Your cleaning tips and advice

[Stephanie]

Hello everyone,

Cleaning is an essential element of a host’s life and can really make a difference in whether a guest enjoys their stay or not. Here in the Community Center it’s one of those things we all have in common and is shown in the many great conversations providing tips and solutions: 

What are your cleaning tips? / Grout cleaning / How do you keep your home smelling fresh?

One of the tricky things when starting is to know how to calculate your cleaning fee, or charge one at all. Maybe you have a designated cleaner and so this provides a useful guide or you calculate it time/expenses. 

Do you have any cleaning tips or routines that help you to prepare your listing? Do you have a cleaning fee on your listing, if so how do you calculate this?

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Emiel1]

I do no charge a cleaning fee. My listings are all rooms, cleaning is done by myself and included in the listing price (Ever seen a hotel charging you a cleaning fee ? As a guest you may expect a clean accommodation). Airbnb Service fees are also calculated over cleaning fee, so it costs guests/hosts extra money.

Cleaning tips:

- If you forgot something, your breath and a piece of kitchen paper is your mate.

(A mirror:  it will shine as never before, same for chrome sanitair, etc....)

- Some hairs or fluff detected:  a piece of cellottape (packaging tape) will pick them up quickly. A lint roller does the job for more surface, also on the bed.

- Some people clean a toilet spottless, but forget the door handles....that's where the bacterias mostly are !

Like to hear more cleaning tips... especially time saving tips !

[Denis-Mark0]

To be honest, I really would appreciate hotels charging me a cleaning fee, too.

From a controllers point o view it makes sense to add a cleaning fee separately, because the cleaning has to be done after each guest and approximately takes the same time, no matter if a guest stayed one, two or more nights. Changing bed linen, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning surfaces, vacuuming. Everything has to be done.

So, the calculation based on a salary per hour  like 10,- € plus additonal social fees of 31,15 % in Germany for about 1 1/2 until 2 hours for cleaning a 25 m² apartment leads to 19,67 € - 26,23 €.

But my apartment at all is 44,- until 49,- € per day. So, not to charge any cleaning fees while offering the apartment for just one or two night would be a loss.

It's clear that the longer a guest stays the more the cleaning costs will be compensated through the daily rate, but based on my realistic knowing about staff costs , I couldn't do so.

If my guests book for just one or two nights, they see for what the are paying. Sure, the average price is higher for one or two nights. But until now my cleaning efforts led to excellent ratings and compliments for this part and the cleaning fees seemed to be accepted.

[John2342]

I agree totally with you Denis-Mark, there is the same amount of cleaning after a one night stay as for a week. If you have seven one night stays the amount of time is huge in cleaning but not so much after a one week stay. Maybe a couple more towels could be involved but the cleaning of the unit is much the same, as people do their own cleaning in between.

[Martha473]

Appreciate any new reminders  for cleaning, especially sheets and towels that are stained. They are costly and I will not use them if I cannot get them spotless.

[Joanne38]

@Martha473 

I only purchase white sheets.  If they get marked I can bleach them.  I have found they have been the best value for long term.

[Sherry154]

I manage 2 ABB  structures, both located on same property. We are near National parks and we expect a mud mess so we have a mud tray for shoes, and along with a lot of rain, some messes can't be helped. I would never expect a guest to follow such strict rules as to what they brought, they take with. Sometimes, they just don't have the room to take things back that they have purchased during their stay.

We are in a semi-rural area, so if folks want to recycle their leftover food outside to the chickens and peacocks, that's fine with us. We encourage recycling of bottles and have a separate pail for that. Guests appreciate that and some guests don't really care. 

We use a stainless steel finishing spray for those surfaces and it makes a great difference.  Hair everywhere is a big problem and the lint roller is a great idea but I will get down to the shower drain cover and clean thoroughly. I guarantee you that if you miss one hair, guest will see it and  it will effect your rating.

Sherry S

[Trude0]

I have cleaners taking care of my own house, but don't quite trust them with my Airbnb guest house, so I clean that myself. 😄 I've noted that my cleaners use a lot of dry rags, usually torn up old sheets, in addition to wet/moist ones. I've started using the dry rags myself when cleaning, as I find it is easier to get all dust, hairs etc up, and make the surfaces shiny. Rinse wet rag, dry off surface, then follow with dry rag. Change dry rag frequently, I'll have a small pile of used ones when I'm done. They are also great for polishing glasses and cutlery shiny/remove stai s from water.

[Helen-and-Rod0]

Yes... but I'd suggest microfibre towels...which are fantastic & wash up really well... hung out on the line with one peg & easily back in the cleaning cupboard for the next clean.  Wish I'd used these years ago...

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@Trude0 wrote:

I have cleaners taking care of my own house, but don't quite trust them with my Airbnb guest house, so I clean that myself. 😄 I've noted that my cleaners use a lot of dry rags, usually torn up old sheets, in addition to wet/moist ones. I've started using the dry rags myself when cleaning, as I find it is easier to get all dust, hairs etc up, and make the surfaces shiny. Rinse wet rag, dry off surface, then follow with dry rag. Change dry rag frequently, I'll have a small pile of used ones when I'm done. They are also great for polishing glasses and cutlery shiny/remove stai s from water.

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[Helen427]

hello @Trude0 @Stephanie @Emiel1 

What an appropriate topic!
Just had a huge cleaning/ Household duties day yesterday, it's never ending and something Guests tend to overlook how much time & effort goes into keeping them in a healthy environment.

One trick I grew up with is using hot water & a crushed up newspaper to clean glass, especially windows, mirrors & shower glass!!

With newspaper becoming scarcer each day I try keep a handy supply.

Always remember to wipe out the tray where the crumbs fall into in the Toaster, it prevents that burnt smell.

Fill the blender with water & a squirt of dishwashing liquid & zap it on for a few minutes & Bob's your uncle it's clean.

Cleaning is a great work out, keeps the body in shape!!

[Stephanie]

Us British have commandeered the newspaper for wrapping up chips portions @Helen427  😉

[Helen427]

@StephanieThat's the treat for when you have finished doing the cleaning, or mid way so one can wear it off as we go!!

Our best local Fish & Chip shop has closed after a very long number of years in the community, have to make one's own or pop in to a local restaurant or supermarket.

They used to use newspapers to line walls in houses as insulation in earlier days.

I wish someone would start that trend again.

Maybe you can source online an ABB with newspaper wallpaper 😉

[Helen-and-Rod0]

& very theraputic .... ha..ha..   Some of us suffer from the same illness 🙂

[Ingrid267]

Great tips

Its now more and more really necessary that hygiene standards apply both ways. Understandably, there are large risks and Airbnb Hosts do need to keep very high standards. Most guests are really excellent but several would shock you and leave you so disappointed.

[Lawrene0]

Same here, @Trude0 . I go through a pile of rags at every turnover! Wet and dry, and carried in separate bags. (I have to carry all my cleaning supplies a kilometre by footpath to the listing. I know! It's ridiculous.)

But they do a great job on absolutely everything, from the woodstove to the windows. The treehouse is "sparkling clean", according to the compliments...

No cleaning fee here, @Stephanie . I do understand hosts who charge it. That's cool. It's allowed by the system. But I ask my guests to practice leave-no-trace camping, which means they are to take everything out they have brought in, including their trash. They don't always do it, but that's the idea and the house rule. I feel that charging a cleaning fee would give my good guests licence to act like my less considerate ones. 

Yes, I have to clean for hours between every turnover, but I don't want them thinking about that. I want them to experience the magic of walking through the woods to a rustic getaway that is "always" clean and neat, and so to be inspired to leave it as they found it.

Magic is what I want, so I act, and charge, accordingly. 🙂