In Cape May County, Four in 10 Airbnb Homes Don't List Sheets or Towels
One of the best-loved Airbnb rentals in North Wildwood, N.J., a three-bedroom condo a block and a half from the boardwalk, tells guests in capital letters what to pack: "MUST BRING OWN SHEETS AND TOWELS."
Airbnb gives the condo its "Guest favorite" badge and ranks it among its top 10% of homes, rated 4.9 from 262 reviews. The host has been hosting for nine years. Its list of 43 amenities ends under "Not included" with Essentials, marked unavailable and crossed out.
In its corner of the coast, that condo is ordinary. In Cape May County's shore towns, from the Wildwoods to Cape May and Ocean City, 40% of active Airbnb entire homes list neither Essentials nor bed linens, eight times the U.S. rate of about one in 20, according to AirROI, a short-term-rental data firm, which tracked about 916,000 active U.S. entire-home listings with fuller amenity lists in September.
On Oct. 19, a Reddit user posted to the r/assholedesign forum: "Listing photos shows bedding and towels, but the fact that they aren't provided is buried at the bottom of 38 amenities as 'Essentials' crossed out."
The post reads the crossed-out line as a platform trick. The numbers point to something else: a beach-town custom concentrated mostly in a short stretch of the Mid-Atlantic coast, where guests pay about their neighbors' nightly rate and then haul or rent the linens. That matters to the families now planning next summer's shore weeks. Duane Watlington, who runs the Vacation Rentals Jersey Shore listing sites, told PennLive in January that the first booking rush runs from the day after Christmas to early March.
Airbnb's own rules allow the practice. Its Help Center says, "We strongly encourage Hosts to provide these essential amenities in all their listings," a list that includes one towel per guest and linens for each guest bed. Penalties, up to removal, can fall on listings that claim Essentials "but don't actually provide the items." A host who leaves the box unticked breaks no rule.
Airbnb also tells hosts that bedding is a basic: "Guests expect some basics when they stay with you so they can freshen up and have a good night's rest."
A custom the agencies share
Shore rental agencies publish the same rule. Berger Realty's guide for Ocean City, N.J., renters says, "The owner does not supply linens, blankets, towels, beach tags and other amenities unless specified in the lease." RE/MAX Realty Group's rental office in Rehoboth Beach, Del., says, "Most of our rentals do not include linens so please check your contract to confirm."
Central Reservations in Ocean City, Md., says most of its properties supply no sheets, no bath or beach towels and no "grocery items," which it defines to include "all soaps and paper products such as toilet paper", every item in Airbnb's Essentials.
A Cape Cod rental company gives a practical reason. "In most cases, it's not the added cost, it's the logistics of the typical, very hectic rental turnover day," says Pretty Picky Home Rentals in an owner blog.
The custom clusters in summer beach towns such as Ocean City, Md., which earned 71% of its past-year Airbnb revenue in June through August. Statewide, nearly a quarter of Delaware's active entire homes list no linens, and somewhat fewer in New Jersey. Elsewhere on the coast it is rarer: Nags Head, N.C., in the Outer Banks, sits near a tenth, and Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Destin, Fla., at the national norm or below, though it reappears in pockets such as Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.
Three in four of the shore homes listing no linens aren't professionally managed, a slightly smaller share than among homes that list linens. In September, their typical minimum-stay setting was three nights, the same as homes that list linens.
No discount for packing your own
Guests get little or no discount for bringing their own. Pooled across the 15 larger beach towns, each with at least 200 homes, where a fifth or more list no linens, and matched on town and bedroom count, homes listing no linens booked within about 5% of homes that list them, however they were matched. Town by town, the gap ran both ways. A three-bedroom home booked a median of about $395 a night with linens listed and $397 without.
The cleaning fee barely differs either, with a median near $200 for both groups in those towns.
The linens then cost extra. Miss Sea's Shore Services, which delivers around Ocean City and Sea Isle City, charges $43 a week for a queen or full bed with sheets and bath towels, and $33 for a twin. At those prices, the North Wildwood condo's four beds, two singles, a double and a queen, not counting a sofa bed, would come to about $150 for a week.
That is about 4% on top of a typical summer week in Wildwood, which Watlington told Fox News on Aug. 6 runs a midpoint of $3,500.
None of it shows up in the price a guest compares. The Federal Trade Commission's fee rule, in effect since May 12, 2025, covers Airbnb stays, and its staff guidance says that "if a hotel requires guests to pay for towels, the hotel must include the towel fee in the total price." A host who supplies no towels charges no fee. Airbnb said in April 2025 that guests "will see the total price of their stay—including all fees before taxes—right from the start," and the guest's linen bill never enters that total.
Cait Carr Vogel, who rents at the Jersey Shore every year, told the New York Post on Aug. 5: "You need to bring your own sheets, toilet paper, paper towels." Her verdict: "Basically, we're paying $10,000 to camp." Watlington called a $10,000 week "definitely an above-average luxury rental."
Shore Local News sees less of a scandal. "Bringing linens and towels, for example, isn't necessarily an indication that something is wrong with a rental," Sarah Fertsch wrote there on Aug. 20, noting that some professionally marketed Sea Isle properties tell tenants to bring both.
Ratings hold up
Shore homes listing no linens rated within a tenth of a star of those that list them.
How the custom is disclosed varies more than the custom itself. Pretty Picky says it highlights in yellow, in its rental agreement, when linens are not provided, "so it's hard not to notice." On Airbnb, the North Wildwood host writes it in capitals, and the platform lists it last.
In Watlington's account, the rush to book shore summers starts the day after Christmas. The North Wildwood condo's summer weeks run Saturday to Saturday, with check-ins from July 3 to Aug. 21, and its amenity list still ends on Essentials, crossed out.
About the data: Active U.S. entire homes refreshed in September 2026 with at least 15 amenities listed. "No linens" means a listing names neither Essentials nor bed linens. Booked nightly rates cover the past 12 months, compared within the same town and bedroom count.
Frequently Asked Questions
Airbnb says it "strongly encourage[s]" hosts to supply one towel and one pillow per guest, linens for each guest bed, toilet paper and soap, but it does not require them. A listing that claims Essentials and then fails to supply those items can face penalties, up to removal from Airbnb.
Airbnb's amenity list describes Essentials as towels, bed sheets, soap and toilet paper, and hosts tick it to say they supply them. Bed linens is a separate amenity, so a listing may name one, both or neither.
Open the full amenity list and check that both Essentials and Bed linens appear. Some items a host doesn't offer, Essentials among them, show up crossed out under "Not included" at the end, while others are simply missing. Read the description, where some hosts spell out a bring-your-own rule, and message the host if anything is unclear.
Miss Sea's Shore Services, which delivers around Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Avalon and Stone Harbor, charges $43 a week for a queen or full bed with sheets and bath towels. Linen Fairies in Sea Isle City charges the same for a weekend as for a full week, so a weekend costs as much as a week.
