Platform rules change. Your website doesn't.

Every booking platform comes with a rulebook you didn't write. Most of the time you don't notice it. Then one week the rules change, and the way you've run your home for years stops being allowed.

That happened to Airbnb hosts this month. It's worth looking at closely, not because Airbnb is unusual, but because it shows how little of your operation you control when someone else owns the booking.

What changes on November 20

For reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026, Airbnb's updated policy on host-imposed contracts says hosts generally can't ask guests to sign a separate rental agreement. The exceptions are narrow: when the law or an HOA requires it, for an optional amenity like a golf cart, for stays of 28 nights or more, and for Luxe listings.

The same policy limits what you can ask guests for. You can't collect phone numbers, email addresses or copies of a guest's ID, unless the law or an HOA requires it. You can check an ID in person at check-in if your listing says so, but you can't keep a copy.

Airbnb's separate house rules policy narrows rules to seven standard categories, bars checkout chores that a cleaner would normally do, and stops hosts from charging their own fines.

Some of this is good for guests, and plenty of hosts won't feel it. But owners of high-value homes lean on exactly the tools being restricted: signed agreements, knowing who is staying, and clear consequences when something goes wrong.

The bigger point: you're renting someone else's rules

This isn't only an Airbnb story. Vrbo just changed its commission. Booking platforms update terms, fees and search rankings whenever it suits them. When a platform takes the booking, it decides what you can ask, what you can charge and how disputes get settled.

That's the trade. You get their traffic, and they get the final say.

What you keep on your own website

When a guest books directly, the rules are yours to set, within your local laws:

• A rental agreement. Guests review and sign it as part of booking, before they pay.
• Guest verification. Most direct booking software can verify a guest's identity before arrival.
• A security deposit. You set the amount and the terms, and you hold it.
• Your house rules. Written your way, shown before booking, and part of the agreement.
• Your cancellation policy. Not a platform's preset options.
• A direct relationship. You know who your guest is, and they know how to reach you next time.

Have a local attorney review your agreement, especially for deposits and damage terms, since rules vary by state and city.

This doesn't mean leaving the platforms

The platforms are still where many guests find you for the first time. Keep your listings. Follow their rules on their bookings, including not asking platform guests for contact details or steering them elsewhere.

The goal is a second door. Guests who find you on Google, come back for a second stay or hear about you from a friend can book on your terms instead.

Start with your policies page

If you have a direct site, look at your policies page this week. It should cover your rental agreement, deposit, ID check, cancellation terms and house rules, in plain language, linked right next to your book button. If you don't have that page, that's the first gap to fix.

Not sure what else your site is missing? Run the free website audit to see your home page the way a guest does, in about a minute.

To see what direct bookings could be worth for your home, run your numbers through the fee calculator. And if you want a site built around your own rules, see how Host Direct works.

This isn't legal advice. Check platform policies and local laws for your property.