Our 50 year-old Northern California 2 Bedroom 2 Bath cabin has 3 levels and takes 15 hours to clean, including outside (2 decks), furniture and windows. It’s an A-frame with a lot of glass. It’s dog friendly. We decorated on a ‘shoe string’ budget. My tips:
1. Vacuum twice - once before cleaning, then after. Takes an extra 15 minutes. Keeps human/pet hair, pine needles and other dirt from ‘traveling’ to other rooms once I start cleaning. I also vacuum the bathrooms, including tub and shower before cleaning - even still, I’ll find a hair or 2 after scouring.
2. Kitchen - Every dish, silverware, pot/pan, all cutting knives and appliance is inspected. Most guests are very clean - but I always end up hand washing many items. Water spots, coffee/tea rings, tiny grease smears, fingerprints... Bar Keepers Friend scouring powder does an amazing job on the stainless steel pots and pans, especially on the interior discoloring that occurs when they’re put in the dishwasher. The kitchen takes more time than any other room.
A comment about stainless steel appliances: I had no idea how labor intensive they’d be to keep spotless. If I had it do all over again, I’d have chosen a matte finish. Trends are just that: trends.
3. Bedrooms - Guests are asked not to strip the beds. This allows me to run the lint roller over the sheets and bedding to capture hair before washing. If the sheets and pillowcases are soiled, I can immediately spot treat with Oxyclean spray (works better than Shout). This saves handling the bedding twice. Duvets get the sniff test. Typically they’re washed every other guest. Pressing each duvet and shams takes 20-30 minutes.
If I don’t wash the duvet, I inspect with the LED flashlight (Amazon $12), then steam iron them on the bed - 5-7 minutes. They’re labor intensive, but are more easily washed/dried than bedspreads or quilts.
4. Bathrooms - Old cotton absorbent terry towels or microfiber cloths for mirrors and glass doors. Windex spray takes care of the water spots if I don’t have time to scour the glass doors. An old toothbrush around faucets/handles helps keep water mineral build-up at bay. A stack of cleaning towels kept under the sink always comes in handy.
5. All furniture receives a lint roller (yes, I have a case of replacement sheet rolls). The vacuum doesn’t catch all the hair, especially dog hair. Every month the couches and chairs are rubbed with white damp terry towels - they always come away grey. This helps extend the fabric life of the great buys I got from Craig’s List and thrift stores.
6. Pet urine - I go over corners, furniture and drapes with LED light and do the sniff test. I treat ‘markings’ with Nature’s Miracle. This aspect of hosting has been challenging because people don’t see what their dog has done - or they don’t tell me (I do ask them to, explaining that there won’t be an extra cleaning charge, but no one ever volunteers information...).
Pet hair mitigation: I also supply a basket sheets to put over the furniture guests allow their dog on. The sheet colors complement the room colors. Guests appreciate this.