@Lily489
I am afraid I don't think there is an easy answer to some of your problems, hence my rather long response below. I never intended to (or thought I needed to) have a long list of rules when I started out hosting but, unfortunately, I have found it necessary. I realised pretty quickly that what I thought of as 'obvious' isn't obvious to everyone and that common sense isn't that common.
A long list of rules might put some guests off booking but, to be honest, I'm happy to discourage those guests from booking. I want the kind of guests who see my rules as 'common sense'. They might think it's weird that I spell all of that out, but I just explain during the house tour that they'd be amazed what some people do, and then tell them a funny anecdote about it.
But, there is another reason too. On the couple of occasions I have needed to contact Airbnb CS about a guest who had gone too far in disregarding the rules, the first thing the agent did was read my rules. You can't say a guest has broken your rules if that particular thing is not in there. For example, it might seem to any reasonable person that repeatedly making very loud noise at 3 or 4am is not okay, but CS told me that I needed to have quiet hours specified for this to be seen as a violation of rules.
1. Don't keep rubbish in the room and allow it to leak on to the carpet
Like Helen, I don't allow guests to eat or store food in their bedrooms. It's in my rules and they are reminded when I show them the room. That doesn't mean nobody does that, but it has reduced food/drink related damages significantly.
2. Don't yank the under floor heating to 29 degrees throughout your stay
Sounds like you have already come up with a solution for this. Personally, I do not let the guests touch the thermostat. I tell them to let me know if they need the heating adjusted.
3. Don't tell me you work in the city and sit in your room all day
Well this is a very tricky one. If the guest has booked the room/listing, they will feel entitled to use it 24/7 for the duration of their stay. Not sure what you can do other than to specify in your listing that it's best suited to guests who are out and about most of the time. I have never tried it, but I know some other hosts do this. Or you can be more specific and say it's not suited to working/studying from home.
4. Don't scratch the wall as you take your luggage up or down the stairs
Had this too. My only solution has been to help guests carry their stuff, but then I always do an in person check in, so that is more feasible for me anyway.
5. Don't ask for a new towel every day it is not a hotel
I have had this too, but only very rarely, so just let it slide. Are you finding that a lot of guests expect this?
6. Don't throw your metal teaspoons in the bin
Had a guest do this the other day and I did bring it up with her. However, again, it's not something I've encountered frequently.
7. Don't move furniture around
In my house rules. This drives me a bit crazy as it's when damage is most likely to occur.
8. Don't put your cups down without a coaster and create ring marks on wooden furniture
Ample coasters are supplied and guests are reminded when shown the room. With all of these things, it's good to do it in a friendly way. I just remind them that my furniture is vintage and that, unfortunately, guests in the past have marked it, so it would be really great if they could please use the coasters. I find that no one wants to be held accountable for damaging my vintage/antique furniture and this makes them more careful.
9. Don't assume you can check in early or later.
This was a nightmare in my first year of hosting, so I had to get strict about it and spell it out very clearly at the beginning of the house rules. See: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/How-can-I-stop-guests-ignoring-the-check-in-time/m-p/304...
10. Don't do all of the above and top it up with 4 star review.
In my experience, great guests tend to leave great reviews. It is the ones that are a pain the backside to host that either don't review or leave less than 5*. I am not sure what is to be done about it (there is so much discussion about this here on the CC already), but one suggestion is to make sure you read the reviews that the guest has left for previous hosts. You won't be able to see the star ratings that they left, but you might spot some red flags in the written reviews they have given other hosts. I have turned away a few guests on this basis. I don't want to invite serial complainers into my home.
As for 'better suited to a hotel", I am wondering if you saw that on an old post that I wrote or where I was referring to what other hosts write, because that is not really a phrase that I use. It doesn't tell future hosts much about what the problem is. However, some guests are definitely better suited to a hotel, I would just writes something a bit more specific about why.
Finally, 11. Do use the toilet brush!
Again, don't have a general problem with this, at least not to an extent where it's that extreme but, on one occasion I did, and I simply told the guest it was not acceptable to leave the toilet in that state. There are some things you will need to grin and bear and just put down to being part of the job and others that are beyond the limits and where you have to say something. Luckily, the latter are less common than the former.