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Real Estate · News · Rentals

Airbnb's New House Rules and 2026 Changes: What Owners Must Do

Carlos Ramírez Casanova
Written byCarlos Ramírez CasanovaOperations Director · Managing Broker
9 min read

Airbnb changed more this year than its fee. If you rent a property in Las Terrenas through it, four changes matter, and one of them has a deadline.

  • New house rules for bookings made from 20 November 2026. Hosts generally may not ask guests to sign a contract, hand over a government ID or contact details such as a phone number, pay fines, or do cleaner-type chores at checkout. What counts is your listing as it stands when the guest books, so rewrite it before 20 November.
  • Strict cancellation is giving way to Firm, which gives a guest who cancels 30 days or more before check-in a full refund. That changes the risk on winter bookings made months ahead.
  • Damage claims run on short deadlines. With deposits and fines mostly ruled out, you recover damage through Airbnb, and the first step is due within 14 days of checkout.
  • Search and payment have changed. Airbnb’s AI writes highlights from your description and reviews, and Reserve Now, Pay Later is open to guests worldwide.

The fee change, from 3% to 15.5% for most hosts, is covered with how to reprice in our post on platform fees and booking direct.

The new house rules, from 20 November

Airbnb’s policy on reasonable house rules and requests applies to reservations booked on or after 20 November 2026. Its contracts policy changes the same day, and says reservations booked before then stay under the previous policy.

The booking date is what matters, not the arrival date. Rules must be on the listing “at the time of booking”, and Airbnb’s help page on contracts adds that “you can’t ask guests to sign a contract that wasn’t on your listing when they booked.” So the listing has to be right before 20 November.

What you may no longer do on those bookings:

  • Ask guests to sign a separate contract.
  • Ask for identification such as a passport, or for contact details such as a phone number, home address or email address. In Las Terrenas that means no asking for a guest’s WhatsApp number; keep the conversation in Airbnb messages. Card details and background checks are also out.
  • Impose fines or other penalties on guests.
  • Require tasks that take significant effort or that a cleaner would normally do, such as stripping beds, washing dishes, starting laundry or taking rubbish off-site.
  • Restrict access to anything you advertise. If an advertised feature costs extra, the fee has to be in the price shown at booking.
  • Make guests register on another app or website to get in or to use a key amenity. A keyless entry app is allowed if you offer another way in when a guest asks.
  • Add rules anywhere else, such as by message, on signs in the home or in person. Every rule and request belongs in the listing’s house rules and requests section.

The exceptions. A contract is allowed only where the law or community association rules require one, such as an HOA or building security requirement, for monthly stays of 28 nights or more, on Airbnb Luxe listings, and for optional extras such as golf carts. An allowed contract is uploaded under Contracts in your listing settings, where anyone can read it, so leave personal information out, and Airbnb does not enforce it for you. Personal information such as an ID can be collected only where the law or a documented community association rule calls for it, or to sign an allowed contract, and the listing must say what is needed and why. Otherwise you may check an ID in person at check-in if your listing says so, but not keep a copy.

What you can still ask. House rules now come from seven standard options: maximum overnight guests, quiet hours, events, pets, smoking including vaping, commercial photography, and locking up at checkout. Beyond those, you can make reasonable requests, and Airbnb’s examples include putting used dishes in the sink, gathering used towels, separating rubbish and recycling into indoor bins, and turning off the air conditioning when leaving.

When a guest breaks a rule. Airbnb says you can cancel the reservation without fees or other consequences if a guest breaks a house rule during the stay, or says before check-in that they intend to.

If you do not comply. Requests that break the policy are highlighted in the listing editor, and Airbnb says it will email you and let you appeal. Left unresolved, guests may see an alert such as “includes cleaning requests”, and your search visibility can drop. On contracts and personal data, penalties run to suspending or removing listings and, for repeat offences, the account.

What it means in Las Terrenas.

If your rental is in a condominio, a building whose owners share its common areas and rules, Airbnb’s exceptions for community association rules are the closest fit. Where the building’s rules genuinely require a signed form or an ID, say so in the listing and keep the paperwork, because Airbnb may ask for evidence. Airbnb decides what qualifies, so do not stretch the exception to cover rules of your own.

If the building can fine you for something a guest does, Airbnb’s help page on local rules lets you set out in your requests the rule, who sets it, and the fine or how it is calculated. If a guest then causes a fine to you, you can ask them to reimburse it through the Resolution Center, Airbnb’s claims tool, with the notice attached. You still cannot fine the guest yourself.

Asking guests to avoid air conditioning you advertise is not allowed. If you charge for electricity by the meter, Airbnb’s payment policy lists utility fees among the mandatory fees that, with narrow exceptions, must be paid through Airbnb and shown before booking, in a fee field or “in the nightly price if there is no applicable fee field”. The standard fee fields are cleaning, pets and extra guests, so for most owners electricity goes in the nightly price, not a cash meter reading at checkout.

Asking for a passport copy before arrival was already barred under Airbnb’s previous policy, except for legal or compliance reasons. A signed agreement, a damage fine schedule or a checkout cleaning list has to go or be rewritten before 20 November.

Deposits and damage. Airbnb’s payment policy, which already applies, says most hosts “are not allowed to charge a security deposit or credit card hold for incidentals”. The exceptions are hotels and some hosts, including select software-connected ones, who must show the deposit in the fee field. Claims against a guest go through the Resolution Center, on short deadlines. Airbnb’s Host Damage Protection terms, updated 1 August 2026, require you to ask the guest to pay and notify Airbnb within 14 days of checkout, which a Resolution Center request does. If the guest does not pay, you must file with Airbnb within 30 days of checkout, with photos, receipts and repair estimates. Photograph the property at every changeover.

These rules apply to Airbnb bookings only. On a direct booking from a guest who found you outside the platforms, the agreement, the ID and the deposit are yours to set. Airbnb guests and their repeat stays stay on Airbnb.

Cancellations: Strict is giving way to Firm

In its second-quarter 2026 shareholder letter, Airbnb said it “migrated eligible listings from Strict to Firm cancellation policies”, and its help page on cancellation policies now offers Strict “only to certain hosts by invitation from Airbnb”. For stays under 28 nights:

  • Strict. A guest who cancels 7 or more days before check-in, after the first 24 hours, gets 50% back and you are paid 50%. Inside 7 days, you are paid in full.
  • Firm. A guest who cancels 30 days or more before check-in gets a full refund and you are paid nothing. From 30 to 7 days, after the first 24 hours, 50%. Inside 7 days, you are paid in full.

The difference is the booking made far ahead. Under Strict, a guest who booked your February week in October and cancelled in December left you half. Under Firm, they leave you nothing, and the week has to be resold. Inside 30 days the two pay the same.

Two tools help. You can set cancellation policies by date from your calendar, and the policy for the guest’s check-in date applies, so Firm can cover the winter weeks and a looser policy the low season. Besides Flexible and Moderate, there is Limited: a full refund up to 14 days before check-in, and 50% from 14 to 7 days. Reserve Now, Pay Later, below, only appears on Moderate and Flexible.

You can also offer a non-refundable option, a discounted rate that is not refunded if the guest cancels, apart from Airbnb’s 24-hour window. Airbnb’s help page says a reservation is eligible “if the checkout date is within 60 days”, without saying 60 days from what, and that on Firm guests can choose it up to 7 days before check-in. Check in your account whether it is offered on a booking made months ahead.

Search and payment

Airbnb’s second-quarter letter says search results now prioritise “higher-quality homes that are a better fit for each trip”, and that its AI generates highlights from listing descriptions and guests’ reviews. A listing that leaves out its sleeping arrangements, its generator or its distance to the beach gives the AI less to work with. Keep the description complete, and treat a pattern in reviews as a listing problem to fix.

Reserve Now, Pay Later. In February 2026 Airbnb extended it to guests anywhere in the world booking eligible listings on a Moderate or Flexible policy. The guest pays nothing at booking, and Airbnb says payment is “always due before the free cancellation period ends”. Its help centre says the stay must be under 28 nights with check-in at least 14 days away. If the charge fails on the due date, Airbnb’s payments terms give the guest 72 hours to pay another way and allow Airbnb to cancel the booking if they do not. Treat such a date as certain only once it is paid.

What to do before 20 November

  • Rewrite your house rules into Airbnb’s seven standard options and a short list of reasonable requests.
  • Remove any requirement for a signed agreement or an ID copy unless the law or a documented rule of your condominio or building security requires it. If one does, say so in the listing and keep the evidence.
  • Remove any request for a phone number, WhatsApp or email address.
  • Remove every fine and penalty. A charge for extra guests can stay only as a fee in the fee field. List any building fine that could reach you in your requests.
  • Stop taking security deposits unless Airbnb allows it for your account, and note the 14-day and 30-day damage deadlines after every checkout.
  • Build electricity into the nightly price, and stop collecting it at the property unless Airbnb allows it for your account.
  • Cut checkout chores to the ones Airbnb lists as reasonable.
  • Move any fee for an advertised feature into the price, and offer another way in if your door uses an app.
  • Set your cancellation policy date by date, and consider a non-refundable option for late bookings.
  • Read your description as a stranger would, and fill the gaps.

This describes Airbnb’s published policies, which Airbnb can change, and how they apply depends on your listing, so check the pages in your own account. Policies confirmed 1 November 2026.

If you want your listings reviewed against the new rules before 20 November, our property management team is here year round.

Sources

Filed underReal Estate·News·Rentals
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