General Cleaning Tips?

[Jason855]

Hey guys - I'm a new host and currently do my own cleaning (I may switch to a cleaning service later). I cover all the obvious stuff - beds, bathrooms, kitchen, living area, etc. but was wondering if there's anything you guys do to go the extra mile. I'm looking for a small thing that would really take my apartment to the next level. I've heard of people leaving mints or chocolates on the pillows - that's a great one.

Thanks in advance!

[Jason855]

A+ recomendation. Remote controls are something I really haven't thought about but always notice when they're dirty.

As a guest in some hotels, I've gone so far as to cover them with a plastic bag because they're in such bad shape.

[Sarah977]

@Leo192  Remotes and doorknobs probably sport more bacteria than toilet seats, seriously 🙂

@Ben551  Guess you get some guys with bad aim. That is pretty disgusting, what showed up with the UV light. But FYI, urine is actually sterile- it doesn't contain bacteria (which of course is no good reason not to clean it up). Sounds weird, I know, but true.

[Ben551]

@Sarah977 Hahaha yeah, bad aim is an understatement. We also found the resudie from vomit and blood shows up, so that was helpful (particularly if you recall a particular story that doesn’t bare retelling). Totally true about urine too. In the old days a Urologist used to “taste” human urine to see if it was too sweet, which indicated kidney infection or failure. Sounds gross, but it’s true.  The exception is K9 Urine, which also shows up with the proper UV light.

Interesting story... I originally bought my UV light because, when we moved to NZ a couple of years ago, we rented a place that was pet friendly until we bought a house. They previously rented to people with dogs. One of our cats started to “toilet” inside, always in the same room. We put a litter tray in that room, hoping they would choose that spot, but it didn’t always work. They also wouldn’t use litter trays in certain rooms...

Confused, we did some research then bought a UV light for detecting pet urine. When we looked, I cannot describe what we saw. Every inch of the downstairs had dog pee... carpet... walls... you name it. It was a giant urinal. Our cats were counter peeing under stress. 

So $800 of professional cleaning later, problem solved. I never charged the landlord either. To be fair, his was the only pet friendly rental in Wellington and they had the carpet shampoo’d before we moved in, just not to the standard that dog urine couldn’t be detected by other animals. None of it smelled like pee to us. It was invisible to the eye and nose.. but not to our cats.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Ben551 @Sarah977 

This is more or less why my mom used to say carpets are gross 🙂 

[Sarah977]

@Jessica-and-Henry0  I think that upholstered furniture, like sofas and armchairs, are pretty gross as well. People put their feet up on the couch, fall asleep there and drool, eat on it and drop crumbs, sit on it in maybe not-so-clean clothes. I know people usually have them cleaned a couple times a year, maybe (?), but even so...

My sofa is a built-in concrete bench and the cushions all have removable covers, as do the throw pillows. I really don't like anything that can't be washed.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Sarah977 

My mom is kinda the same way about needing to wash (and disinfect) everything 🙂 and some of it rubbed off on me. Which is why when I bought my sofa (with no thought about the possibility of becoming a host) and I really wanted a fabric one but was worried about how to keep it clean...... I went with a pretty pricy chamude fabric (also known as ultrasuede) sofa. I have an extra cover on it (mostly to catch all the hair and crumbs and limit "daily" wear and tear) which is changed monthly. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasuede

[Sarah977]

@Jessica-and-Henry0  Oh, I'm not that fastidious (except when preparing the guest room and bathroom)- your mom would probably find my home not quite up to snuff 🙂 I just like being able to whip off covers and throw them in the wash if they're looking grubby. 

[Sandra126]

Just back from a changeover, decided to lift my game as this thread had put me to shame. Hands and knees. My house does not make for easy cleaning, but I am pleased wiith today's efforts. It is never ending though! No, I didn't disinfect the remotes but I did clean the switches. Could easily spend any amount of hours cleaning... There is always more dust.

@Jessica-and-Henry0, carpets are indeed gross. Rugs, on the other hand, can be lifted, shaken, beaten, cleaned!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Sandra126 

Yup~ my mom liked area rugs - especially they types that can go in the washer. Different colors/textures for each season. 

Henry got up early today to clean - today is vaccum day! I got up a bit later but early enough to help change the guest bedroom sheets 🙂 and we started a load in the wash. Just had a quick lunch~~ and I'm relaxing a bit with a large mug of coffee. Eventually, I'll do the lunch dishes, clean the kitchen and a basic organizing of the fridge. Then Henry and I will take out the trash and recycling. 

I will also be sending a message to our guest to NOT throw plastic bags/wrappers in the general trash - they need to go into the recycling plastics bin. 

So much to do on my day off 🙂 

[Ben551]

It’s never ending sometimes isn’t it @Jessica-and-Henry0 . Earlier this month I felt like I needed a proper break from Airbnb life, then our 2.5 week booking came and it felt like I could breath out... all we do it a once per week linen change, vacuum and tidy, but far less work than a proper changeover. It felt like a friggen holiday compared to the usual rhythm of “every 2 days” cleaning madness...

I’ve been doing all the cleaning myself for a while. I know my standard is higher than our cleaner and, after the cleaner I was using cracked my brand new $1,000 bathroom sink, I decided solo cleaners aren’t worth the hassle. She had no liability insurance either, so that will teach me to use a sole trader cleaner... this happened the day before we launched our listing. I had just installed the whole bathroom. Everything was new. I couldn’t wait to show our first guests through the next day... then the cleaner cracked the sink. She must have dropped the stone wear soap dispenser on the sink when she moved it to clean.

I had to run out and buy a porcelain repair kit and stay up all night doing the layers, setting, sanding, sealing... coat after coat...gently, until the crack was gone. I was exhausted. Then, I’m fairly sure I had the social grace of an Elephant when I met my first guests the following day... all thanks to a clumsy cleaner.

Later on I got quotes from professional cleaning companies in my area, but only one would even give me the time of day, and for more than the cost of my room rate. They wanted $160 per clean, excluding linens. My room rate base rate is only $127 per night. Airbnb cleaning isn’t something professional companies are interested in, in my city.  I even asked on Facebook and found a lot of grumpy hosts in my city... all doing the cleaning themselves... or taking the risk with a solo cleaner. Never again.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Ben551 

Totally get you 🙂 and it's why we wouldn't be able to host so much if we had only short term guests. 

Fyi..... we only change guest sheets/bedding every 2 weeks 🙂 

We thought about weekly changes at first but my sister (who is/was a TA) told me "if those kids were staying at the dorm  do you honestly think they'd wash and change their sheets EVERY WEEK?!?! Unless you are charging enough for maid service don't spoil them!!!" So we went with every 2 weeks cause Henry said any longer than that.... it woulld be a pain to get the stinky BO out 🙂 

And Henry likes things done a certain way..... so there are things he "lets me" do and things I should never try to do because I will either do it all wrong or make a bigger mess and create more work for Henry when he has to re-do everything. 

I actually tried to pursuade Henry to get a cleaner to come in once a week even before we hosted....... he said "if I do all the cleaning can I have what you were intending to pay the cleaner" 😉 

[Ben551]

@Jessica-and-Henry0  Hahahaha good on Henry. I’d avoid the cleaning too if it were an option!

We opted to do 1 weekly sheet changes for long term guests because of the dried blood issue. We seem to get older, wealthier guests who are looking for a bit of comfort... but they are often spottier than a pre pubescent teenager! The amount of blood spots in the sheets are ridiculous. So far we have been able to get all the stains out, but wife says if I leave the sheets for 2 weeks, our super system of nuclear stain-removal may fail us.

Our sheets are the fancy kind, 100% cotton 500 thread count Percale Weave, and look as good after 40 washes as when we first got them out of the box. We a real happy with how they stand up to the kind of regular washing we put them through, plus people often compliment us on how good the linen is.

Also, if we don’t offer to change the sheets after a week, I am worried guests will use their separate laundry themselves, and set those stains with hot washing and hot drying!

... so I guess for an extra $8 of laundering, we are happy to do it to prevent losing a set of sheets to permanent stains.

[May127]

Besides the standard cleanliness, I always ask the maid to make the tap in the restroom and kitchen to be more sparking than usual by using the specific spray. (Not sure what is it but the maid should know.)

Hope this may help! 🙂

[Chris1745]

I feel like most of these are already covered here, but in case you've missed some of them, there's this blog post. I don't think I saw anyone mention coffee maker. Mold builds up in there very easily if you/guests leave water in there. Good luck!