Where do I find the current cleaning requirements? Have they finally been removed?

[Christine455]

I've been pointing out for a long time that the sanitizing requirement is BS and since the CDC finally agreed, were those ridiculous requirements to sanitize all the dishes (35+ hours of dishwashing) removed?

Most of my potential Airbnb guests are short-term and don't want to pay my $250 cleaning fee.

[Emiel1]

@Christine455 

Choose menu item "performance", then choose "cleaning"

Direct link:

https://www.airbnb.com/progress/cleaning

[Lisa723]

@Christine455 yes, the requirements to wash all linens and dishes regardless of use have been removed.

[Christine455]

@Emiel1, Thanks for the link.

The video doesn't look so bad, although I refuse to expose myself to sanitizer, sometimes TOXIC and causes infections like MRSA.

@Lisa723, I just looked at the cleaning procedures at https://www.airbnb.com/cleaning/handbook :

[Christine455]

So according to the Airbnb handbook, ALL dishes have to be washed, better than sanitizing, BUT, since I have a dishwasher, we're still talking about 7 or so dishwasher loads.

Is this the latest version of the handbook?

[Lisa723]

@Christine455 it is but while this is still in the check-list is is not part of the five-step process that hosts now commit to-- that part was silently changed sometime in 2020. There has previously been a huge amount of discussion on this question here.

[Christine455]

@Lisa723, thanks again.  I will try to confirm this with Airbnb.

[Lisa723]

@Christine455  Good luck with that. 

[Sarah977]

@Christine455  Don't concern yourself with the "sanitizer" i. e it meaning you have to spray everything with Lysol . Soap and water sanitizes and renders the virus inactive. So does normal rubbing alcohol or a bleach solution ( one part bleach to 9 parts water). 

I always sterilized high touch surfaces from the time I started hosting, years before Covid. Door and drawer knobs, light switches, faucets and faucet handles, toilet, sinks, etc. It's the last thing I do before mopping my way out the door- quick walk through with bleach wipes. It takes minutes.

[Christine455]

@Sarah977  "Soap and water sanitizes and renders the virus inactive." 

So true.  In fact, AIR does the job in no more than 3 days maximum, depending on the surface, most no more than a day.

I don't believe in sterilizing anything.    I spent a lot of money on getting the toxins out of my water and I eat and grow organic food -- sterilizing is unhealthy.    Just my opinion 🙂

There's a huge difference between cleaning with vinegar or soap and water and sterilizing or sanitizing.

[Sarah977]

@Christine455  For me, the main point is that we don't have a situation in our homes that would contribute to disease transmission. All those cleaning protocols are supposedly designed to achieve that end, and quite honestly there are hosts who don't even clean adequately, let alone have any knowledge of how to make sure they aren't running a super-spreader rental. So some hosts probably should just be following the protocol to the letter, because they are clueless about cleanliness. Better safe than sorry.

I don't even have a dryer- I line dry everything. And my washing machine has never been hooked up to hot water. The water that comes out of the cold tap is more like tepid, as it comes from a big black tank on my roof. 

But I know that soap and water deactivates the virus, that it doesn't live on porous surfaces like cloth, for more than a day, max, and that the UV sunlight on the linens hanging on the line for a day or two also sterilizes. And I have enough bedding and towels that I'm never just putting the same bedding back on the bed that the last guest used, even after it's washed. It's going to be sitting there clean and folded in a plastic tote in my laundry room for at least a week or more before being used again.

[Christine455]

Clarified:

[Lisa723]

@Christine455 I've received answers all over the map from CS reps on this topic, including some that say the same and some that say the opposite. But review this thread, if you can stand it:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Where-is-the-sense/m-p/1428960/highlight/true

[Christine455]

@Lisa723Wow, hadn't seen that thread and I just read the first page, incredible!

Here's mine:
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/How-to-opt-out-of-the-IDIOTIC-Airbnb-new-cleaning-requir...

And I'm surprised Airbnb didn't close my account.   I ended up charging $250 for cleaning and disabled instant booking.

And, I finally got on Homeaway / VRBO.     If I wasn't in a water-haul area with terrible internet and electric service, I would have gotten long-term rentals through VRBO.   

To me the whole cleaning thing is simple.  If I were to rent a house, would never expect everything to be sanitized, I know that people lie -- whether it's the host or the cleaning crew.

There's one place where I don't touch the doorknob and that's a public bathroom.   And I so hate it when they have only an air dryer and no paper towels.  

I don't know what guests do when they go to restaurants and stores or ANYWHERE.   Do they expect the park service to sanitize the bathrooms?  You're lucky if they empty the trash once a week.

[Christine455]

And here's an article about the new CDC guidelines NOT to disinfect everything:

https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-relaxed-cleaning-rules-disinfectants-for-covid-19-not-necessary-...

I'm not aware of anyone getting Covid from a doorknob.   Contact tracing wouldn't work at all if that's how people got it.