Bulletin · News 61
Airbnb cleaning rule changes will 'absolutely' hit Wales harder, says host Figure caption, Airbnb hosts left "speechless" by messy guests By Danielle Herbert BBC Wales An Airbnb host has said rule changes meaning guests cannot be asked to do certain jobs will put "more stress" on hosts. Hosts cannot ask guests to do jobs normally carried out by cleaners, including doing dishes, stripping beds and taking rubbish off site. Gavin Rowlands, 37, owns a property in Neath Port Talbot with his wife Kelly and said Wales would "absolutely" be hit harder due to specific rules.
Here, holiday let owners pay more council tax if properties are not available for at least 252 days and let for at least 182 days a year, which can see hosts strive for more same-day changeovers between guests. Airbnb said the changes were made to "help guests understand what hosts expect". Image source, Gavin Rowlands Image caption, Gavin Rowlands, whose property is on Airbnb, worries that the rule changes could put "a lot more stress" on hosts Previously, properties in Wales had to be available for 140 days of the year and let for 70 to qualify for business rates – a system that still exists in England.
Despite being "constantly busy", Rowlands said he and his wife have been unable to meet the threshold, meaning they pay 200% tax on their holiday home. "The harder were working, the worse off we are," said Rowlands, who added that he worked two jobs on top of running the holiday let. "We've got to get our numbers up to help pay the bills." Airbnb's new guidelines, which apply to bookings made globally from 20 November, state that hosts can now set seven standard house rules and other "reasonable" requests.
But rules say guests - who pay a cleaning fee - should not be asked to complete tasks normally done by a cleaner. Image source, Gavin Rowlands Image caption, Rowlands and his wife Kelly both take on a share of cleaning the holiday let, as well as employing a cleaner In May, Rowlands and his wife were left "speechless" after guests left their holiday home full of empty cans and pans and plates full of food. He said this "was not a one off", despite Airbnb's existing rules stating that guests should treat the host's home like their own.
"It's only going to get worse. It's really disheartening." Despite this, Rowlands does not have plans to leave Airbnb, but said "these negatives come with using it". Image source, Gavin Rowlands Image caption, Rowlands said his property is "regularly" left in an unsuitable condition after guests check out Image source, Emma Enticott Image caption, Guy Allen and Emma Enticott have decided to take their Mumbles property off Airbnb ahead of the rule changes Guy Allen, 63, and Emma Enticott, 52, operate a holiday let in Mumbles on the Gower Peninsula, which was on Airbnb but they asked their agent for it to be removed after the new rules were announced.
"If they change their policy we will go back on it," Enticott said. Speaking on the rule changes, Allen said: "It's just daft... for those people who aren't going to respect the property, it just gives them carte blanche to not. "It's also about the respect for our housekeeping team as well, you know, they shouldn't have to come in and start clearing up other people's mess." Allen said the tourism market was "particularly challenging" in Wales, adding that same-day changeovers would be one of the "biggest problems" caused by Airrbnb's rule changes, referencing the 182-day business rate threshold.
"We're battling on a lot of fronts to build a successful business. Anything that adds to the pressure is not good. We are under siege as an industry." Not all hosts are concerned about the changes , including Matt Porsz, who hosts and manages other Airbnb properties full-time.
He believes the update will improve the guest experience without changing how most people behave. Guests at his property are asked only to lock up and return the keys: "People sometimes strip the beds or do things without me asking and that's nice for my cleaners, but I don't expect it." Image source, Jamie-lee Presley Image caption, Jamie-lee Presley runs a cleaning company alongside her husband Alex, which specialises in Airbnb and holiday let changeovers Jamie-Lee Presley, 37, from Llannon, Carmarthenshire, runs a cleaning company with her husband Alex, which specialises in Airbnb and holiday let changeovers. She feels "nervous" about the upcoming changes and worries it could "open the door for already inconsiderate guests to become even more inconsiderate".
"I just think it's ridiculous. The respectful guests who have always treated properties properly will continue to do so. They're not the problem and never have been.
"It's the guests who already have absolutely no respect for other people's property that concern me." She added that they already had "such a tight window" to clean properties in time for the next guests. Krissi Foskett, 46, from Glasgow, also runs a cleaning company and regularly stays in Airbnb properties so "can see the issue from both sides" . During a recent stay in Stafford, she paid a £35 cleaning fee but was still asked to strip the beds, put on a wash, empty bins and carry rubbish to a recycling area.
"I don't particularly mind doing those things, but it did make me question what exactly I was paying the additional cleaning fee for," she said. Image source, Jamie-lee Presley Image caption, The couple's cleaning company once removed more than 20 bags of rubbish from one Airbnb property "We have same-day check-ins, multiple properties to service, cleaners travelling between locations, linen to change, bathrooms to sanitise, kitchens to clean and incredibly high standards to maintain. "When guests leave a property in an unacceptable condition, that doesn't just affect one cleaner.
It can affect the entire day's schedule, the next arriving guests, the property owner and ultimately the reputation of the businesses involved." Looking ahead to the potential impact of the rule changes, Presley said it is likely the cost of her companies services will have to increase. In a statement, Airbnb said: "House rules help guests understand what hosts expect, but we've heard from our community that they can be confusing, onerous and hard to manage. "So, we've redesigned them to make them easier to discover and clearer to set, alongside a new policy that keeps requests reasonable, with no surprises." Image caption, When asked to comment on the 182-day business rate threshold, the Welsh government referred the BBC to a statement published on July 31 from finance minister Elin Jones.
In it, she said: "I have heard representations from a number of businesses that are making meaningful contributions to their local economies but are unable to meet the current threshold. "This consultation will help us find a solution that works better for everyone, including businesses, local authorities and local areas."
Source: BBC
