Airbnb’s new host rule changes are a major problem for PMS users

Thanks for raising this ​@Clnance and providing great context on why this is important. I would love for other hosts to chime in. The examples help us advocate for hosts.

Airbnb has previously communicated a desire to limit rental agreement use unless it is strictly required (eg. HOA requirement) but we haven't ever seen that enforced. We've got it on our agenda for meetings with Airbnb next week and will follow up if we get any clarity.

We need to be able to take action because Airbnb has proven that they do not take action. They have become a poor arbiter when issues arise and have proven that. Rental agreements, deposits, and id verification checks are all due to their own failings. I would rather pay them 15% to do it themselves like they proclaim and protect the host, but they do not, simple as that. 

This is not good, I agree 100%. While my condos currently do not officially require a signed agreement, there are a ton of rules that must be adhered to by all guests...noise rules, balcony rules, pool rules, parking rules, carts, non-smoking grounds, no pets allowed, and much more… it’s our assets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more!), and this is how we protect ourselves no matter the OTA or direct. This is getting sadly ridiculous.

Thank you for the help!

**Professional hosts need to be able to require a signed rental agreement and have property-specific rules that are actually enforceable.**

**1. My insurance depends on a signed agreement.**
I carry Truvi coverage on every booking. Under Truvi's STR Protection Terms, screening is mandatory for protection to apply (§2.2), coverage no longer applies if screening isn't completed (§7.1), and to qualify for payment I must be able to show the guest's consent to the Truvi Guest Agreement (§9.3.2). My rental agreement incorporates that guest agreement and records that consent. If Airbnb prohibits me from requiring it, I don't just lose paperwork — I lose insurance coverage on Airbnb bookings.

**2. Our Mountain properties need specific, disclosed rules before arrival.**
Examples from my agreement: maximum occupancy set by Fire Marshal / county permit, guests 25+, bear-proof trash must be locked (a guest leaving loose trash creates a real bear hazard for the next guest and neighbors), nothing but toilet paper in a septic system, hot tub / sauna / soaking tub safety and liability terms, no unauthorized pets, and checkout time that protects the next guest's 4pm check-in. Guests need to agree to these *before* they book and arrive — a sign on site or a message after booking is too late. 

**3. It's fully transparent and removing it takes away a professional host's ability to be proactive.**
As a professional host, I'm not asking to surprise guests. Disclose the agreement in the listing, upload it under Contracts, and have the guest sign it before check-in / door code release. Guests who don't want those terms can choose another property before they book.

Being proactive and setting expectations before a guest arrives is what professional hosts do. Removing a host's ability to do that doesn't protect guests, it just helps Airbnb get more bookings upfront, and kicks the can down the road.

That creates problems *after* check-in, and the worst-case scenario: a horrible experience for a guest who may never use Airbnb again, and a bad review for a host who normally would have set expectations and ensured that guest either didn't book a property that wasn't right for them, or knew exactly what to expect before showing up.

Setting expectations lets the right guest book the right property.

**4. Without enforceable terms, the rules are meaningless.**
If hosts can't set consequences for failure to vacate, unauthorized pets, over-occupancy, smoking, or damage, we have no practical remedy except AirCover after the fact, which doesn't protect the arriving guest, our cleaners, our neighbors, or the property in the moment.

If Airbnb removes agreements for professional, permitted, insured hosts, the result won't be simpler hosting. It will be hosts moving guests to direct and VRBO bookings where agreements are allowed, raising prices to self-insure, or leaving the platform.

**My ask:** Create a clear exception for professionally managed / API-connected hosts where the agreement is disclosed pre-booking, uploaded to the listing, and required for a documented insurance, safety, permit, or legal reason. Let Hospitable hosts keep using the rental agreement workflow we've built our businesses and insurance on.

— Amanda Maldonado 

​@Knotty Retreats Well said!

Airbnb is overstepping.. Allowing guests to leave dirty dishes (not even load a dishwasher and start it) and trash in the house  is really unacceptable.  This is part of my checkout process.. I don’t ask guests to do anything else.

Is hospitable messaging going to be able override this?

Its particularly concerning that we aren’t allowed to have rental agreements.  This sets clear expectations to the guest, and honestly, if a guest doesn’t want to sign one, I don’t want them in my home.  Its a clear signal that once again, airbnb is overreaching.  I feel like airbnb is eliminating these checkout  instructions to better compete with hotels.  The problem is, we are  homes, not hotels.. There is a very distinct difference.

What is Hospitable’s plan to resolve this?

Absolutely love this idea.

Following along, however over the years we hear about these items getting rolled out and then fear spreads amongst the hosts. But before everything goes into affect, lets see what changes because I dont see them breaking relationships with major partners. Airbnb we would lose the trust of majority of its hosts if they forbidden screening, agreements, etc for API connected softwares / professional hosts. 

My biggest concern with this change is around the limitations on signing agreements -- my insurance requires both a signed agreement and identity verifications, both things Hospitable does well. Airbnb’s language around “contracts” is a bit vague - my guess is they must be aware of owners/manager’s insurance limitations but don’t want to state it outright?

I’ve also noticed that Airbnb has made some changes to my listings already in terms of the rules section - I’d like to revise these in Hospitable but I don’t think it’s set up in the same format yet?

Andrew-  I am concerned about guest verification. In the last 2 months I have had 3 different guests tell me they have more than 1 Airbnb/Vrbo account. Just recently, I had a guest request to book that had a bad review on cleanliness, house rules, and communication. When I questioned the bad review, the guest said that she had another account with lots of good reviews. How do I know that?  How are they able to add a secondary account that may not reflect previous bad reviews? Why am I seeing so many bad guest reviews being removed by Airbnb?   Also I had a guest book and then ignore my requests for id and a signed rental agreement-all disclosed in my listing that had to be done within 24 hours. I was thankfully able to cancel without penalty. The guest asked me why and I told her she has not signed the rental agreement or provided ID, but the dates were still open and she was welcome to book provided she did the above task. I did not hear from her again. In my opinion, I dodged a bullet. But, I did get a booking for that same weekend with a great guest and got a glowing 5 star review which is a huge win for Airbnb. I agree with Knotty Retreats - setting expectations are important and make stays go smoothly. Since the guest has the option to cancel within 24 hours of booking, they should be able to read a rental agreement and decide if the home fits their needs.

I put this in the FB group, but copying here as well:

This is insane. And this is why human traffickers prefer to stay in airbnbs instead of hotels or other lodging. I have a huge problem with this frictionless guest experience they are trying to curate here. Sorry, but if you want to stay at one of my homes, you're going to have to endure the friction of signing a rental agreement and submitting your ID. It's literally the LEAST you could do. And for those that won't (maybe half a dozen per year across nine listings), you are welcome to stay elsewhere, but I'm not hosting you.

They say exceptions can be made where required by local laws or HOA/community guidelines. I wonder if maybe... could my management contract state that the owners require I collect a signed rental agreement and ID? Would that be enough to satisfy them?

​@Andrew Schorr I’ve checked through the new house rules policy, and it looks like rental agreements will be allowed for HOA required, add-on amenities (like golf carts), 30+ day stays, and Luxe listings. The contract has to be added to the Airbnb listing under Settings, but Airbnb will not collect signatures. Link: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/4169

My concern is the guest portal. Previously Airbnb said we had to notify guests before they booked if we required additional check-in steps. Seems like now that’s not allowed. & each property can have serious directions we need to inform guests about, but if we can’t put it under House Rules, how can we enforce them? Directions like, where to park (and where to NOT park), proper location to use a grill, not taking glassware into the hot tub, etc. We could add these to the House Manual that they receive after booking, but it’ll be hard to implement and even harder to charge for damages if we can’t disclose these items to guest before booking.

Yes, please bring these concerns to Airbnb when you meet with them. I’m doing the same on my end as an Airbnb Community Leader. Thank you.

Thanks for taking this to Airbnb, ​@Andrew Schorr. Adding our experience as a property management company in Nevada County, CA.

In all our years managing homes on Airbnb, we have never once successfully collected on a damage claim through Airbnb. Every time, they've sided with the guest. Our rental agreement and our Hospitable security deposit are the only real protection our owners have. Taking away the agreement and gating on the deposit leaves us with AirCover, and in our experience AirCover doesn't pay.

Our homes have rules that matter for safety, liability, and legal compliance, and they don't fit Airbnb's standard rules or "reasonable requests":

- Local ordinance. Noise limits, quiet hours, parking limits, and occupancy are all controlled by our local short-term rental ordinance. If a guest violates them, the owner and the permit are on the line. These aren't preferences; they're legal requirements we're obligated to pass on to guests.
- Bears. We're in bear country, so trash handling and cleanup aren't optional. Trash left out or food left accessible draws bears to the property and puts guests, neighbors, and the home at risk. Guests need to follow our trash and cleanup rules.
- Dishes. Our homes host dozens of people. We can't be expected to hand-clean every dish a large group dirties during turnover. We ask guests to simply load the dishwasher and have had zero issues with it. Under Airbnb's new examples, even that could be treated as an unreasonable "chore."
- Hot tub use and safety, visitor limits, pet terms, and responsibility for damage and excessive cleaning.

Specific questions for your meeting with Airbnb:

1. For Airbnb bookings made on or after Nov 20, can Hospitable's security deposit still restrict check-in until the deposit is secured? Or does that count as "registration required to gain entry" under the new policy?
2. If check-in can't be gated, will Hospitable automatically change the deposit flow for those bookings, or do we need to change settings ourselves?
3. Will the free ID screening that's bundled with deposits still run for Airbnb guests, given the new limits on collecting ID?
4. Is there any separate treatment for API-connected/professional managers, or is the rental agreement fully off the table for nightly stays?
5. Airbnb's policy allows contracts when required by law. Does that cover having guests acknowledge rules required by local STR ordinance (noise, parking, occupancy)? What documentation would Airbnb want from us to show it?
6. Will Airbnb treat safety-driven rules like bear-safe trash handling as legitimate requests, and is "load the dishwasher" still allowed for large-group homes?

We'd really appreciate a clear answer before Nov 20 so we can update our listings and messaging rules in time.

Joy, Foothill Management Services

Our property is located in Myrtle Beach.  The city has an ordinance “Section 14-220 applies to the innkeeper of any lodging establishment that offers short-term rental or pays accommodations tax. The requirements are specific.

Operators must keep a guest register recording each guest's name, residence, check-in date, and check-out date. The guest responsible for payment must produce identification, including a valid driver's license or other government-issued photo ID. Renting to an adult without obtaining that identification is a misdemeanor under the code.”   

This would seem to be a direct conflict of Airbnb’s photo ID ban.  I guess Airbnb’s language does include “except where required by law.”  But do we risk being “flagged” by Airbnb because we do have that exception and lose our earned place in the algorithm?  

Regarding the rental agreement, I see it mentioned here several times; it is our safe guard.  I am very concerned about not having one in place.  We are newer hosts and this is one thing I loved about hospitable and being able to easily send the ID verification and rental agreement after the booking.  From what I’ve seen, Aircover is not to be depended on for assistance in damages caused by guests.  All in all, just very frustrating changes from Airbnb.  

This may eliminate me from marketing through Airbnb- as the value of my houses is too high for the now risk of their terms. Contracts are the only way to protect myself as Airbnb does not enforce anything. Having properties near a lake and ski resort, we have to contend with wildlife, adverse weather  conditions, use of lake toys and dock,  hot tub, and general aspects of the county as far as trash and limits of people in the house per county restrictions and so many other things.  We have rules/requests/guidelines for our guest to keep them and our property safe. America operates on contracts- what makes Airbnb think they can no longer have such agreements?  Why should we now be exposed to squatters and filming of commercial projects (porn) in our homes because we had more than 2 additional rules? Their details are vague- no cleaning of dishes?  Ok is asking to place in the dishwasher and start it allowed or not?  If guests do not start the laundry- then cleaning costs will go up due to more time required. This is a massive misstep. I will be looking for alternative platforms. 

Thanks all for sharing how your personal and business situations is negatively impacted by this change of policy. We will be happy to share your perspectives and experiences to Airbnb. Keep it coming!

It is a huge concern and overreach. Asking guests to take trash to outside bins and wash the dishes is a very normal, common courtesy, house rule and has been a standard in the USA for decades. We have age requirements at our properties, some HOA mandated, and requiring an ID to verify that is necessary. Rental agreements are also an appropriate protection that I take for my properties, and for one in NC it’s mandated by the state and the HOA. I’m ready to ditch Airbnb! This may be the final straw. 

There are many articulate responses here. I’d like to add on two areas of concern. 

First, AirBnB is now asking hosts to “Let guests know about any fines that could be charged by your local government or homeowners association (HOA).” I am not an expert on all possible fines that could be charged under my city’s municipal code, and it seems inappropriate to ask me to become one or to convey that information to guests. I do tell my guests that they need to abide by the law, including local regulations, and provide details that are relevant. For example, I’ve aligned my quiet hours with the municipal code, and for units in a permit parking zone, we let them know to use the permit, applicable hours, and where to park. But for units with street parking, I do not detail all possible parking rules that could result in a fine. (I once had a guest get a parking ticket for having parked facing the opposite direction of the flow of traffic. The guest wasn’t upset with me and didn’t even report this - I only know because I observed their vehicle and the ticket.) What level of detail is required of hosts in this section? Do I need to detail the fine for a noise violation? For collecting a lost pet from the animal shelter? If nothing else, AirBnB needs to clarify their expectations. 

Second, I host many guests who stay for 7-30 days (and love to do so!). With stays this long, it is necessary for guests to perform basic tasks to avoid health, safety, and pest management issues, such as regularly washing used dishes, properly storing food, and taking out trash when full. (My properties don’t have dishwashers, which I make clear in the listings.) If guests fail to do these simple things during a stay that long, it will likely result in excessive cleaning at the end of the stay. Now that these can only be requested - if that - how should we go about documenting and enforcing excessive cleaning rules for extended stays? What does AirBnB define as excessive?

A possible solution that I’ve thought of for weekly and monthly stays is requiring guests to pay for and accommodate a weekly/fortnightly housekeeping service (but would that even be an enforceable house rule under this new policy?). AirBnB would need to update pricing for us to add a weekly/mid-stay cleaning fee, automatically charged based on length of stay, and Hospitable would need to add functionality to schedule these cleans with the cleaner. We’d also need to differentiate mid-stay and end-of-stay cleans in our messages to cleaners. Any other solution I’ve thought of involves some variation of raising prices to guests to cover increased cleaning costs and/or increasing our turnover/preparation period, resulting in less nights booked through AirBnB. 

To be fair, I’ve never had to charge someone for excessive dishes or trash - but I’ve also made these expectations clear in the listing at the time of booking. Despite my concerns, I am hopeful that most guests will continue to be as respectful as they have been in the past, even with the change from “rules” to “requests.” 

Big thanks to the Hospitable team for sharing our thoughts directly with AirBnB! I appreciate you so much! :) 

What’s going to happen, is that renters who figure out that these new lax policies are going to seek out more ways to gain access to a property and do whatever they want. I just saw a post in a FB group for the nearby town Georgetown (outside Seattle), that a 13 year old has been renting through Peerspace and hosting huge parties, advertising them on socials. What’s to stop someone from creating a fake account and doing the same with our properties?

What I’d like to see Hospitable do, is 

1. Find a way to allow us hosts to use your software without the need for at least one OTR listing. 
2. Make a platform where all of our direct booking websites can be searched. I made one on Houfy but I’ve never heard of that before, so how will guests? Also the name-- Houfy-- how do you even pronounce that, let alone tell your guests “go.
3. Improve the templates for our direct booking websites. They are so basic and don’t provide a good user experience.
4. Clarify the host insurance so that hosts know if they will be covered if the booking comes through ABB and something happens. I’d like to know that Hospitable has our back
5. eventually sever ties with partners that are abusing hosts. 

I only have one property and it’s my primary home so these changes are forcing me to look at other options rather than continuing to use ABB and allowing anyone to come into my home without protections like rules and verification.

Jen

THIS!! We also have guests that stay for 2-4 weeks at a time during peak season, and we currently mandate mid-stay cleanings. The problem is, there’s no way to implement that in Hospitable, so we have to rely on the guest to make arrangements manually through us, and then we schedule it with our cleaner through WhatsApp. Then the guest has to pay our cleaner directly in the local currency (Dominican Peso). I don’t know if that’s even going to be permissible anymore. 

Local Laws and HOA rules are exempted. It’s unclear if insurance rules fall into the same category.

One additional issue I’m seeing now that Airbnb has actually changed the listing editor:

The new “Local Rules” section gives me only 140 characters to disclose government/HOA rules and fines.

In Scottsdale, the city requires STR hosts to disclose occupancy and nonresidential/event-center restrictions, and also requires a detailed government notice inside the home covering guest conduct and safety requirements. Guest violations can expose the owner to significant fines and potentially licensing consequences.

At the same time, Airbnb is eliminating the rental agreement and dramatically limiting custom enforceable rules.

So regulated hosts are being placed in a strange position: Airbnb tells us we are responsible for complying with local law and informing guests of applicable rules, while simultaneously removing the tools and space we use to communicate and enforce those requirements.

This isn’t really about “house rules” anymore. It’s about whether professional hosts can responsibly operate under local licensing, insurance, and safety requirements with the tools Airbnb is leaving us.

Why in the world would Airbnb have guests not wash dishes? 

I want to give a concrete example of why Airbnb’s new House Rules system is problematic for hosts in regulated STR markets.

I operate a licensed STR in Scottsdale, Arizona.

First, to be fair, Airbnb DOES provide standard enforceable House Rules for maximum overnight guests, “No events,” quiet hours, smoking, etc. Those are useful.

Airbnb has also created a separate Local Rules section for HOA/government requirements. But Airbnb specifically describes that section in terms of local rules that may result in FINES, and my editor gives me roughly 140 characters to explain ALL of them.

That still leaves a major gap.

Scottsdale imposes requirements that are more specific than Airbnb’s generic rules and, in some cases, have no equivalent enforceable Airbnb House Rule at all.

For example:

Occupancy: Airbnb gives me a maximum-guest toggle. Scottsdale’s actual STR limitation is more specific: six adults plus their related dependent children.

Events/use: Airbnb provides “No events.” Scottsdale goes further by prohibiting use of an STR as an event center, banquet space, certain commercial/nonresidential uses, etc. Scottsdale also has separate nuisance-party/unlawful-gathering requirements.

Those can at least be partially addressed through Airbnb’s existing occupancy/events rules.

But consider pool safety.

My Scottsdale STR has a private pool. Under the city’s STR pool-barrier requirements, the house functions as the secondary barrier. That means doors and windows providing direct access to the pool must have audible alarms.

Those alarms are not an optional amenity or one of my personal house rules. They are part of the safety system I am legally required to maintain.

A guest cannot disable, bypass or tamper with those alarms without potentially putting my licensed property out of compliance.

Yet Airbnb does not provide an enforceable House Rule for:

“Do not disable or tamper with legally required pool safety alarms.”

Apparently I can put that into “Requests.”

But Airbnb’s own policy says guests MUST follow House Rules while they are only ENCOURAGED to comply with Requests.

That distinction matters when the CITY holds the host responsible for compliance.

And there is another contradiction.

Scottsdale legally requires STR owners to post a detailed government notice INSIDE the home near the front and backyard doors. That notice contains required information about prohibited uses, nuisance conduct, occupancy, safety requirements, waste-disposal regulations and other local requirements.

Airbnb’s new policy simultaneously says hosts cannot introduce new rules or requests after booking—including through signs inside the home.

So what happens when the sign Airbnb says I cannot use to introduce a rule is a sign the local government REQUIRES me to post?

Airbnb does have the Local Rules section, and I want to acknowledge that.

But that feature is specifically structured around HOA/government rules that can result in fines. It asks hosts to explain the rule and the fine.

What about government requirements where the larger consequence is not simply a $250 or $500 fine?

Under Arizona’s STR enforcement framework, qualifying/repeated verified violations can ultimately jeopardize the host’s STR license. A license suspension is dramatically more consequential to a host than the amount of an individual fine, yet Airbnb’s new system seems built almost entirely around disclosing fines.

The host carries that regulatory risk.

Airbnb is also eliminating separate rental agreements for most short stays. My rental agreement is currently where property-specific safety and responsibility requirements can be clearly disclosed and acknowledged.

Other examples at my property include:

• Do not disable required pool safety equipment
• No glass in the pool area
• Report problems promptly and allow a reasonable opportunity to inspect/remedy them
• Visitor/property-use restrictions
• Responsibility for extraordinary cleaning and guest-caused losses
• Other property-specific safety requirements

Most of these are not among Airbnb’s standard enforceable House Rules.

So they become “Requests.”

This is the corner I see Airbnb putting regulated hosts into:

Airbnb gives us seven standard enforceable rules.

Anything property-specific generally becomes a nonbinding “Request.”

The Local Government/HOA section exists, but it is designed primarily around rules carrying fines and gives very limited space to explain them. (around 140 characters TOTAL).

Airbnb says we cannot introduce additional rules through signs after booking.

My city requires me to post government rules and safety information inside the property.

Airbnb is eliminating the rental agreement that currently ties many of these obligations together.

And if a guest causes a serious local-law violation, the host—not Airbnb—faces the fines and potentially the licensing consequences.

I’m not asking Airbnb to let hosts invent endless picky house rules.

I’m asking a much narrower question:

How does a licensed host make a government-required or safety-critical property-specific obligation enforceable when it is not one of Airbnb’s seven standard House Rules?

If Scottsdale requires my pool door/window alarms to remain operational, “Please don’t disable them” should not be treated as merely an optional guest Request.

Regulated hosts need a genuine enforceable Local Government / Safety Rules mechanism that recognizes fines, permit/license consequences and mandatory in-home notices—not just seven generic rules, a fine-oriented Local Rules box, and nonbinding Requests.

I am certainly not going to violate local laws to appease Airbnb.   Airbnb is in effect requiring Hosts to violate local rules and regulations that don’t always have a clear fine associated with them…..just something trivial like losing my license.

I have off grid dry cabins that require if you pack it in, you pack it out. There is no garbage service and we are in bear country, not to mention other critters. Everything from food storage, the outdoor shower, outdoor kitchen, Woodstove, power stations  and fire pits you have to spell out to the guests or they don’t have a clue. I have to dig deeper to see what’s allowed and not but this is nuts.