Guests in Airbnb rentals have taken to social media to complain about chore lists given to them during their stays.
Travellers have shared lengthy ‘to do’ lists left by their hosts, with some claiming they’ve been instructed to wash piles of laundry or even mow the lawn.
A TikTok video by @Melworeit that went viral asked what exactly the US$125 ($200) service fee was for, when the flat she rented came with an extensive list of chores which, she said, amounted to a deep clean.
The Airbnb listing asked her to take out the rubbish, change bed linen, clean the dishes, and do a load of laundry.
“$700 for two nights ≠ no chores!” she wrote.
The video’s many comments suggested that the Airbnb ‘chore list’ is a common problem.
“If I’m paying $229 a night to stay somewhere plus a $125 cleaning fee, I’m not doing any laundry,” Melworeit said, reported The New Zealand Herald. “I know it’s like one load of laundry and it’ll take me two minutes to do, but it’s the principle that really bothers me.”
Other travellers began to share unusual tasks that hosts had expected them to complete as part of their stay.
One asked if it was “normal for a host to tell the guest to mow the lawn themselves?”
The home rental platform’s rating system means that many travellers claim to feel compelled to do the requested chores for fear of receiving a bad review from their host.
“Seems like a strange response given the premium being paid for staying here (to me, at least), but if that’s standard then I’ll roll with it,” one user wrote. “I just don’t want to be penalised/charged/poorly reviewed for ‘neglecting’ the lawn if I don’t do it.”
A bad host review for a visitor could permanently damage their good rating, making them less appealing guests for potential future hosts to rent a property to.
The Wall Street Journal published a list of lengthy, sometimes absurd, chores that guests say they have been asked to do.
“You don’t want to wake up at 6am to do chores when you’re on vacation,” Christina Marie told the paper, following a weekend away with her family of six.
Airbnb says that cleaning fees are set by hosts and are optional. The Independent has contacted the brand for further comment.
