Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Responds to House Cleaning Chores and Cost Transparency Complaints

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has stated that he can hear you “loud and clear.”

In addition, the company is changing its search function to prioritise listings based on “total price,” rather than just the nightly fare.

Customers have been vocal about rising prices, onerous check-out procedures, and a lack of transparency about how they are displayed on the platform. Chesky addressed those concerns in a Twitter thread and a company press release on Monday.

“You feel like prices aren’t transparent and checkout tasks are a pain,” he wrote. “We started as an affordable alternative to hotels, and affordability is especially important” during tough economic times, he added.

The Wall Street Journal reported in September on guests who felt they were ruining their vacations by spending so much time doing chores. According to research firm AirDNA, cleaning fees have increased by 44% in the last five years.

In its listing search algorithms, the company intends to change the way search works on the site and display “total price” with “all fees before taxes” (not quite the total, but it’s more information than just the price per night). When you book, you will see “a full price breakdown that shows Airbnb’s service fee, discounts, and taxes,” according to Airbnb.

The company also stated that it would address customer complaints about checkout tasks, asking hosts to keep requests “reasonable,” to have them available before booking and that guests should not be required to strip beds, do laundry, or vacuum.

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

For several years, people have been debating the cleaning fee and checkout chores issue on the internet. In an early 2021 video, for example, fashion blogger “Melissa M” asked, “Where do Airbnb owners get the audacity?”

In the video, she says she was looking for a getaway with her husband and found an Airbnb for several hundred dollars for two nights. The creator of the video displayed a screenshot of the check-out duties, which included taking out the trash (fine), stripping the bed (also fine), and starting a load of laundry.

“If I am paying $229 a night to stay somewhere, plus a $125 cleaning fee, I am not doing any f— laundry. Full stop,” she said. “The principle of it really bothers me,” she added.

The video has over 60 thousand likes and over four thousand comments, and it has gone viral multiple times, according to the creator. “This video is 8 months old and still going viral lol I stayed at a hotel and have only booked hotels since!” she commented.

It’s unclear whether Airbnbs have become more expensive than hotels, and prices vary widely. Nerdwallet investigated this issue in June and discovered that, due to the platform’s discounts for long-term bookings and cleaning fees, an Airbnb can be more expensive than a hotel for shorter stays.

Nerdwallet added that Airbnb is likely cheaper for larger groups, though its analysis only looked at “entire place” stays.