Airbnb house rules guide: what to include and what to avoid

Clear house rules help guests decide if your place fits before they book. Airbnb has 7 standard rule areas and a policy on what rules and requests are not allowed.

The 7 standard house rule areas

Airbnb lets hosts set standard rules in these areas (Help your listing stand out, Airbnb Help: house rules):

1. Maximum overnight guests
2. Quiet hours
3. Events
4. Pets
5. Smoking (including vaping and e-cigarettes)
6. Commercial photography and filming
7. Locking up at checkout

Beyond these, you can add requests for during the stay or before checkout, like taking shoes off indoors.

What Airbnb's policy generally does not allow

Airbnb's house rules and requests policy says rules must be disclosed in the house rules section before booking, match the rest of the listing, and be reasonable. Hosts are generally not allowed to:

• Ask guests to do significant tasks or things a cleaner would do, such as stripping the bed, taking trash offsite, or washing and putting away dishes
• Restrict access to an advertised feature, or charge for an advertised part of the listing outside the price shown at booking
• Impose fines or penalties (you can give notice if an HOA or local government might fine guests)
• Ask for separate contracts or personal info such as a government ID, except where required by law and other limited cases

Airbnb also notes that most guests want to avoid unexpected chores (Help your listing stand out).

A clear house rules example (fictional)

• Max 5 overnight guests
• Quiet hours 10 pm to 8 am
• No parties or events
• Dogs under 40 lb allowed, up to 1
• No smoking or vaping anywhere on the property
• No commercial photography or filming
• Lock the keypad door at checkout
• Request: please put trash in the bins by the driveway

Local rules

If your town limits occupancy, parking or noise, Airbnb's help center says you can add that local info to your listing (Airbnb Help). Hosting in coastal South Carolina? See the Coastal SC STR rules tracker for permit and ordinance details by town, with links to official sources.

Last reviewed October 25, 2026. Airbnb updates its guidance, so check the linked pages for the current wording.