India, Oct. 27 -- In a major policy shift addressing years of widespread consumer grievances, accommodation platform Airbnb has instituted strict new global rules prohibiting property hosts from forcing departing guests to perform burdensome checkout chores. Under the updated guidelines, hosts will no longer be permitted to mandate tasks that require significant time, physical effort, or duties typically handled by professional cleaners-such as stripping beds, washing and putting away dishes, or transporting garbage off-site.

The platform clarified that while hosts may still issue reasonable requests, such as gathering used towels or placing dirty tableware into sinks, enforcing heavy domestic labour as a condition of checkout will viola...