Airbnb Australia boss responds to guests’ biggest gripe

If there is one thing that riles up both Airbnb guests and hosts, it’s this – and now Airbnb Australia’s boss has picked a side.

Airbnb says it is on travellers’ side when it comes to guests being given a list of chores to do on check out.

A major issue travellers have with the popular accommodation booking platform is requests from hosts you just wouldn’t get when opting to stay in a hotel.

One tweet from an engineering director at Google went viral earlier this year gaining almost 90,000 likes and 8.3 million views when she shared her Airbnb host was angry at her for not vacuuming.

She said they already stripped the beds and took the trash to the local trash centre, and paid a cleaning fee.

I know I'd been warned, but I think Airbnb is over for me -- a host is angry with us because we didn't *vacuum*. mind you, we paid a $185 cleaning fee, stripped the beds, and took the trash to the local trash center

— Adriana Porter Felt (@__apf__) February 3, 2023

Many frustrated social media users took it as an opportunity to share similar experiences.

Now, Airbnb Australia is making its stance clear.

“We believe guests should not have to strip the bed, do the laundry or vacuum when leaving their Airbnb,” Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb’s country manager for Australia and New Zealand, told news.com.au.

“But we think it’s reasonable to ask guests to turn off the lights, throw food in the rubbish, and lock the doors – just like they would when leaving their own home.”

Airbnb Australia and New Zealand boss Susan Wheeldon says guests should not be stripping the bed or vacuuming when leaving their Airbnb. Picture: Supplied

In May, Airbnb introduced a “before you leave” section on listings, so guests can view checkout instructions on a property’s listing page before booking.

“As part of a recent product update, we introduced transparent checkout instructions, which differ from house rules, and are clearly displayed on the listing page before a guest books a listing,” Ms Wheeldon said.

“Hosts also remind guests of the listing checkout instructions the day before departure.

“We updated our processes so guests can give feedback on checkout instructions, and listings with repeated low ratings from unreasonable chores will be removed from Airbnb.”

Airbnb did not disclose to news.com.au if any listings had been removed because of unreasonable chores since the update.

Overall, more than 12,000 listings have been removed globally since April this year for various violation-related reasons.

If checkout instructions include unreasonable chores, listings could be removed from the platform, Airbnb says.

Change in travel behaviour

Ms Wheeldon’s comments come as a report from Oxford Economics, commissioned by Airbnb Australia, found an interesting shift from international to domestic tourism, and from city to regional areas.

About 79 per cent of total Airbnb guest spend in Australia in 2022 (the 12 months to March 2023 to better reflect a year without travel restrictions) was by domestic tourists compared with 64 per cent in 2019, before the pandemic.

The analysis also showed the dispersal of travel beyond traditional holiday hotspots.

Oxford Economics Australia’s head of consulting Kristian Holding explained: “Domestic travellers have been crucial to the tourism sector’s resilience over the past three years as Aussie guests saw opportunities in domestic travel as a substitute for international holidays, with self-drive and regional trips increasing in popularity, which lead to a wider dispersion of tourism spend outside the traditional or ‘popular’ destinations in Australia.”

Since the pandemic, Australia has seen the dispersal of tourism away from urban areas. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Michael Crosby, head of public policy at Airbnb in Australia and New Zealand, said they were seeing a particular trend in farm stays.

The states with the highest share of money spent on non-urban Airbnb accommodation in 2022 were Tasmania (52 per cent) and Western Australia (43 per cent), followed by New South Wales (37 per cent), South Australia (37 per cent), Victoria (35 per cent), Queensland (26 per cent) and the Northern Territory (21 per cent).

Michael Shoory, who specialises in tourism for Oxford Economics, said they weren’t expecting the regional shift to be permanent but there was potential for these areas if regional tourism boards put the effort into marketing.

He also drew attention to the fact cities were popular for business travel, which took longer to recover.

The report stated Airbnb had contributed $13.6 billion to Australia’s Gross Domestic Product in 2022.