Should Airbnb guests be expected to clean up after themselves?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman, on Newstalk, with Ciara.

Ciara Kelly (0:08)

Now, Airbnb has introduced new rules limiting what hosts can ask guests to do before checking out. This is from washing the dishes to stripping the beds. Guests have often been left with a list of chores to complete before they can leave their rental. But it raises the question, should guests be expected to clean them after themselves while also paying a cleaning fee? Joining us now is Brenda Power, columnist, and Newstalk's own Meghan O'Halloran. I'll come to you first, Brenda. What do you make of this change in rules?

Brenda Power (0:34)

Do you know what, Ciara? I think that the world is divided into people who clean up after themselves as a matter of courtesy and good manners, whether they're in a restaurant by stacking your plates and folding your napkin or in a hotel and certainly in an Airbnb and people who don't. I have to say I would fall into the former category.

I can't imagine what kind of a slob you'd have to be to leave your Airbnb in a state with dirty dishes on the table and the linens you've been sleeping in for maybe a week left on the bed and wet towels on the bathroom floor. I mean, I would have thought that those were basic courtesies to the people whose property you have been staying in. I mean, I get that if you have paid a hundred euro or more for a cleaning fee that you shouldn't have to wash the floor or sweep the patio or whatever. But basic courtesies, basic things that you would do. Say, I've often heard people, I don't have a cleaner, but people who have cleaners say, I go around tidying up before she comes in, because I don't want to think I'm an absolute slob. I mean, the very least I would do would be to be out of the bins.

Ciara Kelly (1:42)

So, just to be clear, you think it's okay to pay a cleaning fee and you'll still do some cleaning?

Brenda Power (1:48)

I think I would still do a little bit of cleaning. I certainly wouldn't leave dirty dishes in the sink.

I don't think I would, even if there was a cleaning fee, no I wouldn't.

Ciara Kelly (1:55)

Let me bring in Meghan. Meghan, what do you think?

Meghan O'Halloran (1:58)

I think as a young person who likes to travel and usually with friends, I'm not opposed to it. And like Brenda's saying, I think to be able to travel at a lesser fee and do the booking.com, I'm happy enough to clean up after myself. I'm going to anyway, out of respect, but to do a proper cleaning, then I don't want to be paying necessarily the cleaning fee on top of it. But I think a lot of people would be happy to, you know, do the cleaning at a reduced rate. I don't think you can expect maybe the same level you would get in a hotel as you would with booking.com then, or an Airbnb or something like that. And I think often when you're booking, there is those kind of tiers. It's like you pay a little bit extra coming up to your stay, that you have a flexibility with cancellation, things like that. So if you know going into it.

Ciara Kelly (2:51)

I kind of agree with you, Meghan, insofar as that if I was young and broke, basically, and I might still want to travel, I would be happy to scrub the place rather than pay a cleaning fee. Because you were saying about Michael O'Leary.

Meghan O'Halloran (3:07)

Yeah.

The thing that Ryanair had proposed a few years ago of having a few seats or standing seats at the back at a reduced rate. I think it's the exact same thing here. If you're young, you're going to a group of your friends, you're going to be happy to just, you know, take the linen off.

Ciara Kelly (3:25)

Super no frills, but cheaper. Yeah, I think there is.

Meghan O'Halloran (3:28)

And cheap and cheerful.

Ciara Kelly (3:30)

Is that fair, Brenda? Like, you know, if you don't want to clean, if you want to have somebody come in and turn down your bed and all, you can pay for that. It's like there's hotels where all of that exists.

My wonder about this is the fact that they're doing away with asking this. I kind of feel that people should be given the choice. Pay a cleaning fee or clean up yourself.

Brenda Power (3:50)

Yeah, I stayed in an Airbnb in France this summer. I was there for three weeks. So, I mean, it was pretty much home from home.