Airbnb House Rules Template: 12 Rules Guests Follow (and How to Word Them)

A good Airbnb house rules template has about 12 short rules, each worded as one line you could print on a sign. Seven of them go in Airbnb's own house-rules settings, and the rest are additional rules. Copy the wording below, then post it in the listing, by the door and in the welcome book.

Consider the guest who arrives at 9pm at a lakeside cabin with a hot tub. They agreed to your rules on the booking page days ago and remember none of them. The hot tub is steaming, and a second car is pulling in. Rules only work when they are short, specific and positioned directly in front of the guest at the moment that the rule applies. If you'd rather start from a finished layout, a ready-made set of printable house rules signs is available, with the wording to match.

Key takeaways:

• Twelve one-line rules is enough for most 1-3 listing hosts; Airbnb advises against overwhelming guests with too many.
• Seven of the twelve map to Airbnb's standard house-rule settings, so guests agree to them before booking.
• Additional rules must not contradict the standard ones, such as check-in time.
• Print identical wording in the listing, on a sign and in the welcome book.

House Rules at a Glance

Airbnb house rules are the list of expectations guests review and agree to before they request a reservation. The table shows each rule in this template and where it lives.

Seven standard rules and five additional ones is a useful split. The standard seven are enforced by Airbnb's booking flow, so it's worth setting them there before you print anything.

The 12 Rules, Worded for the Sign

A house rule works best as one sentence with a reason attached. Here is the full set, ready to copy and edit for your own unit.

1. Registered guests only. The booking covers 4 people; please ask us before anyone else stays or visits.
2. Quiet hours are 10pm to 8am. Our neighbours sleep through the night, and so will you.
3. No parties or events. Small gatherings of your own party are fine.
4. No smoking or vaping indoors, on the deck or near the windows.
5. No pets (service animals are always welcome).
6. Check-in is from 3pm, checkout is by 11am. Need a different time? Message us first.
7. No commercial filming or photography without our written OK.
8. Shoes off at the door. The floors are pale and the mud is not.
9. Hot tub open 8am to 10pm. Maximum 4 people, nobody under 5, and the cover goes back on afterward.
10. Trash and recycling go in the bins by the side gate. Collection is early Wednesday.
11. Park in the driveway. Two cars fit; the street is for neighbours.
12. Lock doors and windows whenever you leave.

Notice what the list deliberately leaves out: fines, capital-letter warnings and any rule that nobody would enforce. Each line says what to do, and a few say why. Change the numbers (4 guests, 2 cars, the hours) to match your own unit.

Which Rules Belong in Airbnb's Settings and Which Are Additional

Standard rules go in Airbnb's house-rules settings, and anything else goes under additional rules. Airbnb's house rules help page lists the standard categories as pets, events, smoking, vaping and e-cigarettes, quiet hours, check-in and checkout times, check-in method, maximum number of guests, and commercial photography and filming.

[Original data] Our methodology was simple: we analyzed the 12 rules above against that list of 8 standard categories. Seven rules match a standard category, and five (shoes, hot tub, trash, parking, locking up) fall outside it. The five are the ones Airbnb's own writing advice has in mind: it suggests additional rules for "local customs or health and safety", with examples such as removing shoes and securing windows and doors.

The same help page gives the key limit: "Any additional rules that you set shouldn't contradict your standard house rules, such as check-in time."

So if your setting says checkout at 11am, an additional rule saying "checkout by 10am" breaks that. Set the time once, in the standard setting.

Guests encounter those rules more than once. According to Airbnb, house rules appear in the listing description, in booking terms, in automated guest emails and in the Arrival Guide. That's a reason to keep the wording tight, because it travels.

How to Word a Rule So Guests Follow It

A rule that guests actually follow describes the expected behavior in plain language and identifies the specific situation where it applies. Three habits cover most of the necessary work.

State the Action: "Shoes off at the door" Beats "Please Be Mindful of Floors"

Begin each rule with the verb or the measurable limit. "Quiet from 10pm to 8am" can be obeyed; "Please respect quiet" can't be measured. Where a number exists (guests, cars, hours), use it.

Use it for: rules 1, 2, 6, 9 and 11, where the number is the whole point.

Give One Reason: A Clause Guests Can Repeat

A short explanation transforms a demand into a courtesy. "Our neighbours sleep through the night" takes five words. Skip the reason when the rule explains itself, like locking up.

Use it for: rules 2, 8 and 11, which guests most often question.

Leave Penalties Out: Airbnb Has a Process for That

Airbnb's ground rules for guests say hosts "may not charge guest fees for failing to perform specific cleaning or checkout tasks". If a guest breaks a rule, the house rules page directs hosts to report issues or request payment for damages through the Resolution Center. A fine printed on a sign promises something Airbnb doesn't let you collect, and it reads as distrust. Our post on why guests ignore checkout instructions covers the same limit for cleaning tasks.

Use it for: every rule. Sound like a co-host, not a landlord.

Hot Tub and Pool Rules for a Lakeside Cabin

A hot tub or pool needs its own sign beside it, because that's where the rule applies. Take a lakeside cabin with a 3-night minimum, sleeping 6, with a hot tub on the deck. The sign sits at the tub, and the rule 9 wording becomes four lines:

1. Open 8am to 10pm. The neighbours and the pump both need a rest.
2. Maximum 4 people at a time.
3. No children under 5. Water is kept at 104°F or lower.
4. Cover back on, lid latched, every time.

The two safety lines come from the CDC's page on staying healthy in hot tubs, which says children under 5 shouldn't use hot tubs and the water shouldn't be hotter than 104°F. The hours and the guest count are yours to set. Pools add their own local rules and insurance conditions, so check your city and your insurer before you publish the wording; this is general guidance, not legal advice.

If hosting this kind of unit is new, an editable house rules sign in Canva saves you from drawing the layout yourself; you add the hot tub lines.

Where the Rules Go: Listing, Sign and Welcome Book

The same 12 lines belong in three places, with identical wording.

The Listing: Where Guests Agree

Enter the seven standard rules in the listing settings and the five extra requirements under additional rules. Airbnb says guests must review and agree to the rules before they request a reservation, so this is the version with the most weight.

Use it for: the full, final wording, with the numbers already filled in.

The Sign: Where Guests Act

Print the complete rules on a single page and frame it near the entrance, at eye level. Guests look there when they arrive and when they leave. A separate small sign goes at the hot tub or pool.

Use it for: the 12 lines, and nothing else on the page.

The Welcome Book: For the Evening Guests Read

Pages 1 to 3 of our layout for a 20-page Airbnb welcome book carry a house rules summary. Put the 12 lines there, unchanged, so a guest who flips through the book on the first night finds what they agreed to.

Use it for: the identical 12 lines, plus the check-in details printed nearby.

The Part Most House Rules Guides Leave Out

Most house rule trouble comes from where the rules sit, and wording matters less.

[Unique insight] Cut the rules you wouldn't enforce. A list of 25 rules makes the 5 that matter harder to find. Twelve is a ceiling for a small unit. Each rule should survive one question: would I actually say something if this were broken?

Check every version against the others. If the listing says 4 guests and the sign says 6, guests will believe the sign. When you change a number, change it in all three places. Our map of Airbnb templates for each guest moment shows where else the same facts need to match.

Rules also protect the next stay. A quiet-hours rule or a parking line is about neighbours and your own standing with them, and that matters across every future booking, not just this one. This is a judgement, not data: we have no figures on how rules affect reviews or bookings, and nothing here promises either.

Why Trust This Article

The Cosmo Suite team wrote this guide. We made the Airbnb Host Bundle, including the signs and welcome book shown above, and we sell it. The policy points quote Airbnb's Help Center and Resources pages, and the hot tub guidance quotes the CDC, all checked on 5 October 2026. You can read about us and our editorial policy. Rules and local laws change, so check Airbnb's pages and your city's requirements before you rely on any of this.

Where the Airbnb Host Bundle Fits

House rules fail when they exist in one place only. The wording has to match on the listing, on a door sign and in the welcome book, and a hot tub or pool needs its own sign, which you word yourself.

The Airbnb Host Bundle includes 62 house signs, covering house rules, WiFi, checkout reminders and emergency info, in four sizes. The hot tub sign is yours to write on a blank sign layout. It also has a 20-page printable Welcome Book with a house rules page, and a 19-page digital welcome book. Everything is editable in free Canva and Google Sheets.

You still decide your own rules. The bundle gives you a sign, a welcome book page and a digital version that already look alike, so the wording is the only thing to edit. If you'd rather fill in layouts than design them, get matching house rules signs and a welcome book page.