Group Petition

We are professional hosts who want Airbnb to succeed, and we welcome clearer house rules. We are asking Airbnb to reconsider one part of the policy that applies to bookings made on or after November 20: the limits on rental agreements and guest verification.

Communities consistently name noise, parking, and trash as their top short-term rental concerns. In HOAs, condos, and resorts, pool and clubhouse behavior is on that list too. Many of these problems come from how many people are on the property, not how many sleep there. Airbnb’s new standard rule caps overnight guests only. Daytime visitor limits protect septic systems, keep noise down, and keep decks, balconies, and pools within safe capacity. Hosts use a short rental agreement to set those limits before anyone arrives.

Hosts also need a clear way to address the risks that come with pools, hot tubs, bunk beds, and watercraft. Insurers expect waiver and use-at-own-risk language, and a signed acknowledgment is the clearest way to document it.

Some towns and associations also require guest names, ages, or verification as a condition of renting. Hosts need clear permission to meet those requirements.

We ask Airbnb to:

1. Allow a short rental agreement, disclosed before booking, limited to terms relevant to the stay: safety, occupancy and visitor limits, parking, trash, noise, care of the property and shared areas, and use of amenities and equipment, including assumption-of-risk acknowledgments.

2. Provide a clear place in the listing to upload that agreement.

3. Allow third-party identity and age verification where required by law, ordinance, permit, or HOA, with data minimization and deletion after the stay.

4. Add a house rule option for maximum daytime visitors, alongside overnight guests, plus parking limits.

5. Confirm that safety signage and warnings for listed amenities are allowed.

6. Recognize association and permit requirements, and insurer-required risk terms, as qualifying exceptions.

7. Delay the effective date until hosts, associations, and carriers have been consulted.

We would welcome the chance to work with Airbnb on a version that protects guest privacy and gives communities confidence in short-term rentals.

My Airbnb Breakup Letter - Hands off my small business, Airbnb!!

Dear Airbnb,

Before I say anything else, please know that it’s not you.  It’s me.

Oh hell, who are we kidding?  Of course it’s you.  It’s ALL you!

It has been a horrible year.  Probably the worst year of our relationship.  You slowly revealed your intention to take away our choices of appropriate cancellation policies.  Yes, a slow roll out.  First it was integrated hosts and then eventually everyone.

I thought to myself.  Maybe we can still make this work.  I just won’t open up my calendar until almost the last minute on Airbnb.  You know after all the peak season dates are booked anyway.

Well if this wasn’t bad enough, next you shifted the guest fees to hosts.  This one does not seem so bad at first since we can just increase rates.  But there’s still a problem.  See not everyone cleans their own properties.  I was willing to lose 3% of my cleaning fee, but I am not willing to lose 15.5% of the exact amount I pay my cleaner. 

You pretend like you care about low wage earners like many house cleaners.  Remember that living wage promise?  More lies I guess, because this change makes my cleaner’s rates look 15.5% higher. 

When she tries to raise her rates, eventually I will need to replace her with someone who is willing to charge less money.  She’s an excellent cleaner.  She works hard.  I don’t want to replace her.  But really how much more are guests willing to pay for cleaning fees?  You’ve told us the cleaning fees are too high, but then you tell us to pay a living wage.  LIAR. 

You just want your 15.5% cut of my cleaner’s hard earned pay.  Have you ever cleaned a large property during a 5 hour turnover window in 95 degree heat?  I didn’t think so.  But you want to take 15.5% of her earning potential.  For what?  You don’t bring her business.  I do. 

As if I wasn’t already filled with anger & resentment over that last change, now you have completely outdone yourself.  It’s past time to end this abusive parasitic relationship.

You bring us guests - well only if your algorithm thinks we book enough on your site.  But we can’t know their full names, residential address, phone number, and email address?  They couldn’t stay at a hotel without providing that info, signing a check-in agreement, and showing ID. 

How dare you dictate what information we can or cannot collect and even whether we are “allowed” to require a signed agreement which outlines acceptable behavior in our properties?  For some hosts, you expect them to welcome a stranger into their own home where they live maybe with small children with no way to find this person to hold them legally accountable for damage or violence. 

How dare you compromise our safety, our children’s safety, our neighbors’ safety, and our community’s safety?  You will be attracting the worst of the worst.  People who can’t stay at a hotel, because they will be charged for damages.

This is an example of what happens when you don’t limit day visitors.   In 2021, a Malibu home rented for a birthday party had a balcony collapse with more than 15 people on it, injuring nine. The owner said only six guests were allowed. Hosts need a clear way to set visitor limits and have guests acknowledge them before arrival.

It seems minor, but who are you to say someone can leave unwashed dishes in my property for my cleaner to spend extra time cleaning with no way to get paid for it?  What was it you said about a living wage?  My rental agreement outlines the bare minimum for acceptable behavior and the consequences for unacceptable behavior which result in an excessive housekeeping fee.

Tbe worst guests I ever had caused my cleaner an extra 19 hours of cleaning.  Did you want him to work for free?  How dare you?

All you care about is money in your pocket.  You want to pimp out our properties and make money off of us, but you offer us less & less protection against bad guests.  Most guests are very good, but the bad ones are usually really bad and therefore quite memorable.  More than financial consequences, you don’t even care about our basic safety.

You make me sick.  You have really gone too far now.  I think the time has come for us to part ways.  My properties will be effectively UNBOOKABLE on your site if I even decide to leave my listings up.

I’m so sick of your abuse.  I’m sick & tired of you acting like what belongs to me actually belongs to you WHEN IT DOESN’T.  Find another victim.  I’m done.

Sincerely,

Every Host