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If you have already paid a nightly rate and a cleaning fee, should you still have to wash the dishes before you leave? Airbnb, the world's largest home-sharing platform, has decided to revise its rules to prevent hosts from demanding excessive cleaning from guests. Against that backdrop, a debate over "checkout manners" has flared up online in South Korea after photos comparing how Korean and Japanese guests left their lodgings were posted.
"You Don't Have to Do the Dishes" — Airbnb Changes Its Rules
Airbnb has revised its accommodation policy to stop hosts from imposing excessive cleaning burdens on guests, according to CNN and the BBC on the 24th.
The new rules apply to all bookings made after Nov. 20. Hosts cannot ask guests to perform tasks that require significant time and effort or that should be handled by professional cleaners.
Such tasks include washing and putting away used dishes, stripping bed linens and taking trash outside the property.
Hosts may still set basic house rules, such as quiet hours or a maximum number of guests. But requirements that effectively shift cleaning work onto guests are restricted. Imposing their own penalty fees is also prohibited.
Airbnb said the move reflects feedback that rules differing from property to property create confusion and a burden for users.
Users have long complained that they must do household chores up until the moment of checkout even after paying a separate cleaning fee. A female influencer in Minnesota previously described spending about an hour cleaning before checking out of an Airbnb, saying she did not want to be doing that kind of work while on vacation.
Hosts, by contrast, argue that basic tidying is a matter of courtesy separate from the cleaning fee.
Rossana Imbrogno, an Airbnb superhost in Rome, said it was "a question of good manners, not an obligation," adding that she tidies up after herself even when staying at hotels.
"Which One Was the Korean Guests?" — The Fallout From Two Photos
The dispute over cleaning after checkout has also erupted in South Korea.
On the 23rd, a person identified as A, who said they had been running an Airbnb property for 10 years, posted two photos on social media taken after guests had left.
The two scenes were starkly different. In one photo, leftover cake, lettuce and other food sat on a table, and beer bottles and assorted trash had not been cleared away.
In the other photo, items were relatively neatly arranged. The space looked so tidy that it was hard to believe guests had used it.
A explained that the photos showed the property after a group of Korean guests and a group of Japanese guests had checked out, respectively.
A then wrote, "I won't say which one was the Korean guests." Without directly identifying which nationality had left the mess, the host invited viewers to compare the two photos.
A also described another difficulty encountered while running the property. "If I have one very small wish, it is that people relieve themselves in the bathroom rather than on the bed," A wrote. "Is that asking too much?"
The post alone, however, did not make clear whether the soiled-bed experience involved the guests shown in the photos.
"Cleaning Is Basic Courtesy" vs. "Comparing Nationalities Goes Too Far"
As the post spread, opinions online diverged over how much tidying guests should do after using a property.
Some commenters sympathized with the host's difficulties, arguing that while hosts should handle work requiring professional cleaning, leaving food and trash behind violates basic etiquette.
But the way the two cases were presented as a difference between nationalities drew criticism. One commenter pushed back, saying, "Don't generalize," and, "The vast majority of Koreans leave places clean."
Another commenter who said they run an Airbnb property themselves said, "Most Koreans, Japanese and Chinese guests use the place cleanly." The commenter added that "foreign tourists visit for sightseeing, so the only difference is that they drink relatively less at the lodging."
Other users wrote that it was "a question of character, not nationality," and that "the right distinction is between people who leave a mess and people who keep things tidy."
The criticism was that while frustration over a messy property is understandable, the behavior of some guests should not be presented as a general trait of people from a particular country.
The debate, coming alongside Airbnb's new cleaning rules, highlights the gap between what hosts and guests consider proper checkout manners.
What Airbnb restricts is excessive cleaning work demanded by hosts. That is hard to read as meaning guests may use a property however they like.
