Poor Cleaning Services

[Krystal16]

Sorry about the book, and the double posting I am not seeing alot of trackon in the hosting board

I have a dilemma, and I am looking for constructive advice/suggestions.  I live in the largest city in Canada, I am happy to call both Toronto and Canada my home.  I live in the suburbs of Toronto and I have a full time Airbnb near two post-secondary institutions that I run. 

The issue with living in the suburbs is that it is very hard to find the type of cleaning service required for Airbnb in my area.  I can’t have just one person do the cleaning as they won’t always be available, regular cleaners have clients say on every other Thursday and as we know Airbnb cleanings are on the day of check out and only between the hours of 11 & 3. 

I posted an ad on Kijiji (Canadian version of Craig’s List) and luckily, I was able to find a company.  It worked out good in the beginning like all do (except for me having to show them how to fold sheets and how to make a bed hotel style) but the cleaning has gotten worse and worse and worse.  I am getting negative comments on my reviews about the quality of the cleaning and the linens (there is a washer & dryer in the unit and they are expected to wash towels & sheets) the smell even of the towels.  I changed one of the beds in one of the bedrooms and when I moved the side tables, the side tables had not been dusted in weeks, and that is part of their regular cleaning.

Of course I could quit my job, and do the cleaning myself, obviously not feasible, I could hire Molly Maid at $60 to $70 an hour and then have to pass that cost off the guests then the cleaning charge would be more than the nightly rate.  I have considered having my own household cleaner go in every 6 weeks and do a good cleaning after my cleaners had already been there, I will also be looking into getting a security system, I want to see how many hours they are truly spending in the unit cleaning.  I have complained to the owner, who also subcontracts people to do the work and basically what I have been told is that the cleaners feel they are doing a good enough job and with the time they are spending there and what they are being paid they don’t think it is worth it.  Do I alienate the only cleaner that will come to my area?  It would also be good to mention in January minimum wage went up close to 20%, they are not paid minimum wage, however everyone who is close to the new minimum wage with the increase is asking where their 20% raise is.

Fellow hosts, what would you do?  Any suggestions for me?

Guests, would you be willing to pay an extra 100 to 150 in cleaning fees to ensure a higher quality of cleaning. 

Also, important to note the majority do not have issues with cleaning, but that # is decreasing. 

[Christine615]

The review from "Audrey" just about made me cringe. First - she's OCD or full of herself so expect that people are going to find problems where none exist because that's how they're wired. 

I looked at your reviews and they have been positive. The hardest part about being a host is reacting to a single guest who not only critiques your living space but tells people their opinion of the building and brags about their own expertise.

 I'm not sure you can charge more for the 3 bedroom (I put in a sample date in October to see the pricing). Especially since Airbnb charges the guest $12 on top of what they pay you.

Your problem is the company is subcontracting to cleaners who aren't up to the task. I would keep looking for an individual (or two) who would love the work and know how to do a good job. Or a  company that doesn't subcontract. Then send your own cleaner every two months to do a deep clean on the areas that don't get as much attention.

I have a 3 br apartment that is more square footage than your space and has more surface area to clean and dust. Takes about 4 hours to flip it with one person cleaning so we build halve into the rental price and the other half is recovered in the cleaning fee (at $25/hour for one person).

Is it possible to find local students at the university who might be able to do it as a side job for extra cash?  My intern used to do it for the money. She had worked over the summer at a resort so she knew what to do. Wonder if there are people like that in your area who would appreciate the opportunity.

[Krystal16]

Well Audrey was certain interesting I was so happy with her, she let me know that my fridge door was mysteriously opening on it's own which I was able to get some out right away to fix, I was very happy that she shared that with me, many guests won't.  The review later I was a bit surprized, then again, she is new to Airbnb so I wasn't completely surprized, they don't know the impact negative comments has on us. 

I messaged her privately to ask her what her concerns were and she gave told me she wasn't going to give a full list of all the little things but that one of the kitchen drawers opened, google tells me that is usually a lose screw or leveling of the metal bracket, the other issue was the pot lights rims were painted over, (they were rusted when the painter painted the ceiling he painted right over them, whola I no longer had to buy new rims I thought that was great) and my bathroom vanity was installed to high.  So my contractors work gets me a 4 out of 5, however I dont even mention in my listing that I personally renovated  for all she knows I could have bought the place like that.

I think i will certainly get a camera to monitor the property,  and I will start paying by the hour, also having my own cleaner go in every 6 to 8 weeks to do a good thorough cleaning that I can monitor.  

I'm not sure if having the students would work out most have part time jobs and don't get there schedules until a week before, and again its the whole 11-3 cleaning time.  

Thank you for your suggestions, I agree that I don't think I can charge the guests more for cleaning.

I did message 

[Susan151]

I think AirBNB cleaning is a specialty. The standards to which we are held are far higher than any we hold for ourselves after all. After every single cleaning, we must view our spaces as a guest would. The coffee cups should be not onnly clean, but artfully presented. Not even one coffee grind can be present. The pillows on the beds and sofa need to be "just so." Towels need to be presented so that they make the guest want to use them. And god forbid there is a hair ANYWHERE.

It might well be worth the time to truly train someone to do this in exactly the manner that you need. In exchange for the flexibility, you will need to pay them more the going rate.

I don't think that most house cleaners would have a clue as to how to prepare an AirBNB space for guests.

[Kelly149]

we've often talked about how our space only makes sense bc it is in our backyard and I can directly manage the turnovers. I don't think your basic subcontracted cleaning service will ever do it as well as an owner and if you don't see the space when a guest leaves or before a guest arrives I just wouldn't trust them to catch all the details (not just is it clean, but how should the review be written, are all your supplies still in place, is anything out of sorts....)

Is your schedule set early enough to at least get in the "good" cleaners more often? Depends on how often you're turning over the space. Maybe price yourself for longer stays so that you can invest more in the initial clean but not have to do it so often?

Could you allow a day in between guests so that even if you use a service for cleaning YOU are able to actually verify that all is well before your next checkin?

Maybe even make your checkout later and your checkin earlier as a benefit to guests (raise rate a smidge accordingly?).

I think a mediocre clean space is a death knell for a listing.

[Krystal16]

@Kelly149

Thank you for the advice, a couple questions, what do you mean about is my schedule set early enough?  Also when you say price myself for longer stays, do you mean increase the nightly rate & cleaning fee with higher discounts for weekly and monthly stays?

I prefer not to leave a day in between check outs this is a home I purchased as a flip property but our local real estate market crashed and thus I am on Airbnb, to cover the expenses of the home I need to rent as frequently as possible.  

Could you clarify what you mean by having a later check out and an early check in, I feel if I were to do this it would lessen the window that the cleaners had to clean in.  Where now they have up to 5 hours, it would be shortened down to 3.

[Kelly149]

@Krystal16 How early do your reservations come in? Are these all last minute? In other words it is easier to schedule a cleaner on a month or weeks notice than for tomorrow. 

My space has $95 cleaning fee - this is essentially a discount for every day you stay bc it gets charged on the front end. 

If you allow a night between guests (so that you can either clean yourself or adequately confirm that the space has been cleaned properly) then you would be able to offer the benefit of later checkout & earlier checkin bc the prep would be happening in the evening gap between. 

STR is not automatically a good way to cover a mortgage- there are lots of day to day hands on tasks to keep it going well. 

A mom with a young child might be a good candidate- if she can clean while little one plays. Whoever it is will do better if they are working for themselves & if you personally check it. 

[Sarah977]

@Krystal16  I was going to suggest basically the same thing Christina did, hiring a local student, but I'd be more inclined to look for a retired person who is looking to make some extra income. There are plenty of spry, energetic gals in their 60's who are OCD clean freaks (and that's how I'd advertise it as well- "Looking for clean-freak with flexible schedule for cleaning short term rental unit on an as-needed basis") who might be happy for the work and available on a come-when-needed basis. You could try to schedule a day when there are no guests and you could be there to clean with her the first time, so she knows exactly how you want it done, what not to miss (dirty fingerprints on the light switches is one that I find most cleaners never think about) how you want the beds made and the towels folded or hung, etc.

If there is a senior's center in your area, you might put up a notice there, or just ask whoever's in charge there if they know of anyone who might be interested. They might also have a newsletter you could post in. Bulletin boards at the local rec center could also be a spot to advertise.

I'd definitely get character references and make sure they're not on any police data base for shoplifting and what not 🙂

[Krystal16]

@Sarah977

I like your suggestion of an energetic gal in their 60's and I will likely steal word for word "energetic clean-freak", my neighbour is a recently retired teacher, perhaps I will leave a "we re hiring" phamplet in her mailbox.