Airbnb is rewriting the rules on one of travelers' biggest pet peeves: being handed a checkout chore list on top of a cleaning fee.

Under a new policy that takes effect for reservations booked on or after November 20, hosts will generally no longer be allowed to require guests to strip beds, wash and put away dishes, or haul trash offsite before they leave. The company is also standardizing house rules into seven defined categories, saying the old patchwork had become unwieldy for hosts and confusing for guests.

What's still allowed

Hosts can still ask for the simple stuff — placing used dishes in the sink, for instance — but anything more labor-intensive is now off the table. "House rules help guests understand what hosts expect, but we've heard from our community that they can be confusing, onerous and hard to manage," Airbnb said in a statement.

The move comes nearly two decades after Airbnb's founding, during which checkout chore lists became a recurring source of viral guest complaints and, more recently, scrutiny from regulators and consumer advocates over hidden fees and expectations baked into bookings.

CONFUSING, ONEROUS AND HARD TO MANAGE

Enforcement is the new teeth behind the policy. Hosts who repeatedly violate the rules could see a warning notice attached to their listing, reduced visibility in search results, or more serious consequences — including the loss of Superhost or Guest Favorite status, canceled bookings, or account suspension for the most persistent violators, according to Islands.

Reaction among hosts has been mixed. Some have welcomed clearer, standardized expectations after years of ad hoc house rules that varied wildly from listing to listing; others have pushed back online, arguing that without unpaid guest labor, cleaning costs and fees will simply rise to cover professional turnover crews. Airbnb has not said whether it expects cleaning fees to change as a result.

The policy applies only to new bookings made on or after the November 20 cutoff, meaning trips already reserved under a host's existing house rules won't be affected. Airbnb says it will continue monitoring guest and host feedback as the rollout proceeds.