Tips to shorten cleaning/guest turnover labor/time?

[Susan1028]

I have a checklist I go through with every turnover. 

It requires at least an hour of time and 2-3x that if I have to wait for laundry or if it's been a longer stay.

I've implemented a couple of options to shorten my turnover time, and am interested in learning about yours.

Here are a couple of mine:

1- have several full sets of bedding so I can just clear and reset without having to wait for laundry.

2- well-placed low maintenance live plants rather then fresh flowers

Look forward to sharing our creativity!

[Robin4 · Accepted solution]

@Susan1028

Starting to get somewhat forgetful with age Susan, I have made for myself a clear laminated checklist that I follow with each cottage turnaround, and as I do each item, I mark it off with a whiteboard marker and when it is finished I date it and photograph and print it to serve as a record which goes in the house rules folder with the guests name.

This may seem a bit over the top Susan, but many times I get distracted by a phone call or something else and doing this keeps me focused and means that when a guest arrives I can feel confident I have prepared the listing to the best of my ability.

Once I have taken a photo of the ticked and dated checklist I just clean it off and then it is ready for the next turnaround.

Sometimes the silliest little things just slip by you and I have found this to be a great help to me and I never have to have a guest come up to me and say...."do realise the toaster, the TV remote (or something else) does not work" ....I just know that they do!

Cheers......Rob

[Susan1028]

That's genius! Thanks @Robin4

[Pete28]

 Blimey - not sure I can do all of that 🙂

- reduce number of towels 1 large per guest and one hand towel

- only use two pillows on bed, other in closet etc

- buy 3 sets of everything

- encourage guest to remove shoes - less vacuuming

- duvet cover so entire duvet does not need wash

- reduce kitchen to basics, just microwave and fridge. Less mess

- only 2 glasses, cups, plates etc so they have to wash up to eat again 🙂

- suggest places for them to eat, get them out 🙂

[Jane215]

Hi Pete, that's a  really good point about encouraging them to eat out. I have a list of eateries across all price ranges in my info sheet. Also, I used to mention in my listing that there 's a fridge in the accommodation but found guests then often arrived with lots of food to store in the fridge when I'd prefer them to eat out. to cut down on wear & tear and mess.The fridge is really only for breakfast items -milk, juice, etc which I provide. Like your point re removing shoes as well. Cheers.

[Baiba5]

@Pete28  your comment made me smile! 😄

This is so much my husbands approach to the things!😅

But it does work!!!

Especially, the eating out part!

I do have everything for four and the dishwasher, however, in Riga, eating out does not cost you a fortune, so with some good places to go to in my guestbook - I do see less dishes to be touched! 
B.

[Baiba5]

P.s. And the NO SHOE policy - that works just magic! 
I have hard wood floors with underfloor heating, so gusts get warm feet and nice smell of warm wood.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Susan1028

the best tip I can give is :

-  clean bathroom tiles, faucets etc... with vinegar because you don't have to rinse it afterwards so it saves you 1/2 of the time. Of course it is also cheaper, desinfects and removes mold and hard water stains too.

[Huma0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0

I use vinegar on the shower glass to get it sparkly and streak free, although I have not tried it on tiles. I do use it on the taps, shower etc. in one bathroom where I have gold plated fittings (yes, really) as it's the only thing I have found gets water marks off without damaging the plating.

However, you do have to be careful to do this a bit ahead of a guest arrival if you can because the bathroom smells like a fish and chip shop for a while!

[Huma0]

@Susan1028

Great topic!

I don't have a written check list because I do turnovers so often (over 400 guests in my house in just a couple of years) it is etched in my brain.

Yes, it's essential to have at least two sets of bedding for each room. Also to use pillow protectors which dry quicker than the pillows. I then only need to wash the pillows occasionally, not every time.

I have found the most important thing is to have a routine and stick to it, i.e. do the turnover in the exact same way and order every time so that it becomes fast and automatic. This includes some things that other hosts might feel are not necessary after every two day stay, such as vacuuming and mopping under the bed and other furniture, dusting light fittings, cleaning window sills and radiators, but I have learnt that it's easier to keep a room clean by doing it often than to deep clean once in a while. 

Sticking to the order is so important, otherwise it's easy to get distracted. Yesterday, my order was disrupted because of a new rug. It sounds like a small thing, but I wasted so much time umming and ahhing about which room to put it in. Eventually, I just put it away, got everything else ready and decided on the rug's position at the end. Thank goodness I did, otherwise the guests would have arrived to a half finished room and me staring at a rug!

[Susan1028]

Yes...order is important.  A routine keeps things consistently "sparkling."

If it's a quick turnover and I don't pu the laundry in first, I'll have to forgo doing the laundry because there won't be enough time to finish...which is OK when you have backups, but with 3 sets, I can only put that off once.  As for adding additional amenities...I'm always seeking simple, useful decorator upgrades that will pay for themselves...and still have the cutest matching wall mount coat rack I've put off installing because drilling the holes will create a mess and I keep forgetting to do it before I start my routine lol...

[Huma0]

And there are some tips in this thread too:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Making-the-most-of-high-season/m-p/761067?utm_content=EN...

[Edith158]

I set up my entire house rental with ease of cleaning and maintenance in mind. (And I am lucky, I  allow several days in between bookings. I have a 50 hour/week day job, so I have to do it to stay sane. But it allows me to do a little each night before the next booking.)

I have no carpeting in the house, only hardwood floors. The floors are finished with a heavy duty tung oil (Waterlox brand) so that I can mop with white vinegar and water and do spot touch ups in high traffic areas.(which I have not had to do yet, touch up, that is)  Having a freshly mopped floor is something that just says "sparkling clean" outright!

It seems that floors figure prominently into easy cleaning methods. I do not have an area rug under my dining room table (not at home, either,) only the wood floor. I think about all the food that would get dropped onto that rug. Ugh. For the same reason I do not have throw rugs in the kitchen. Only the nice user-friendly white pine floor.

I use throw rugs in seating areas and next to the beds. These are woven rugs from the dollar store that can be machine washed. This was important to me to help prevent bed bugs. Each throw rug has a non skid gripper underneath it. I like these rugs because I can shake them out from the porch and I don't have to haul a vacuum cleaner up and down three flights of stairs. I can even shake out the grippers. These rugs were so inexpensive that I have an extra set for each bedroom.

I have each mattress on a platform bed with NO bed skirts. This is also to help keep bed bugs from roosting, but now I don't have to maintain a bed skirt. AND it's easy to run my duster cloth thingy all the way under the beds. Easy and clean. (Bonus:  I didn't have to buy box spring mattresses.)

And speaking of machine washable, EVERYTHING is machine washable. All of the throw pillows in the living room have removeable covers. Lap blankets are machine washable. Bathroom rugs are machine washable. Porch furniture cushions have removeable slipcovers that are, yes, machine washable. Placemats and cloth napkins are machine washable. All of my window coverings are simple white or off white cotton, easy wash.

When I do the first round of cleaning at the house, I get all the laundry going first. I have a big basement laundry with long clotheslines. I will hang up everything as it comes out of the washer. That saves time (and money) hauling things in and out of the dryer.

I have a stash of cleaning supplies on each floor (three floors including the basement.) This includes barkeeper's friend, microfiber cloths, rags, lint free cloths, a spray bottle of white vinegar and water, a mini dust pan and brush, magic eraser, a UV flashlight, a dust mop, lint roller, scotch tape, black sharpie and scissors.

And yes, yes, yes to having many extra sets of bed linens on hand. Even mattress pads, pillow protectors and duvet covers. I have huge unfinished attic (locked when I have guests in the house) and I hang the clean linens on hangers from the rafters and that keeps them sorta wrinkle free and on hand. Oh yeah, on the topic of mattress pads: these go over the waterproof, bed bug covers on each mattress. In case there is a liquid spill (or whatever) on a mattress, it's easy clean up and no mattress gets ruined.

And yes, yes, yes to only leaving two pillows and one duvet out on the beds. I make it very clear to guests that there are extra linens in each bedroom closet and they should feel free to use them if they like. But they are to leave them out on the bed when they check out so I know to wash them. That works out nicely. Same with towels. I hang one oversized bath towel, one hand towel and one washcloth per guest and tell them there are more in the linen closet. And there are. Most folks don't even use extras, though I like a second towel for my hair when I am a guest.

[Edith158]

My first few guests were a little loosey goosey about kitchen clean up, leaving food stains on the stove, unwashed coffee cups or a couple of plates in the sink. I would never do that at an Airbnb, so I assumed no guests would do so at my house. Not so. But that stopped once I printed, framed and hung this (small) sign over the sink: (apparently the tickle of a small laugh spurred them to be conscientious about messes...)

[Susan1028]

Adorable!

I had that issue too for about 4 stays in a row over the summer when it was super busy.  I posted a note--not as cute as yours, but it reinforces the house rules and politely reminds them about the fee they will be charged if they leave them for me to do. 

Hasn't happened since!  

: )