Cleaning for Airbnb and Holiday Let Properties

For an Airbnb or holiday let, cleanliness is one of the first things guests notice and one of the first things they mention in a review. A reliable changeover clean between bookings protects your ratings, your rankings on the booking sites and your repeat bookings.

This guide is for holiday let owners and managers, whether you’ve got one cottage or a handful of properties, and covers how to get changeovers right every time.

The changeover challenge

Holiday lets often have tight turnarounds. Guests check out at 10am, new guests check in at 4pm, and in between the property has to be cleaned, the beds changed, the laundry sorted, everything restocked and any problems spotted and fixed. On a busy Saturday in summer there’s no slack at all.

The clean has to be quick, but it can’t cut corners, because the next guest will notice the one thing you missed.

What a changeover clean covers

• Kitchen: dishes washed and put away (guests don’t always), worktops, hob, oven if used, microwave, fridge emptied and wiped, bins emptied, floor cleaned.
• Bathrooms: fully cleaned and sanitised, hair removed from plugholes and showers, glass polished, fresh towels laid out.
• Bedrooms: beds stripped and made with fresh linen, mattress protectors checked, under beds checked for left items.
• Living areas: dusting, sofas and cushions straightened, remote controls wiped, floors vacuumed and mopped.
• Outside: hot tub, barbecue and patio furniture checked, bins put out on the right day.
• Restock: toilet roll, soap, washing-up liquid, bin bags, tea, coffee and whatever else is in your welcome pack.

Hotel standard every time

Guests compare your property with hotels and with every other listing they’ve looked at. They expect it to feel fresh and ready: no crumbs in the cutlery drawer, no hair on the bathroom floor, no smell of the last guest’s cooking. Small touches such as neatly folded towels and a tidy, uncluttered welcome area make a big difference to that first impression, and that first impression shapes the review.

Consistency is what earns five stars

The hard part isn’t doing one great changeover. It’s doing the same standard on the fortieth booking of the year as on the first. A few things help:

• A written checklist for each property, with photos of how each room should look.
• The same cleaners where possible, so they know the property.
• A quick report back after each clean: anything broken, missing or running low.
• A deep clean between seasons. Changeovers keep things clean; a periodic deep clean deals with ovens, limescale, carpets and windows that changeovers don’t get to. We explain the difference between deep and regular cleaning in a separate guide.

Spotting problems early

Your cleaner is in the property more often than you are, so they’re your eyes and ears. A good changeover team reports a dripping tap, a broken glass, a stain on the carpet or a smoke alarm beeping, so you can deal with it before the next guest complains about it.

Laundry and linen

Linen is often the trickiest part to organise. Some owners keep two or three full sets per bed on site and have them washed between stays; others use a linen hire service. Whichever you choose, keep spares in a locked owner’s cupboard for the day something goes wrong.

Holiday let cleaning in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire

We provide holiday let and Airbnb cleaning across West Norfolk, the Fens and Cambridgeshire, from converted barns and Fenland cottages to properties near Ely and King’s Lynn. Tell us about your property, how many bedrooms it has and roughly how many changeovers you expect, through our quote form.