House rules for your Airbnb, and how to word them so guests follow them

Airbnb has a list of standard rules that you just pick from. There you say whether you allow pets, whether events are allowed and whether guests can smoke or vape. You also set quiet hours, check-in and checkout times, how the guest gets in, the maximum number of guests and whether you allow commercial photography or filming at the property.

To change them on a computer, go to Listings and pick the property. In the listing editor open Arrival guide, then House rules, and when you’re done click Save.

Anything that isn’t on that list goes under additional rules. Airbnb asks that those rules don’t contradict the standard ones, so if you already set check-in at 3, don’t write a different time underneath. It also recommends not adding so many that the guest feels overwhelmed, and using them for local customs or for health and safety.

If you set no pets, keep in mind that service animals, such as a guide dog, are always accommodated at no extra charge, according to Airbnb’s Help Center.

This is how we would write the rules for a house with a pool in Mexico. Swap the times and numbers for your own and delete whatever doesn’t apply. Under each group we tell you whether it goes in Airbnb’s standard rules or in additional rules.

1. Check-in and checkout

   • You can check in from 3:00 pm. The instructions to get in reach you on WhatsApp on your arrival day.
   • Checkout is at 11:00 am. If you need to stay longer, message us a day before and we’ll tell you if it’s possible.
   • When you leave, put the keys back in the lockbox by the door and close the doors and windows.

   The times go in the standard rules. The keys go in additional rules.

2. Guests and visitors

   • The house is for a maximum of 6 people, children included.
   • If you’d like to have visitors during the day, let us know before they arrive.

   Maximum guests is a standard rule. Visitors go in additional rules.

3. Noise and parties

   • From 10:00 pm to 8:00 am we ask you to turn the music down, because the neighbours get up early.
   • Parties and events aren’t allowed. If you want to celebrate something with family, like a birthday, ask us first.

   Quiet hours and events are standard rules.

4. Smoking and pets

   • You can smoke on the terrace. Inside the house there’s no smoking or vaping.
   • Your dog is welcome if you tell us when you book. Please keep it off the beds and sofas.

   Both are standard rules. The beds go in additional rules.

5. Inside the house

   • Toilet paper goes in the bin next to the toilet, because the pipes clog.
   • Tap water isn’t for drinking. There’s a water jug in the kitchen.
   • Turn off the air conditioning when you go out.

   These go in additional rules.

6. Trash

   • Sort the trash into organic and inorganic. The bins are in the patio.
   • If you leave before the garbage truck comes, put the closed bags in the bin outside.

   Goes in additional rules.

7. Pool

   • The pool is open from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm.
   • Children always go in with an adult.

   Goes in additional rules. If your place has no pool, delete this part.

Give the exact time whenever you can. “Don’t make noise late” leaves the guest guessing what late means to you, and “from 10 at night to 8 in the morning” leaves nothing to argue about.

When the reason isn’t obvious, give it in a few words. For someone who lives in Mexico, paper in the bin is normal, but a guest from abroad goes along with it more willingly after reading that the pipes clog.

We also recommend writing what guests can do. With “you can smoke on the terrace” the guest already knows where to go, and with “no smoking” they’re left looking for a spot. And skip the capital letters and the three exclamation marks, which read like a telling-off.

The list above is already long for a single property. If your place has no pool or patio, take those parts out, since Airbnb itself recommends not overwhelming guests with rules.

Airbnb shows your rules on the listing and on the booking screen, before the guest books. Later it sends them again in the automated emails and in the arrival guide before the trip, and they stay in the Trips tab of the app. Those are the rules Airbnb asks the guest to follow, so they need to be there even if you also have them somewhere else.

What explains how the house works, like turning on the water heater or where the spare blanket is, Airbnb keeps separately in the house manual, which only guests with a confirmed reservation can see.

The question of where the trash goes or until what time the pool is open reaches the guest once they’re already at the house. That’s the moment the house guide is for, a page they open on their phone from a link, with no account and nothing to download. There they see how to get in and the WiFi password, and you can repeat the rules that have to do with the house right there. If you change a rule, change it in both places the same day.

What else goes in that guide is in what to put in your digital guest guide.

1. Airbnb Help Center: Add house rules to a listing (Spanish).
2. Airbnb Resource Center: Set helpful house rules (Spanish).
3. Airbnb Help Center: Add a house manual to your listing (Spanish).

He wrote and checked this page. Every source is public and linked above.