Every listing has the same four, and they are the only ones that cause a real disagreement. What changes the outcome is almost never the rule. It is the wording.
Open a few rental listings and you will find rule lists of fifteen or twenty items, most of which are not rules at all. "Please remove shoes" is a request. "Dishwasher tablets are under the sink" is help. "Do not flush wipes" is a plea. Mixing those together with the things that genuinely matter buries the things that genuinely matter.
Worse, a long list of prohibitions sets the tone for the whole stay. Somebody who feels warned on arrival behaves like a suspect rather than a guest, and is noticeably quicker to complain about everything else. Keep the four that are real rules. Write the rest as help, where it belongs, next to the thing it is about.
From when to when, and whether it is you asking or the neighbors.
QUIET HOURS 10PM - 8AM. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Quiet from about 10 at night. The houses here are close together and the neighbours either side have been lovely about having a rental next door, which I would like to keep. Inside and normal is fine; it is the deck and the hot tub that carry.
Naming the actual source of noise does more than the hour does. Most guests have no idea which part of your house is the loud part from outside, and will happily avoid it once told.
Yes, no, or yes with something attached. This is the one people ask about after they have booked, which means a vague answer costs you a conversation every single time.
No pets, I am sorry. It is not a preference, somebody in the family has a bad allergy and uses the house between guests.
Dogs are welcome, up to two, and there is no extra charge. Two things I would ask: not on the beds, and if they are in the yard unattended please latch the side gate, it swings open on its own.
A reason turns a refusal into a fact. "No pets" invites an argument about one small quiet dog; "somebody in the family has a bad allergy" does not, and nobody takes it personally.
Where, or nowhere, and mention the porch either way. The porch is where the question actually comes from, and a rule that only says "no smoking indoors" has answered a different question from the one being asked.
No smoking.
No smoking or vaping anywhere inside, including by an open window. On the back porch is fine and there is an ashtray on the rail; please use it rather than the flower bed. The same goes for anything else that smokes.
How many can stay, whether visitors during the day are fine, and where the line is. These are three separate questions and most rules only answer the first one.
Six people sleeping, which is what the beds are for. Friends and family round during the day is absolutely fine and you do not need to ask. What does not work is a party: if it would be loud enough that the neighbours notice, it is too much for this house.
The distinction between "visitors" and "a party" is the one worth spelling out. Hosts who ban visitors outright get them anyway and never hear about it; hosts who allow visitors and draw a clear line at noise mostly get what they asked for.
Say something once, early, plainly, while the stay is still happening. The overwhelming majority of rule-breaking is somebody who did not know, not somebody who did not care, and a short message on the first night ends it. Saving it up for the review is the version that helps nobody: the guest never learns, the next host inherits them, and you have a bad evening for three days instead of a short conversation once.
Roost keeps these four in their own section, away from which bin goes out on Tuesday, because a rule sitting in a list of chores reads like a chore. You write them once and every guest after that has them.
Four that are genuinely rules, and everything else written as help rather than as a rule. Quiet hours, pets, smoking and extra guests are the ones that cause a real disagreement. A list of twenty reads as a warning, and a guest who feels warned behaves like a suspect rather than a guest.
Both, and they have to match word for word. The listing is where a rule has to be agreed to before booking, which is what makes it enforceable. The copy in the house is what somebody actually reads on the night it matters. A rule that appears in one and not the other is the hardest kind to enforce.
Say who it is for. "Quiet after 10, the neighbors are close and they are lovely about it" is the same rule as "NO NOISE AFTER 10PM" and it gets followed more often, because it reads as a person asking rather than a sign shouting.
Mention it once, early, and plainly, while the stay is still happening. Most rule-breaking is somebody who did not know rather than somebody who did not care, and a quiet message on the first night fixes almost all of it. Saving it for the review helps nobody.