Airbnb Hosts Hate These Seemingly Polite Acts

What does it take to be a great Airbnb guest? For certain guests, it’s the little things that come to mind: a small gift, a thank-you note, or leaving a neatly made bed on the way out. But sometimes, even the best intentions can work against you. While small gestures of goodwill can feel like the polite thing to do, some of these seemingly courteous habits are exactly what Airbnb hosts quietly end up hating.

Airbnb hosts have their routines down pat, from handling the bedding to cleaning out the fridge for their next visitors — and it’s a system they’d rather guests not mess with. After all, that five-star rating depends a lot on cleanliness. Throwing your host or cleaner off their routine with something unexpected, however kind the thought behind it, can turn what should be a straightforward reset into more work before the next guests arrive.

The same goes for communication. Plenty of guests refrain from bothering hosts with questions, a habit often cited among the dos and don’ts of negotiating with an Airbnb host. But in certain cases, speaking up instead of staying quiet can be the polite move. Curious about which seemingly polite habits to drop for your next Airbnb stay? Here are three to avoid if you want to stay on your host’s good side.

Read more: 9 Common Tourist Complaints About Hilton Hotels

Making the bed before leaving

Forget everything your mother taught you about making your bed when you get up — at least on the last morning of your Airbnb stay. For all the good intentions behind it, remaking the bed before checkout can complicate a host’s turnover. An Airbnb cleaner made her frustrations clear in a viral TikTok calling out guests who carefully remade the beds before leaving. Her reasoning? No one is getting into the beds after they’ve left, so stripping the bed so the sheets get washed makes more sense. A host on Airhosts Forum encountered the same problem: “I couldn’t tell which of the six beds three guests [used] so I needed to strip and remake all six.”

However, etiquette expert and author Elaine Swann told Today that bed-stripping is an outdated practice, at least when staying with family or friends. Hosts often don’t get to the laundry right away, and a made bed lets them decide when to tackle the task. For a middle ground, etiquette teacher Amy Rainer told Southern Living that houseguests can loosely make the bed back up, just enough to leave no question that it has been used.

So where does that leave you? It all boils down to asking your host what they prefer. This is easy if you’re staying with friends or family, but as an Airbnb guest, you should check the house instructions or shoot your host a quick message about the linens. That small step can save them the headache of undoing your seemingly polite handiwork — and keep you from becoming the subject of an angry TikTok.

Leaving food behind

“Don’t waste food” is good advice — but not always when it comes to an Airbnb, it seems. Having a kitchen to cook in during vacation is one of the deciding factors in whether an Airbnb or a hotel is the better choice for you. But while leaving behind that plastic Tupperware of leftover potato salad in the fridge or a basket of fruit and vegetables in the pantry may seem like a polite gesture, many Airbnb hosts could do without it.

First, it can be a pain to get rid of. California Airbnb host Heather Bull told Business Insider that dealing with leftover food is annoying, since it has to be thrown out. That’s a shame, given how much food short-term renters already waste: over $2.3 billion worth per year in the U.S., according to a 2025 study published in Waste Management. Second, opened or half-eaten food can pose health risks, potentially carrying harmful bacteria and viruses that can cause foodborne illnesses like salmonella, norovirus, and E. coli — a liability hosts would rather not shoulder.

According to The Washington Post, food safety experts suggest tossing out leftovers and home-cooked meals. And many hosts are heeding that call. On Reddit, a former cleaner and chalet host was instructed to “throw away any perishable food, unopened or not.” Even Reid Kennedy, the Minnesota Airbnb host behind a project called Airbnb Leftovers, told The Washington Post that he excludes opened or partially consumed items when turning guests’ leftovers into food care packages for people in need. So, next time you’re at an Airbnb, take that half-eaten cake or leftover fruit platter along with you when you check out, instead of making it another chore your Airbnb host or cleaner will have to deal with.

Not asking questions or reporting damages immediately

You may have already posed crucial questions to your Airbnb host before booking, but what about the bumps that come up during your stay? Nobody wants to be the Airbnb guest who’s constantly messaging their host about the smallest issues, for fear of coming across as needy or high-maintenance. But sometimes, reaching out is the most polite thing to do. While a burned-out lightbulb, a cleaning oversight, broken tableware, or a wonky showerhead may not seem like a dealbreaker, hosts would still rather know about it in real time — and not have what could have been a quickly resolved issue show up in a review.

Airbnb Superhost Orlando confirms this in a Substack post, noting that guests often forgo messaging their hosts in the spirit of keeping up niceties, although most hosts “would rather you ask than go without.” Phillip Foxall, an Airbnb host in Rockport, Texas, told Business Insider that he encourages guests to report such issues immediately so he can fix them. “Don’t report it five minutes before you leave and ask for a full refund,” Foxall said. After all, your host may not be aware of that spent lightbulb or gate that won’t latch, and a quick fix can make for a more comfortable stay. As for accidents or damage during your stay, Airbnb asks guests to message the host via the website or app right away. 

Sure, firing off questions the house manual already answers can test a host’s patience, but staying mum about real problems can work against you. Good communication, after all, is one of Airbnb’s ground rules for home guests. When something affects your stay, or the next guest’s, sending a quick message is the polite thing to do.

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Read the original article on Islands.