Steep cleaning fees? Ridiculous chore lists? Who cares? Apparently, people still love Airbnb.

"The larger picture when I look at this is that Airbnb is a strong brand, and they've only become stronger in the past several years."

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• Travelers critiqued some Airbnb hosts' steep cleaning fees and checkout-chore lists last year.
• But consumers' views of the short-term-rental giant haven't changed, a market-research firm found.
• Despite the social-media hoopla, an analyst said Airbnb's reputation has "only become stronger."

In September 2022, Airbnb guests took to Twitter and TikTok to revolt against host-mandated chore lists — that included tasks such as doing the dishes before checkout — and what they saw as exorbitant cleaning fees. The Wall Street Journal even published a front-page story with the headline, "Welcome to Your Airbnb, the Cleaning Fees Are $143 and You'll Still Have to Wash the Linens." 

Some hosts rushed in to please travelers, boldly highlighting $0 cleaning fees as a marketing tactic. Other hosts stood by their demands, saying they need to adequately pay their cleaning crews. The traditional-hotel chain Hilton unleashed ad campaigns that seemed to capitalize on the resentment and remind travelers that hotels place no such demands on guests.

Yet Airbnb's reputation appears to have weathered the storm, according to one consumer survey. 

A February 2023 study by the market-research firm Morning Consult showed that consumer favorability of Airbnb is not only still intact but is slightly higher than it was in January 2022. This month, 42% of surveyed consumers held a favorable view of Airbnb, Morning Consult found, up from 38% of surveyed consumers in January 2022. 

The survey asked 5,000 respondents representing all US consumers over the age of 18 to rank their views of brands such as Airbnb on a sliding scale equal to or between "very favorable" and "not at all favorable."  

Jordan Marlatt, a tech consultant with Morning Consult, said that because his team conducts the survey every month, he is able to track how consumer sentiment ebbs and flows. He could not find any "aberrations" in favorability ratings, even during the tumultuous fall months when so many content creators made Airbnb the butt of their jokes. 

By November, Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, announced a new design feature on the booking giant's website that allows guests to see all fees bundled together, with each listing labeled with its total price for a stay, before checkout. Users must opt in to the total-price button on the homepage. 

The concession to guests may have not been necessary. Morning Consult data shows that Airbnb's core demographic of regular short-term travelers has not budged on its willingness to book with Airbnb. 

Measuring consumers' intent to purchase on the same sliding scale, Morning Consult found that 51% of surveyed short-term travelers would likely still choose to book with Airbnb, a number virtually unchanged from the 50% recorded in January 2022. 

Though users might complain online, their resentment "isn't really breaking through to people's willingness to actually give Airbnb money," Marlatt told Insider. The results are evident for Airbnb, which recorded its first profitable year in 2022, hauling in $1.9 billion. 

The rental giant remains in a strong position coming off its ballooning popularity fueled partially by pandemic travel. In 2018, when Morning Consult began tracking Airbnb, only 23% of surveyed consumers held favorable opinions of the firm. 

By 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed travelers to prioritize space, flexibility, and privacy, more than 35% of surveyed consumers consistently deemed the brand favorable. 

"The larger picture when I look at this is that Airbnb is a strong brand," Marlatt said. "And they've only become stronger in the past several years." 

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