Airbnb and rentals
Airbnb turnover cleaning checklist
Written from what actually generates complaints. The order matters — the leftovers sweep comes first, because finding a guest's belongings after you have cleaned means cleaning again.
Hygiene Maids of Fort Worth7 min readUpdated
What actually shows up in bad reviews
Hair, and almost never on the floor. It is in the shower corner, on the bathroom baseboard, at the foot corner of a bed, on the underside of a toilet rim and in the drain cover. A vacuum pass finds none of those.
Surfaces cleaned but not dried. A streaked mirror, a water-spotted faucet, a counter with a dried cleaner haze. Guests read these as "not cleaned" even when the surface is perfectly sanitary.
Leftovers from the previous guest. A hair tie in a drawer, a bottle in the shower caddy, a coffee pod under the machine, crumbs in the toaster. Individually trivial, collectively damning.
Everything below is ordered to catch those three first.
1. Sweep and strip
Before any cleaning. Finding something after you have cleaned a room means cleaning it again.
Leftovers sweep
- Every drawer and nightstand opened
- Shower caddy, soap dish and window ledge
- Refrigerator, freezer and any food cupboard cleared
- Under beds and behind the headboard
- Coat hooks, closet rods and shelves
- Washer and dryer drums checked
- Under sofa cushions
Strip
- All beds stripped, including any sofa bed used
- Every towel collected, including unused ones
- Trash emptied throughout, liners replaced
- Dishwasher emptied, dishes returned to place
- Mattress protectors checked for staining
- Anything damaged or missing photographed and reported
2. Bathrooms
The room reviews are won and lost in. Finish every surface dry.
Shower and tub
- Corners and the pan checked specifically for hair
- Glass cleaned then dried — no water spots
- Chrome dried and polished
- Door track and channel
- Drain cover lifted and cleared
- Grout and caulk line
Toilet and vanity
- Under the rim, and the hinge points
- Base, bolt caps and the floor behind
- Sink, drain and faucet base
- Counter cleared, cleaned and dried
- Mirror finished streak-free
- Vanity front and handles
Stage
- Fresh towels set out to your pattern
- Bath mat placed
- Amenities restocked from your stock
- Toilet roll set and a spare visible
- Trash can emptied and returned to its spot
- Baseboards checked for hair
3. Bedrooms, kitchen and living
Bedrooms
- Beds remade with fresh linens
- Pillows checked and cases replaced
- Bed corners and under-bed floor checked for hair
- Nightstands, lamps and switches wiped
- Mirrors and glass finished dry
- Throws and decorative pillows restaged
Kitchen
- Microwave, coffee maker and toaster checked inside
- Counters, backsplash and sink
- Cooktop and appliance fronts
- Cabinet fronts and handles
- Refrigerator interior wiped after clearing
- Dishes and glassware checked for spotting
Living and finish
- Remotes, switches and door handles wiped
- Dining table, chairs and bar stools
- Floors vacuumed and mopped, edges included
- Furniture squared, cushions straightened
- Curtains and blinds set consistently
- Welcome materials placed, thermostat and lights set
Finish by standing in each doorway and looking at the room the way a guest will when they first walk in. It catches things a room-by-room pass does not.
Linen strategy matters more than cleaning speed
Hosts with a busy calendar keep two or three full linen sets per bed and swap rather than launder inside the turnover window. Laundering on site is possible but it is constrained by machine cycles, and it is the most common reason a turnover overruns.
We clean and reset. We do not provide linen rental, inventory ownership or restocking supply — you supply the linens and consumables, and we place them and tell you when stock is running low.
Questions
Common questions
- How long should a turnover take?
- It depends on size, bed count and staging depth. The useful question is not how long it takes but whether it fits your window — an 11 AM checkout and a 4 PM check-in gives five hours, which is comfortable for most properties.
- What if a guest leaves damage?
- Photograph it and report it before the next guest arrives. Early notice is the useful part; it gives you time to act while the evidence is fresh.
- Should the refrigerator be emptied every time?
- Cleared of guest food, yes. Condiments and staples you supply deliberately can stay, but anything a guest brought should go — a half-used carton is a complaint waiting to happen.
- How often does a rental need more than a turnover?
- Periodically. Turnovers maintain; they do not reclaim. See how often a short-term rental should be professionally cleaned.
Get a turnover quote
Tell us the property, the typical window and how often it turns.