Poll - To clean or not to clean? That is the question!

[Kwame6]

Hello everyone!

I wanted to reach out to the community to get an idea of how many hosts clean their own listings or just pay for a professional and why? In the latter, how did you find your cleaner and how much do you pay? Also, how do you handle linens, laundry, and restocking if at all?

My wife and I were lucky. We list our 4 bedroom as individual rooms and used to take turns cleaning our home. However, several months ago, one of our guests loved our home so much that they offered to stay longer and in exchange for a discounted rent, clean the other rooms and manage the property. We love this (and her) but realize that all good things come to an end and want to be best prepared. 

Looking forward to the responses and thanks in advance!

[Helen3]

Hi @Kwame6

Why are you asking for this information.

Are you carrying out market research because you want to set up an Airbnb Management business?

[Kwame6]

Hi @Helen0!

I'm actually asking for multiple reasons.

I do have an Airbnb that my wife and I manage in Seattle. I am also a budding entrepreneur that operates in the vacation rental ecosystem.

I wanted to poll fellow hosts for both personal and professional benefit and would greatly appreciate any offered opinions. 

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Kwame6 Cleaning is a very important issue for every guest. Everyone’s standards are different. 

I personally prefer “hospital clean”. That means if my pancreas needs to be pulled out, you could do it in the middle of the kitchen. I will show you, train you and correct you but you have to be motivated. 

The fees “professional crews” charge eats a huge part of an average guest stay. Doing the work yourself on a couple of listings is possible but you need a team if you are going to scale. 

Ive hired off of Craig’s list and it was hit or miss. 

There is an app called Properly dot com that has cleaning companies listed. You can send them detailed list. 

There is also Turnoverbnb which is a free app that lets you coordinate cleaning jobs with housekeepers and share calendars. 

Its a tough question and a good one. 

‘You know it’s hard out here for a Host’

[Kwame6]

Thanks @Rene-and-Zac0! Excellent feedback and I completely agree.

How did you hear about properly and turnoverbnb?

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Kwame6 I met the developer for turnoverbnb here in the community forum. He lives in Hawaii and developed the app because he needed one. Now he offers it for for host to use.

Properly, I suspect is Airbnb related but I’m not positive. 

I did use properly once but the housekeeper didn’t work out and the others were way too outrageous in price for me to use.

Our Craig’s list maid was ok but she couldn’t work with chemicals and wanted to do everything using vinegar. It just didn’t seem clean to me after she left and I let her go. 

My breakthrough cleaning came once I bought a Hoover tile floor wet scrubber. That machine makes the floors absolutely immaculate clean. My guest comments right after we started using the Hoover vacuum went from “clean space” to “sparkling clean” and I love it. 

‘You know it’s hard out here for a Host’

[Matthew285]

@Kwame6, we clean the listing ourselves, mainly because it is a guest suite inside our home.

Plus, it only takes and hour or two.

Linens we wash ourselves also.

[David126]

Might be worth mentioning the AirBnb living wage pledge.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Kwame6

Our listing is a private room in our home so we, like @Matthew285, do everything ourselves - meaning Henry handles most of it 🙂  Henry is a bit of a neat freak (even a little bit OCD - in a nice way) and most of our guests have mentioned how clean and tidy our home is. We host a lot of long-term guests so we don't have frequent turnovers, but we work hard to keep the place clean and do a deep-clean of the entire house, including under and behind all the furniture, from top to bottom between each guest which takes 2~3 days. I'd bet the level of cleanliness and sanitizing we do is up to par with any "professional" cleaning. 

[David126]

I need a Henry.

[April3]

@Kwame6 I generally handle cleaning my listing, out of necessity. I have a small 1bd/1ba in Tahoe, and Airbnb & vacation rentals ae big business here. Its difficult to find a good cleaner who isn't already booked on large homes, and I can understand this. Why would they take a small home to clean for $60-70 when in the same time frame they could be making $250-$400 for a large place?  I do have a few friend on retainer for when I travel, but they all work their other job and mainly do it to help me out. 

For linens, I take everything to the local wash & fold. My property doesn't have a W/D, plus the wash & fold does a MUCH better job than I could do! Also, I hate folding laundry 😉

[Kwame6]

Thank you @April3. I appreciate the response!

[Teresa354]

I have a cleaning service clean.

But always be prepared with 2 or even 3 sets of linens and towels for your Airbnb.

If your cleaning crew happens to be late arriving be prepared to start cleaning yourself or have a backup housekeeper. Start by removing all linens- remove sheets off of all the beds and towels out of the bathrooms and take them out of the rental. This is a first step because once you start dusting and cleaning the flooors you won’t create more dust from dirty linens. Good Luck!

[Kwame6]

Thanks for your response @Teresa354! Out of curiosity, how did you find your housekeeper?

[Huma0]

Around the time I started hosting, my trusted long-term cleaner had to retire due to a spinal injury. I tried other cleaners but I found they didn't do things to a high enough standard and were also unreliable, often cancelling last minute and leaving me in a panic right before a guest arrival.

Now, I do EVERYTHING myself, including the laundry, as laundry services in London are too expensive to be an option.

The advantages are that I save money and can time my cleaning around guest arrivals. My cleanliness ratings also improved as soon as I started doing it myself. The disadvantages are that it takes up so much time and energy. I am not sure I can manage it long-term as I do have a job as well!

It does help to have several sets of bedlinen for each room and plenty of stock of cleaning products. I also keep a couple of cans of foaming, 'no scrub', bathroom mousse handy for extra quick turnarounds, when I don't have time to do the usual routine.

Routine itself is really important, i.e. if you have a set of stages for each room it becomes faster and you don't miss anything.

For example, for one of my bedrooms, it's something like this:

1. Strip bed and put linens and towels in the wash

2. Empty bin/any other rubbish left by guest and wash water glasses etc.

3. Iron new bedlinen and make up bed

4. Dusting, polishing, cleaning glass - working around the room, always in the same order

5. Replace toiletries, towels, water caraffe and glasses. Update tourist brochures if necessary. Write guests' name on welcome blackboard

6. Vacuuming and mopping, including under the bed/other furniture. Always done last so there's no need to walk back over the clean floors.

I will do this exactly the same every time even after a two night stay by an immaculately tidy guest. Because it's done so often, the room looks lovely again in no time. When I have more time, I do some extras, e.g. clean the windows, inside the wardrobes etc. but the important thing when doing the 'regular' clean is not to get distracted by that stuff or you'll be there forever!