Airbnb Cleaning Checklist: Don’t Miss a Spot | Hospitable (2024)

No matter what type of accommodation you offer on Airbnb, cleanliness is of the utmost importance to your guests. If your guests notice one small thing that was not cleaned properly, they’ll let you know that your cleaning standards aren’t up to par.

It’s way better to put your efforts into ensuring an excellent guest experience rather than managing bad reviews, right?

So whether you do the cleaning for your property yourself or hire someone to do it for you, you need an Airbnb cleaning checklist to follow during each changeover. This way, you can guarantee your Airbnb rental will be perfect for the next guest.

In this article, you’ll find a thorough Airbnb rental cleaning checklist that you can use to keep your property guest-ready.

Vacation Rental Cleaning Checklist: What to Include in Your Cleaning Plan

Cleanliness is a crucial factor that can make or break your Airbnb business because guests always comment on the space’s cleanliness in their Airbnb reviews.

We’ve put together a vacation rental cleaning checklist so that you or anyone cleaning your short-term rental knows how to get your property spotless.

The House cleaning checklist for each turnover should include these essential services:

• Inspect your property and remove left-behind items

• Wash and change sheets and towels and make the beds

• Clean the kitchen and put away the dishes, toaster, kettle, stove, and other utensils

• Dust furniture and other surfaces

• Sweep and mop floors and vacuum carpets and rugs

• Clean toilets, bathtubs, and showers

• Wipe countertops, door handles, and light switches

• Take out the trash

• Restock amenities you provide in your space, including coffee, trash bags, paper towels, hand soap, shampoo, and dish soap

• Do a final scan of the whole house and add finishing touches

The core success ingredients of keeping your rental place neat and tidy for every guest:

• The precision of your cleaning team

• Timeliness of their arrival

But before you start cleaning your house, make sure you have all the necessary tools and cleaning products:

• A good vacuum for carpets and vacuum bags

• A lot of microfiber cloths

• A microfiber mop for hardwood floors

• Glass cleaner

• Wood cleaner and polish to add the finishing touch

• All-purpose cleaner for kitchens and floors

• Dishwashing Soap

• Foaming shower cleaner

• A toilet brush

• Disinfectant for such germ-prone areas like toilets, bathtubs, and others

• A scrubbing brush

• Several scrub pads for extra stubborn grime

• Sponges

• Detergent

• A pumice stone

It’s a basic list, so you may need to include some specific cleaning tools and supplies for your own rental house.

Professional House Cleaners Checklist

What else to include in your Airbnb cleaning checklist? We asked experts who have proven business in the rental market before writing this article. They provided us with the necessary information based on their own experience.

You can use our professional house cleaner’s checklist as a template and change it a little bit depending on the specifics of your Airbnb rental property.

Not maintaining the ideal cleanliness is an obvious hosting blunder. Want to know the other popular revenue-draining mistakes? Download our free list and make sure that you don’t recognize yourself in any of those cases.

Cleaning Kitchens

A well-furnished kitchen is the heart of any home, and it’s one of the biggest reasons why travelers choose Airbnb vacation rentals over hotels. So you should always give your kitchen a deep clean, and here are some important things to remember:

• Wipe down and disinfect the outside of all the appliances, worktops, drawers, and cupboards

• Clean all the utensils—run them through the dishwasher if you have one

• Clean the stove

• Clean hoods and vents

• Wipe down the microwave inside and out

• Wipe down the inside of the refrigerator

• Clean the sink and sink drain

• Throw out leftover food

• Replace the dirty garbage bag with a clean one

• Clean windows and mop the floors

Cleaning Living Rooms

Your guests will use living spaces to relax and hangout. So you should make sure they are free and uncluttered to keep your guests happy.

• Dust all surfaces and polish wood furniture

• Disinfect light switches and all remotes

• Vacuum all sofas and under furniture

• Mop hard-surface floors and vacuum all rugs

• Clean away all cobwebs

• Clean windows

• Dust baseboards and moldings

Cleaning Bathrooms

No one would want to stay in a place with a dirty bathroom, so you should do everything to ensure that yours is in excellent condition.

• Sanitize and clean toilet

• Clean and sanitize sinks, tub, and/or shower

• Make the faucet and the mirror shine with a window cleaner

• Clean tile surfaces and grout

• Clear the tub/shower drain from hair or blockages

• Change/launder bathroom linen

It is best if your cleaning team does laundry too. But if different providers do cleaning and laundry for you, it’s crucial to make sure they work together well.

Cleaning Bedrooms

Your guests want a relaxing getaway, so you should do everything to ensure they can get a good night’s sleep. Here is what you should do to keep your bedrooms clean, neat, and tidy.

• Replace the used linens of slept-in beds with fresh ones

• Clear any trash

• Dust all surfaces

• Clean windows

• Disinfect light switches or remotes

• Dust/clean light fixtures/ceiling fans

• Empty out all dressers and closets

• Polish furniture

• Vacuum under the bed for dust

• Sweep or vacuum the floor

Cleaning Utility Rooms

Laundry and mudrooms are often used as an entrance to your property, so they can get nasty and require regular cleaning.

• Make sure there is no trash or lint in the dryer

• Wipeout washer and dryer

• Disinfect the knobs, buttons, and doors of the machines

• Clean the sink and clear out sink drain

• Clean windows and blinds

• Refill cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, and softener

• Check whether laundry baskets or drying racks are clean and ready to use

• Dust baseboards and moldings

• Clean/vacuum floors and rugs

If you have any outdoor areas, you should sweep up dirt, debris, leaves, etc. so your exterior areas are neat and tidy, and dirt isn’t tracked into the house.

Whether you are going to clean your Airbnb rental property yourself or prefer to use a professional cleaning agency, it’s important to plan every detail of the cleaning duties. And of course, you should keep a printed copy of your cleaning service checklist at an accessible location so your cleaners can refer to it easily when needed.

Hiring a Team of Professional Cleaners for Your Airbnb

Any short-term rental property should be as spotless as a 5-star hotel. If you keep your booking calendar full and want to be the best host for your guests, keeping your property clean can quickly become a full-time job.

That’s why hiring a professional cleaning service specializing in cleaning vacation rentals makes sense. It’s the easiest way to ensure thorough and consistent turnovers and impress your guests. You can charge an Airbnb cleaning fee to help you cover your cleaning costs.

You can go the more old-fashioned route and find someone in your area through word of mouth or look for a local cleaner online, for example, on Turno. This platform helps short-term rental hosts hire, schedule, and pay for cleaning services, and it has direct software integration with Hospitable.

While choosing a cleaning service for your Airbnb rental, you should consider factors such as pricing, industry-relevant experience, and turnaround time. It’s also important to perform a background check and read a review of the cleaning company from other hosts.

You may want to check out our podcast with tips on how to build a great cleaning team for your vacation rental and learn about real-time management tactics.

Conclusion

It’s crucial to set up a protocol for cleaning to keep you or your housekeeper on the track. Using an Airbnb cleaning checklist is one of the most comprehensive and scientifically backed ways to make sure that you have covered everything.

If you check off every item on this housekeeping checklist, you won’t have to worry about another Airbnb guest complaining about your cleanliness and you are more likely to get the best reviews.

You don’t need to make mistakes to learn. We’ve collected a list of horrible hosting mistakes that we want you to avoid. Happy reading!