I don’t think it’s true as I have been trying it. He might be spreading a rumor to get more hosts to do that.
I’m no fan of Chesky and I frequently pursue strategies that benefit me but are not in the broader benefit of the Airbnb platform, but in this case, I agree with most of what he has said.
Some guests (not all) don’t want to pay a cleaning fee… those who think that way are naive and stupid, and as hosts, we need to take advantage of their stupidity. They think our places magically clean themselves like in Harry Potter. We need to train them to think they are not paying a cleaning fee. It should be hidden in the nightly rate. That’s what I do… it is possible using Airbnb rulesets.
What Airbnb should have done is never show the cleaning fee to guests… show total price only (similar to hotel prices on Expedia).
Chesky and his team has blown this cleaning fee issue… but perhaps all they want is publicity out of this.