Free template
Airbnb house rules template
House rules do two jobs: they set expectations before booking, and they're what you point at when something goes wrong. Both jobs need the same thing: short, specific, and a reason attached. Copy this, cut what doesn't apply, and keep it under a screen.
Copy the template
HOUSE RULES: [PROPERTY NAME] Quiet hours: [TIME] to [TIME] [THE REASON: thin walls, neighbours below, a building rule.] Sound carries in [WHICH ROOM] more than you'd expect. No parties or events Guests staying are the guests booked. If numbers change, message me first. Maximum [N] guests This includes anyone staying overnight. [COT/CHILD POLICY IF YOU HAVE ONE.] Smoking and vaping: outside only [WHERE IS FINE: balcony, garden.] Please don't smoke in doorways. A deep clean after indoor smoking is charged at [AMOUNT]. Pets: [ALLOWED / NOT ALLOWED] [IF ALLOWED: which rooms, furniture rule, where the bowls are.] Shoes: [OFF / FINE] [ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT: a rule nobody enforces trains guests to skip the list.] The neighbours [ANYTHING SPECIFIC: a shared entrance, a light sleeper below, bins that must not be left out overnight.] Before you leave Check out by [TIME]. [THREE OR FOUR THINGS. Not twelve: a long checkout list gets skipped whole.] [WHERE THE KEYS GO.] Damage happens Tell me. Something broken and mentioned is a normal stay; something broken and hidden is the one thing that turns into a claim. Thanks for treating the place well. - [YOUR NAME]
Give the reason, not just the rule
"Quiet after 10pm" reads as arbitrary and gets treated that way. "Quiet after 10pm, the bedroom below is a family with a toddler" gets followed, because the guest can now picture who they'd be waking. The reason costs one clause and does most of the work.
Only write rules you'll actually enforce
Every unenforced rule teaches guests that the list is decorative, which is expensive the one time a rule matters. If you'd never say anything about shoes, leave shoes out. A short list that's real beats a long list that's aspirational.
Keep the checkout list to four things
Checkout instructions compete with a taxi and a flight. Four items get done; twelve get skimmed and abandoned. Pick the ones that actually cost you turnaround time (usually bins, dishwasher, windows and keys) and let the cleaner handle the rest, which is what they're there for.
Put them where they're read twice
Rules on the listing are read while booking, when the guest is comparing places and skimming. The same rules in the arrival flow are read by someone who has already committed and is about to walk in. Asking for an explicit acknowledgement at that second moment is what makes them stick, and it gives you a timestamp if you ever need one.
Questions hosts ask
What should Airbnb house rules include?
Quiet hours, party and guest-count limits, smoking, pets, anything specific to your neighbours, and checkout. Each with a reason and each phrased as something you would genuinely raise with a guest.
How many house rules is too many?
Once the list runs past a screen, guests stop reading it as rules and start reading it as a wall of text, including the two rules you actually care about. Cut anything you would never mention if a guest broke it.
Can I charge a fee if a guest breaks a house rule?
Only for things you've stated in advance with a number attached, like an indoor-smoking deep clean, and only within your platform's own damage and fee policies. A fee that first appears after the fact is a dispute you tend to lose.
Should guests have to agree to the house rules?
It helps, and it's more useful before arrival than at the door. An explicit acknowledgement with a name and a timestamp turns 'the rules were on the listing' into a specific record of this guest having read them.