Airbnb Canada Rules Hosts and Guests Must Follow

If you own a property in Canada, renting it out to travelers on Airbnb offers an excellent opportunity to earn extra income to help pay your bills. Airbnb allows vacation rental hosts to list different types of property, including private rooms, entire homes, shared spaces, and unique vacation rentals, such as castles, tiny houses, yurts, treehouses, and even boats.

But before you turn your home or apartment in Canada into an Airbnb, you must understand that you can succeed on this global platform only if you align your strategies with the company’s core values and follow the STR laws, regulations, and other rules.

Airbnb is a community based on trust, connection, and belonging, and everyone is required to follow specific rules that help ensure that people from every background using the platform can feel safe, welcome, and respected.

In this article, we’ll discuss Airbnb Canada rules for hosts and guests and cover general legal Airbnb requirements in Canada to help you get a better idea of what is expected of you as a member of the diverse Airbnb community. 

Airbnb Canada Rules for Hosts

While almost anyone can become an Airbnb host, you’re expected to meet and maintain quality standards in certain areas to ensure comfortable, reliable stays for guests and make them feel welcome:

• Reservation commitment
• Timely communication
• Listing accuracy
• Listing cleanliness

Airbnb hosts are also expected to maintain high review ratings because today’s travelers expect consistent quality during their stays and use reviews to share their experiences. That means you must do your best to make your guests happy. Then, they’re more likely to leave you positive reviews that can help you get more bookings.

Airbnb hosting in Canada can be a rewarding experience, but it also involves many responsibilities and can be rather time-consuming. So, a smart move is to automate your daily repetitive tasks using vacation rental software like Hospitable. Then, you’ll have more time to market your Airbnb rental and spend quality time with your family.

Let’s look at the four areas that Airbnb requires hosts to focus on to provide an enjoyable guest experience. This will help you maintain a high overall review rating.

Reservation commitment

Airbnb requires hosts to honor accepted bookings and provide a reliable check-in experience. You should avoid canceling confirmed reservations unless there are valid reasons to do so and they’re beyond your control.

You should also ensure a smooth check-in experience for your guests. Provide your guests with the correct information about how they can access your property—you can do it in your welcome message. Give your exact address and directions to your property, remind your guests about the check-in time, and provide a proper access code.

Listing cleanliness

Airbnb states that all listings should be clean and free of health hazards (mold, pests) before guests check in. Your rental space must meet a high standard of cleanliness—it must be free of extensive dust, pet dander, dirty dishes, etc. You also must thoroughly clean your Airbnb property between stays.

Cleaning for guests requires much more attention to detail than you might use when cleaning your home for yourself, and it can be very time-consuming. That’s why a good idea is to hire professional vacation rental cleaners trained to do this job quickly, saving you time and effort.

Your only task will be to notify your cleaners about the next clean, and if you opt for vacation rental software like Hospitable, our system will do it for you automatically—you just need to set your rules.

Reliable communication

As a host, you should be responsive and willing to answer questions from your guests within a reasonable amount of time:

• Within three days of receiving a message before the stay if check-in is more than five days away
• Within 1 hour of guest messages received during local daytime hours, if an issue arises during the stay
• Within 12 hours of guest messages received during local daytime hours if a guest reaches out to you during the stay or within five days of their arrival

It might be tough to keep up with the required timings without automation.

Accurate listing

To set clear expectations, you must accurately describe your rental space to your guests. Highlight your best features and amenities and be honest about potential drawbacks.

Your Airbnb listing page should accurately describe your home and reflect the features and amenities that will be available to guests from check-in to check-out, including

• Booking details (dates, price, additional fees)
• Information about your property location (map pin, address, information about the surroundings)
• Listing type and size (private room, entire place, shared room, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc.)
• Privacy levels (presence of other guests or an on-site property manager, etc.)
• Applicable house rules
• All available amenities and features that are offered in your short-term rental.

Check our articles for the best practices for crafting listing descriptions and house rules.

Airbnb Canada Rules: Legal Issues

Airbnb Community Policy doesn’t allow hosting on the platform without permission and/or the appropriate licenses. Airbnb requires that all hosts be authorized to host and that hosts comply with all applicable laws in your jurisdiction.

Local short-term rental regulations that may apply to you include building and housing standards, zoning rules, and fire and safety regulations. Remember that Airbnb regulations are local in nature, so you need to research and contact your local government or consult a local lawyer if necessary.

You can find some guidance on laws that may apply to you on the Airbnb Responsive Hosting in Canada page—it can be a good starting point for your research. You may also want to check out our blog article about Airbnb regulations in Canada to learn about some province-and city-specific STR laws.

Airbnb Canada Rules for Guests

Airbnb also requires guests to respect your home and treat it as their own so it has some ground rules for guests that hold them accountable for standard house rules, cleanliness, and property damage.

Guests should not leave the Airbnb property in a state that requires excessive or deep cleaning (moldy dishes, soiled carpets, stains from pets, etc.). They are also expected to put their trash in designated areas and be mindful of excessive trash.

If guests cause damage to the host’s property and belongings beyond normal wear and tear, they should inform hosts about that as soon as possible and be ready to work with the host to find a reasonable solution. If guests are responsible for damage, missing items, or unexpected cleaning costs, they are expected to pay reasonable requests for reimbursement.

Guests must also follow the host’s standard house rules regarding the number of guests, check-in and check-out time, approval for pets, smoking, noise, and other rules they agreed to follow during booking. Hosts can also add a written set of additional rules to their listing page, and guests are expected to abide by them during their stay.

Final Thought

Airbnb has established Community Standards and clear rules that hosts and guests must follow in different countries, including Canada. Airbnb states they’re committed to enforcing these ground rules and warns that hosts and guests who don’t follow Airbnb rules repeatedly may face severe consequences. For example, if guests report repeated or severe violations of Airbnb rules, hosts or their listings may be suspended or removed from the platform.