What are your cleaning tips?

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

What are your cleaning tips?

Cleanliness Tips

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I hope you are all good. 🙂

 

The cleaning process is something that all hosts go through, either by looking after it yourself or managing a person/company to take care of it. 

 

A few months ago, @Sandra126 created a great thread on ways to clean grouting, which led to a more general topic on how to remove stains, where many of you shared fantastic tips. With this in mind, I thought it would be useful to start a new discussion where we can share tips with each other on how you prepare your listing ready to receive your guests. 

 

How do you prepare your bathroom, shower, floors/carpets and towels/linens ready to receive your guests? Do you do it yourself or you use a cleaning service? Are there any special details you always make sure are ready? Do you normally have quite a tight turnaround to get your listing ready for your next guest?

 

Please share your tips below and I looking forward to hearing your responses. 🙂

 

Thanks,

 

Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

78 Replies 78
Nelda3
Level 2
Florida, Puerto Rico

I do it my self. As soon as they left I remove bed sheets and laundry them...white towels, so I can bleach!.. take garbage out..bugs spray..Then the same day people are coming I clean floors..bathroom..so everything will smell fresh and clean !

Leslie7
Level 10
Port Angeles, WA

we have a funky, rustic little cottage (which is reflected in description and price) so it is a bigger challenge to give it that "first in" look. Some guests have long hair that gets everywhere! We have a septic tank so we have to use bleach sparingly, so we use the sanitize cycle on our linens and towels. we don't use white linen for that reason. I do use the scent crystals in the wash so that guests can tell that everything has been freshly washed, but keep scent free laundry soap on hand in case a guest says that they have smell sensitivities. One of my best suggestions, which I haven't seen on here, is to purchase an ozone machine for lingering odors. It works like a charm!

On that note, smell is not necessarily a good thing. I was a guest at an ABB this week, the "nice" air fresheners they used nearly rendered the place uninhabitable. 

Jessica294
Level 1
Philadelphia, PA

I have my own cleaning business and I cater to air B and B . I cover all of Philadelphia .

Dev4
Level 10
Toronto, Canada

@Lizzie

Thanks for initiating the topic. I use a professional cleaning company. But recently, a few guests have complained about higher cleaning fees on my listings. So I am undertaking a study on how to turnaround quickly. Also, we are going "green". So I am doing reserach on what are the eco-friendly cleaning products and how we can make the properties more eco-friendly. 

I am going to read all the previous comments, summarize my research and share with the group. 

Petrina3
Level 10
Sapphire Beach, Australia

Geat to see some one else going " Green". I am using a great new Australian product called Ekoworx which is suitable for all surfaces. Great for windows and dirty ovens. It also kills 99.95 of bacteria. I bought the spray mop as i have hard floors.I am also stocking another enviromentally friendly product called " who gives a crap' which is toilet paper made from bamboo which has less enviromental impact than paper as it uses less water and is renewable.

I also put organic shampoos and hand/ body washing products out for guests to use as well as kitchen detergents etc 

i dry my linens on the line in the sun after washing so they are fresh. ( i live in a sunny place)

The rubbish bins are seperated for general rubbish and recyclables and most guests are good with this.

Every little bit helps.

Kelly117
Level 2
Tulsa, OK

I owned my own cleaning business and staging company for many years before beginning my Airbnb experience so both come very easy to me!  

I too, push down all the hair, debris and dust from all surfaces in the bathrooms before I EVER turn on any water to be certain that I'm vacuuming up every possible offense!  I then bleach and thoroughly sanitize everything.  If you keep up with this process, bleaching grout, toilets and sink fixture areas etc, it is very easy to keep up with! 

All dust throughout the house gets pushed down to the floors after each guest.  I tumble rugs after each guest unless it requires being washed.  I actually spray down all of my decorative pillows, rugs and furnishings with a fabric protectant spray called Vectra. It basically puts a stainless steel water proofing on everything and I'm able to spot wash any stains on throw pillows, rugs of all kinds etc. with just a little soap and water on a rag.  Its been a life saver and I love that product!  

All floor areas are vacuumed including under beds.  Again, if you keep up with this process it will be so easy after every guest!  I too keep up with all light switch plates, door knobs, blinds  etc.....

The key is keeping up weekly with deep cleaning chores and honestly, cleaning can be knocked out very easily and thoroughly!

 

My tip is the dry SWIFFER!  Even though I vacuum, when I run the dry Swiffer it picks up a lot of stuff the vacuum seems to have missed. Plus the very low profile of the Swiffer means it can go easily where the vacuum can't e.g. under the radiators, under the couch, etc.  It picks up a lot of grey dust and fibers which are left behind by the vacuum. Not sure why....!   the cloths do add up in costs, but it's always rewarding to see that they work and are not "wasted"!

I agree 100% with Kelly and others who say First dry down all surfaces.

Then vacuum.  

Only after that will I use a LIGHTLY damp rag or wet wipes.

The reason being is that once hairs get damp they stick to everything, including porcelean

BTW  black hair is my preferred color, I can see it.I have a terrible time with fine mousey blond hair. I cannot see it!

A dry cloth is important also when shining up the fixtures.

After mopping, I once again use a vacuum around the toilet, in the tub and sink.

 

 

 

 

Willow3
Level 10
Coupeville, WA

I often have back to back guests... so turnover needs to be quick and efficient.  I have two laundry baskets that have complete linen collections for the room.  When I'm washing, I fold and put the towels and pillowcases on the bottom, followed by the top sheet - which is folded so that I place it at the top of the bed, then unfold to the bottom, then the bottom sheet.  Topped by the bath mats - upside down in case any lint or dust falls on them.  (I work with linen fabric for my other business and until it's been laundered a few times, it's VERY linty and there are threads everywhere in my house.  The upside down bath mat protects the clean linens.)

 

I also installed plastic snaps on my down comforters and the duvet covers which makes changing the covers easy, and prevents the duvet from shifting around in the cover.  

 

I also created a head wrap for myself to wear, to contain my own long hair... I shed worse than a husky and found that just hair up wasn't enough protection.  

Wendy-and-Frank0
Level 10
Stonington, CT

I steam clean the heck out of everything, including the mattress and box spring.

 

Because I have dogs, I'm always worried that someone is smelling the dogs.  So before I steam the floors, I spray them with water/vinegar/baking soda and then steam everything up.  It neutralizes odors and it's natural.

 

I steam clean the shower and bathroom floor (white tile with white grout) and I steam clean the windows and window frames.

 

My big problem here is dust.  Lots and lots and lots of dust because of where I live.

 

I find that a microfiber cloth is the best thing in the world for picking up dust and I don't spray anything onto it.  Just the cloth acts like a magnet and grabs everything.

 

I take the window screens down every week and wash them unless the windows are closed (air conditioning and heating seasons).  Spring and Fall are a lot more work for me but it's worth it to have breezes come through the house.

 

I have no curtains, no carpets, no ceiling fans.  But I vacuum the walls.  If I see a dustbunny on the corner of a ceiling, I take a terry cloth cleaning rag and throw it up.  It hits the dust bunny and grabs it.  Beats pulling out the vacuum when I'm needing to tackle only one thing.

 

I don't burn candles.  The soot is filthy and with ten-foot ceilings, I am not about to climb up there to clean them.  I use wax melters.  Great fragrance, no soot, and works as a night light.

 

I launder towels with very little detergent, 1/4 cup borax, and vinegar in the rinse cycle.  They come out soft as can be.  Most people use too much detergent; less is more.

 

For sheets and pillow cases, I do exactly as I do for the towels but I add half a squirt of Dawn dishwashing liquid.  Dawn cuts grease like nobody's business and washes the sweat away.  No dull, discolored, faded sheets.

 

As much as I love bleach, I no longer use it the way I used to.  The smell hangs in the air too much and messes up my sinuses.

 

I am a sucker for cleaning products and cleaning in general but I've laid off the chemicals for the most part.  In the bathroom, I can't stand the idea of steam cleaning the toilet.  The mere thought makes me gag.  I use the Clorox wipes (generic brand) to clean the seat and under the rim and all that disgusting stuff.  I have a toilet wand that has a soapy thing I attach to it.  After I clean the toilet, the soapy thing goes in the garbage and just the wand remains which I wash in the sink before putting it in the stand.  Toilet brushes are the nastiest, nastiest, nastiest things on the planet.  If you use them, take them out of the bathroom.  I also throw bleach tablets into the toilet tank.

 

I also have a septic so I have to be careful but I do pump out my septic once a year (overkill - I know) because I'd rather have my house the way I want it than have the septic the way the bacteria want it.

 

I remove bathroom fans and vacuum once a month and I remove the AC vents and vacuum them at the beginning of the season.

 

I have radiant floors so I don't have baseboards or any of that stuff.

 

I paint every room once every three months but I don't paint the entire room; only the areas that have signs of "traffic".  I use a flat paint throughout the entire house, including the kitchen and baths, because painting is the easiest way to clean a wall and flat paint requires no back-rolling or other special techniques.

 

I pressure wash the exterior, outdoor paths, and decks once a year after all the planters are filled and the gardens are weeded and mulched.

 

The fridge, ovens, stove, and barbecue grills are cleaned weekly.  I take the racks out of the ovens and off the grill and put them in a big, black, plastic garbage bag and spray the heck out of them with Easy Off Oven cleaner.  The stuff stinks even if it says it's fume-free.  I leave everything in the bag overnight and then the next day, I just steam clean them and they're back to new.

 

I clean my washing machine (front loader) monthly and I leave the door open unless I have guests.  I use straight vinegar on a cleaning rag to clean that rubber gasket area.  My machine has a "clean machine" cycle and I use it with baking soda.

 

I would say that I spend a good 3.5 hours a day, every day, cleaning this house and even so, I can't keep up with the pollen or the dust.  But it's 2,300 square feet, ten rooms, and 1,800 square feet of outdoor living spaces so I have to stay on top of it as I don't have any help.

 

 

 

 

Lyndsey2
Level 10
Stonington, CT

My best tip is using a lint roller on the lampshades to keep them dust and hair free.

 

I also use pillows that are machine washable because, when I'm a guest, I don't like the idea of sleeping where someone else drooled the night before, even with a clean pillowcase on top. 

 

I like to change up the tools I use because I figure every one has its limitations and I'm always scared that if I stick to exactly the same routine every time, I'll keep missing the same things too! 

 

Bar Keepers Friend is my very favorite product and makes tiles and glass shower doors shine.

Julia314
Level 1
Nokomis, FL

Hello, everyone. I am a cleaner. If you are doing it yourself, have the proper ppe, and non-harsh chemicals. Limit bleach and ammonia and scebted products so the guests won't have a potential reaction. Dust above door frames and doors and picture frames and top of window frames and anything on the walls and fans tvs (i like sqiffer extendable duster). Dry dust the baseboards periodically with a microfiber cloth. Then, wash stuff. Go to with the wet areas (showers, toilet, sink area, mirror, cabinet fronts, and lastly floor) (dishes, cabinet fronts, wipe appliances, clean in microwave, wipe counters, clean sink, cooktop). For bedrooms, lift stuff or move knick nacks over and dry dust (with microfiber cloth) and then clean with a surface safe spray cleaner. Wipe and dust things, too. Make beds and vacuum floors/clean them. Perfect the bed and all mats on the ground etc. Finish off, one spray the room (bedrooms and bathrooms not near glass) with a linen spray. 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello everyone,

 

Thank you so much for all the fantastic tips and experiences you have shared here. It is really eye opening and I am sure many community members here will find this a very handy thread to view. 

 

Please do continue to discuss and share your tips here. 

 

Thanks again. 🙂

 

Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

After using a wet cloth to clean/disenfect the bathroom use a dry cloth to dry everything back off. It not only helps to remove spots but you will also find stray hairs you missed.