BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — Airbnb has released a new set of house rule guidelines for hosts, and many hosts Denver7 has talked to are not happy.
The changes take effect toward the end of November — peak tourism time for places like Summit County.
Starting Nov. 20, hosts will no longer be able to require guests to complete certain checkout tasks. The new guidelines set limits on what hosts are allowed to ask for from guests.
"They're going to be not requiring us to you know, have these extensive checkout rules," said Savannah Revis, owner of Earthwise Cleaning. "You don't have to strip your beds. You don't have to start your laundry."
Revis owns Earthwise Cleaning, an Airbnb cleaning business. She calls these tasks real time savers.
"That one hour of those towels going before we get there could make or break whether we are able to do, you know, an early check-in or if we're even done by the time check-in is," Revis said.
Businesses in Summit County — like Thad Eldredge's ski and bike shop in Breckenridge — are in go mode, transitioning from summer tourism to winter. It's big for businesses.
"We're just mostly busy getting the winter merchandize prepared so that when they hopefully get here, we're ready," Eldredge said. "I think people are excited and eager for winter season. Because I think all the local businesses are ready to have a little better season than they did last year."
That includes Airbnbs, with bookings getting snatched up and quick turnarounds already on the schedule — made possible with a little help from guests.
"They wanted us to load the dishwasher and start it, leave all the dirty laundry and like towels and everything in the bathrooms for the cleaners to come and pick up and then just overall like, clean up after yourself," Savannah Eggleston, a guest, said. "That should be the host's responsibility because, ultimately, we aren't paying to do chores."
Denver7 has reported on some other issues with Airbnb. Watch a related story in the video below:
As for business, some of Revis' clients are discussing dropping out — no longer listing their home at all, or moving their property to just VRBO.
"If you want to stay in a hotel, great. That's where you can do all these things and leave a complete disaster. But Airbnb started on the guise of renting someone's personal space, meaning that you take care of it in that manner. So I don't understand why taking all of those rules away really benefits the whole original idea behind Airbnb," Revis said.
Denver7 took that question to Airbnb, but they didn't answer it directly.
A spokesperson said in a statement they've heard from guests that house rules can be confusing and hard to manage, and these changes are an effort to keep requests reasonable.
