towels that all need laundering. Now imagine having to wait until the cleaning team arrives to START every single load, all while the clock is ticking and the next guests are scheduled to check in that same afternoon!
This isn't about expecting guests to do our jobs for us. It's about understanding that LAUNDRY IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST TIME CONSTRAINTS IN SAME-DAY TURNOVERS.
A simple head start on linens can help the entire process run more smoothly, reduce unnecessary delays, and give cleaning teams a better chance of completing everything to professional standards.
But when additional checkout expectations are introduced, and the already-limited turnover window doesn't change, something has to give.
Either cleaners need more time, more manpower, more flexibility in check-in and check-out schedules, or additional compensation to cover the increased labor.
YOU CANNOT CONTINUALLY ADD RESPONSIBILITIES WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGING THE TIME IT TAKES TO COMPLETE THEM!
Professional cleaners are doing everything possible to ensure that the next guests walk into a clean, sanitary, beautifully prepared home. We need realistic expectations and schedules that reflect the ACTUAL work involved.
Our time matters, too!
Professional STR cleaners routinely encounter urine, f***s, blood, semen, vomit, excessive messes, overflowing trash, and all the other realities that come with cleaning after strangers. We deal with these situations professionally, safely, and meticulously so that property owners can continue welcoming paying guests.
We do the physical work. We carry the responsibility. We provide the manpower. We supply the expertise. And we are expected to make it all happen on an incredibly tight schedule.
Meanwhile, Airbnb collects its fees without having to personally show up and clean a single bathroom, strip a single bed, scrub a single toilet, or deal with the aftermath of a disastrous guest checkout.
HOW CONVENIENT.
Airbnb, you cannot continually place more expectations on the people who make your platform possible while expecting the cost and inconvenience to fall on everyone else.
Professional cleaning companies are businesses, not charities.
Our employees deserve to be paid. They/we have bills and families to feed!!! Our time has value. Our work requires skill, organization, physical effort, and attention to detail. And our services deserve to be compensated IN FULL.
📢 PROPERTY OWNERS: PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THIS MAY AFFECT YOU, TOO.
If your cleaning company needs to increase its rate to accommodate additional labor, please understand that this isn't necessarily an attempt to take advantage of you. It may simply be the cost of meeting the new expectations while continuing to deliver the level of cleanliness your guests expect.
If your turnover schedule needs to change, that doesn't mean your cleaning company is failing you. It means the work must fit into a realistic timeframe.
We all want clean, beautiful, welcoming properties and happy guests. But those results don't happen by magic. They happen because real people work incredibly hard behind the scenes.
AIRBNB, YOU NEED TO DO BETTER.
These decisions affect real businesses, real employees, real property owners, and real families who depend on this industry for their livelihoods.
Stop treating the people who do the actual work as though our time, labor, and livelihoods don't matter.
Because without professional cleaners, those beautiful listings you're making money from would look VERY different after checkout.
WE ARE NOT MAIDS. WE ARE PROFESSIONALS. OUR WORK HAS VALUE. AND WE WILL NOT BE EXPECTED TO WORK FOR FREE. PERIOD!
Is this your attempt Airbnb to just collect more $ (%) off of the cleaning fees, as you have to know that cleaners will have no choice but to have property owner raise their cleaning fees? DISGUSTING!!!!!!
