@Felicia48 the question "What is the point of house rules if the guests don't have to follow them?" is asked a lot by hosts, especially when they find out that Airbnb does not help with the enforcement of financial penalties for breaking house rules.
Over time, different hosts have written many different thoughts on the topic. Here are a few:
- House rules are mainly for the good guests. The vast majority of guests are terrific, and the rules are there to help the host communicate to the good guests what the host would like them to do (where to put the trash, what is expected about dishware, how and when they can use the pool, that kind of thing.)
- Airbnb may not help enforce monetary fines in the house rules, but the blatant breaking of house rules can be used as a reason to have the guest relocated. Depending on your cancellation policy, this might cost the host money, but at least the bad guest is removed (which gives the host some satisfaction as the guest experiences some consequence for their actions.)
- The house rules can help keep away guests who are a bad fit. Well written house rules can let people know that certain behaviors won't be tolerated, and so they might choose to book elsewhere.
- Even if Airbnb won't help enforce certain things, the house rules at least give the host something to refer to if there is some difficulty with the guest. It is easier to say to a guest "When you agreed to the house rules, you said you would not (bad behavior)" than to just say "Hey, stop (bad behavior)."
The enforcement of the house rules is quite difficult for hosts who are not on the property with the guests. Even so, the job of enforcing the house rules really falls on the host. The less the host tries to rely on Airbnb for enforcement the more effective a job the host can do. Rule enforcement is already a tough assignment; not owning the job makes it even tougher.