@Bill0
Interesting article. I can understand the writer's perspective. However, she is referring to a two bed apartment that cost $400 a night with a $130 cleaning fee. For that I would also not expect to be given a long list of things to do on check out.
However, not all Airbnbs are the same and the prices normally reflect this. If you are paying a fraction of the cost of a hotel, you do not get the same facilities as a hotel. You have not paid for housekeeping/maid service, 24 hour reception, a concierge and porters so don't expect them!
Personally, I don't charge that much for my rooms by London standards, I don't charge a cleaning fee and I don't ask the guests to do anything on check out other than leave the key. However, I do expect my guests to show a bit of consideration while staying in my home and that includes putting their dishes in the dishwasher (they don't have to put it on, empty it or anything like that), wipe up spills if they make them and put their rubbish in bins rather than leave it scattered all over the floor or furniture and not eat greasy, messy food in the bedrooms getting it on my fabrics and furniture. I would also like it if they didn't leave my sparkly clean bathrooms covered in hair and splattered with product and the toilets smeared with poo. I do not leave a hotel bathroom looking like that, let alone a home which I am paying very little to stay in. It's just disrepectful.
For the money my guests pay, they get a lot already. They get a beautiful, spotlessly clean room with a beautifully made up bed with ironed linens and plenty of towels. They arrive to a very clean kitchen and sparkling bathrooms. I try to keep things presentable during the stay which does mean I am cleaning up after them. They are therefore already getting more than they have paid for.
They are not paying me to be their maid and wash their dishes or pick up their trash from the floor. Last week a guest left chewing gum stuck on the floor and ruined several pans by repeatedly using them without washing them properly. I literally had to scrub anything she touched everytime she touched it, even the handles on the fridge doors. This week guests used a very expensive antique dressing table to eat their meals on. I am still trying to get whatever sticky gunky they spilt all over it off. Another guest used the same dressing table to chop up a watermelon and scratched it. She hid the scratch under towels and then claimed that my cat did it!
Just because a guest is paying a nightly rate, it does not entitle them to treat the place however they want. There have to be rules and guidelines because otherwise some guests (and they are the minority) will create so much work and expense for the host that it becomes unfeasible to continue hosting at those rates.