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Airbnb's New House Rules Policy: How to Adjust Your Turnover Before November 20

Starting November 20, 2026, Airbnb will no longer let hosts ask guests to wash dishes, strip beds, start laundry, or take trash off site at checkout. If your checkout list includes any of those, your cleaner now owns those tasks, so the real work is adjusting your turnover time, pay, and listing before the date arrives.

I have hosted since 2021 and spent nine years in cleaning and hospitality ops before that, and I will be honest: most of my own checkout list was already short. But I know plenty of hosts who built their whole turnover around guests doing a third of the job. This guide walks through what changed, what you can still ask for, and how to rebuild the turnover so nothing slips.

What Airbnb actually changed

Airbnb published the details in its Resource Center article on important changes to house rules. The policy takes effect November 20, 2026. Here is the short version for checkout.

Airbnb also says it may grant exceptions based on your situation, and gives examples like animal proof trash containers in bear country. If you think your property qualifies, raise it with Airbnb directly instead of assuming.

Where your rules have to live now

This part trips people up. All house rules and requests should appear in the House rules and requests section of your listing. Airbnb says hosts should not add rules elsewhere on the listing, in messages, or on signs in the home. That means the laminated "before you leave" card on the fridge and the long checkout message you send through your PMS both need a second look.

Airbnb is also standardizing house rules into seven categories: maximum overnight guests, quiet hours, events, pets, smoking, commercial photography, and lock up at checkout. Reasonable requests sit alongside those.

If you want a deeper look at how checkout tasks affect reviews in general, I wrote about that in Airbnb checkout tasks and rules.

What this means for your turnover

When guests stop doing dishes, stripping beds, and hauling trash, three things land on your cleaner:

1. Dishes. Your cleaner will walk into a sink full of plates more often. In a two or three bedroom home, that can mean a full dishwasher cycle plus hand washing pans.
2. Bed stripping and the first laundry load. Stripping every bed and getting the first load going is not huge on its own, but it happens at the very start of the clean, when your cleaner wants to be moving fast.
3. Trash removal. Guests can still sort trash into indoor bins, but carrying bags out to the curb or a dumpster is now on your team. If your bins are far from the door, or you have a gated trash area, plan for that.

None of this is dramatic for a one bedroom condo. For a large group home with back to back stays, it can add real time.

Time your current turnover, then add the new tasks

Before you change anything, ask your cleaner to note the start and finish time on the next few turnovers and to flag which tasks guests had or had not done. You will get a much better number than guessing. Then add a realistic estimate for dishes, bed stripping, and trash on top.

Worked example (illustrative numbers, not a benchmark): Say your cleaner currently averages three hours on a three bedroom home and guests usually strip beds and run the dishwasher. If stripping four beds takes about 15 minutes, dishes take about 20, and walking trash out takes about 10, you are looking at roughly 45 extra minutes. If you pay hourly, that is 0.75 hours more per turnover. If you pay a flat rate, that is a conversation worth having before November 20, not after.

Talk to your cleaner about pay now

If you pay per turnover, a flat rate that made sense when guests did half the dishes may not make sense anymore. I would rather raise my cleaner's rate a little than lose them over a change they did not ask for. My guide on how much to pay an Airbnb cleaner covers the different pay models if you are rethinking the structure.

Revisit your cleaning fee

If the turnover now takes longer, your cleaning fee may need to move too. Be careful with this. A higher fee shows up in the total guests see, so raise it only by what the extra work actually costs you.

Rewrite your checkout instructions

Here is what I suggest you keep, and how to phrase it so it reads as a request instead of a chore list.

A checkout request list that fits the new policy:

• Please place used dishes in the sink.
• Please gather used towels in the bathroom.
• Please sort trash and recycling into the bins under the kitchen sink.
• Please turn off the AC and lights when you leave.
• Lock the front door on your way out.

That is it. Put these in the House rules and requests section of your listing. Then remove any conflicting rules from your guidebook, your automated messages, and any signs in the home.

Update the places hosts forget

• Automated checkout messages in Airbnb or your PMS. Strip out anything about stripping beds, starting the dishwasher, or taking trash out.
• Digital guidebooks and house manuals. Search for words like "strip," "dishwasher," "trash," and "laundry."
• Physical signs. Fridge cards, laminated checklists by the door, and notes in the laundry room.
• Co host and cleaner instructions. Your team should know that guests are no longer expected to do these tasks, so nobody leaves a guest a grumpy review note about dishes.

My Airbnb checkout message template is a good starting point if you want to rewrite that message from scratch.

Make the new tasks part of your standard

Once dishes, beds, and trash are always your cleaner's job, they should be on the checklist every time, with a clear finished state:

• Kitchen: dishwasher emptied, dishes put away, sink clear, counters wiped.
• Beds: all beds stripped, fresh linens on, used linens bagged or in the wash.
• Trash: every bin emptied, new liners in, bags taken to the outdoor bin or dumpster, outdoor lids closed.

This is where photos help. When I am not at the property, I want to see the empty sink, the made beds, and the closed outdoor bins, not just hear "all done." In Clyn, your cleaner takes those photos in the app and Clyn's AI checks each one against your standard before the next guest arrives, so a sink full of dishes or an overflowing outdoor bin gets caught while there is still time to fix it.

A simple plan for the next two weeks

1. Read Airbnb's house rules changes yourself.
2. Time your next few turnovers.
3. Talk to your cleaner about the extra tasks and pay.
4. Move all rules and requests into the House rules and requests section.
5. Remove checkout chores from messages, guidebooks, and signs.
6. Update your cleaning checklist with the new tasks.
7. Decide whether your cleaning fee needs to change.

FAQ

Can I still ask guests to load the dishwasher?

Airbnb's article says guests should not be asked to wash and put away dishes, and that you can ask them to put used dishes in the sink. I would stick to the sink request and let your cleaner handle the dishwasher.

Can I leave a checkout sign in the home?

Airbnb says rules and requests should not be added on signs in the home. Keep your requests in the House rules and requests section of your listing instead.

What if my area has strict trash rules, like bear proof bins?

Airbnb says it may grant exceptions based on your situation, and mentions animal proof trash containers in bear country as an example. Contact Airbnb about your specific property rather than assuming an exception applies.

If you want every turnover checked before check in, you can try Clyn free on one property at clyn.com.