Everything You Need to Know About Cleaning Your Airbnb Property

We clean over 30 short-term rentals several times a week. Yes, it’s imperative we clean them quickly, but more importantly, they need to be cleaned thoroughly! Not only is this critical to keeping guests happy, but it is essential to being profitable in the short-term rental industry. With this in mind, you need to know how to clean your Airbnb the right way without sacrificing time for quality.

After you implement these strategies, you can feel fully prepared and confident in your cleaning procedures. From setting clear checklists to using effective cleaning products and scheduling regular deep cleans, these practices will improve guest experiences and streamline your operations.

Getting Started with Airbnb Cleaning

The moment you open the door, it is “go” time, and you need a system to clean consistently every time. The first things to do for your Airbnb cleaning routine are to make sure the beds are stripped and get the laundry and the dishes going right away. Wash all sheets, bedding, and towels in hot water! While the appliances are running, you can start working on the rest of the house.

We manage several Airbnb properties ourselves and we’ve learned some tips to optimize our cleaning time. First, when possible, try to have multiple washers and dryers at your property if it is an entire home. Also, when buying a washer, try to purchase one with a speed cycle so it washes quickly and efficiently.

Another critical element to implement from day one when cleaning your Airbnbs is the “top to bottom” approach. Professional cleaners will all tell you to clean from top to bottom and then left to right. Why do you think they do this? It ensures they don’t miss any surface or wall, and it allows for a clear system to utilize in each room.

Understanding Your Airbnb Cleaning Needs

There is one thing we need to make clear as a host. We are all for super clean and sanitized properties, which is essential to your reviews. It is incredibly important that all members of your cleaning and property team are following the same routine and meeting the same standard for cleaning. With that in mind, you can’t “deep clean” after every single guest, right? So, an established deep cleaning schedule is essential for maintaining a clean property.

Guests will absolutely call out poor cleanliness and leave a bad review if a property is not cleaned up to standard. It’s imperative that you’ve set a cleanliness standard for your property and you’re meeting it with each guests’ stay. So, if you only have a few hours between when one guest checks out and another checks in, here’s what you need to prioritize. You must always focus on the surfaces of a property that the guest touches the most often and never cut corners when it comes to cleaning. We’ll cover this room by room below. Be sure you’re providing essential amenities like toilet paper, paper towels, and hand soap to enhance the guest experience, too.

There’s no way you can deep clean an Airbnb on your busiest check-in days. Instead, create a clear workflow for what needs to be done before each guest. Then, look for consistent days and times on your calendar where you can schedule the deep cleaning tasks. This might look like dusting baseboards before every guest but scrubbing them bi-weekly. Make sure you also keep booking settings in mind and give yourself adequate time for cleaning between guests.

A Room-by-Room Guide for How to Clean Your Airbnb

Let’s look at a breakdown room by room to simplify the cleaning process for your Airbnb. Use this cleaning guide to guide you as you go through the process of setting your cleaning standards and processes.

Cleaning the Living Room of Your Airbnb

After loading the dish washer and washing machine, head to the main living space. Since you’re focusing on cleaning from top to bottom, the first order of business in the living room is to scan from the top of the walls to the bottom of the floor. Start with your ceiling fan or light fixture!

Why? Because you’re going to be cleaning top to bottom and left to right, you want to dust and allow those particles to fall to the floor. Next, focus your attention on dusting high surfaces and then wiping these surfaces. You need to move everything on all surfaces and dust or wipe underneath as well. Finally you’ll head to the floors last where you will sweep and/or vacuum.

Guests absolutely know when a property is not cleaned well, and one of the telltale signs is dusty surfaces or crumbs. When going through and wiping things down, look out for easily missed items like inside the coffee table if it has storage, under throw pillows, inside drawers, or on top of curtain rods. Always check along the couch cushions for crumbs or small items. It’s better to be overly cautious now than to get a 3 or 4-star review later. It’s best to run the vacuum over all of the couches since these often get crumbs and dirt, and, if you’re pet-friendly, these may collect pet hair. Cleaning vacation rentals, especially for hosts that allow animals, requires more than just basic surface-level cleaning. You might need to use a lint roller or microfiber cloths to pick up stubborn pet hair.

Cleaning Your Airbnb Kitchen

Let’s be real: cleaning your property’s kitchen has to be a top priority for guest satisfaction and positive reviews. Guests often have different cleanliness levels than hosts, and, you do not want to realize this in the form of unhappy reviews! Instead, make sure your standards are high and continue to maintain this for each and every stay. Cleaning an Airbnb the right way will help increase revenue.

It goes without saying that cleaning your silverware and dishes needs to be an absolute priority before every guest. Although your guest may state they didn’t use something, we suggest always cleaning it anyway. This includes: the oven, microwave, fridge, and small appliances.

When you arrive at your property, take some time to assess your space. Did the guests leave behind any condiments, drinks or other items? Do not leave these in the space. We don’t want our guests wondering who last used the ketchup before they arrived. Here’s an overview of everything else we suggest looking over before your guest enters the property.

Hot Tip: Make sure you provide clean dish towels, a dish sponge, and a starter dish soap so your guests don’t have to worry about it.

Before heading to your bathroom space, flip the laundry!

Conquering the Airbnb Bathroom Cleaning

You know how nasty bathrooms can get after even one use, but having cleaned hundreds, if not thousands, of properties, we can confirm that the bathroom is the one place where we would rather be overly cautious and do more work. This doesn’t have to take tons of extra time.

One word of advice: Before wiping anything down or spraying cleaner, remove everything from the floors. If guests used the shower, there’s a chance you’ll get things like towels and toiletries on the floor, so it’s best to get that out of the way before getting started. This saves a massive amount of time later on. We also recommend quickly vacuuming the space first to remove any dust, hair, or particles. When you begin disinfecting and sanitizing, start with the shower, then the sink and vanity area, then the toilet, and, last, the floors. Pay special attention to behind the toilet, as that area often gets neglected, as do baseboards. And let’s be honest, no one enjoys seeing someone else’s hair on the bathroom floor – use your eyes but don’t neglect to clean all the crevices and corners. Glass cleaner is a must for making sure your shower doors sparkle. Having extra bath towels and hand towels will make your cleaning process even faster.

One tip to take your bathroom clean to the next level is black grout. Although you can get away with other grout, cleaning your Airbnb and having white grout is almost like buying a white couch – it can look amazing, until the first guest gets in there. It’s a good idea to leave cleaning solutions like a spray cleaner in the bathroom for your guests to use if needed. Be sure to leave extra toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls in an obvious spot for guests to find, too. And, bonus points if you include our “Forgot Something?” Basket, an absolute guest favorite.

Airbnb Bedroom Cleaning Like a Pro

Guests love to know they can kick back and relax in a comfortable and clean bed for their stay. Your Airbnb bedroom needs to be spotless so your guests can rest-assured that they’re getting a clean stay. First things first, before any cleaning, strip the beds, spot treat any stains, and start that laundry! Remember, getting the laundry started is where we begin when cleaning the whole property. Here are some simple tips to use while cleaning this important space.

Always clean everything off nightstands, surfaces, and especially the inside of the drawers. After turning over several properties over the years, there’s one thing we wish every host would have. It is a full-length mirror, if at all possible, and not just any mirror but one that opens and has storage inside. Trust me, people love storing their items there. This may require rearranging the inside of the bedrooms, so keep that in mind. As your short-term rental game levels up and you gain experience as a host, you start thinking about these types of things. Continue to work through the room by wiping everything down, left to right, top to bottom, and vacuum and clean under the beds really well. Guests often notice how clean this area is. Providing extra duvet covers will make washing everything much easier, too. We always make sure to offer extra throw blankets and pillows in a clear and accessible space for the guests, something we see mentioned in reviews often!

Since we started this journey by getting those washer and dryers going (Aka, the real MVPs in an Airbnb), you should be able to go grab your clean and dry bedding. Make the bed and finish out the bedroom.

Final Airbnb Cleaning Hot Tip:

After cleaning, put yourself in your guests shoes and walk your property. What will your guest see and notice when they enter your property? Are these spaces all guest ready?

Good luck establishing your Airbnb cleaning routine and happy hosting!

Resources:

• Cleaning Supplies for your Airbnb: find all of our recommended cleaning supplies right here.
• We have more tips and tricks for hosts on our YouTube page here.

Ready to Start your Airbnb Hosting Journey?

Our Hosting Handbook is our play by play guide for short term rental hosts. This course has everything you need to confidently and efficiently begin your Airbnb business. Check it out right here!