23 Jan How to Optimize Your Airbnb Home Cleaning With A Checklist

I outsource 95% of my cleaning to my cleaning crew. How big is my cleaning crew? It’s a family of two sisters that have taken their cleaning business from Mexico to California. They absolutely rock! My life would be so much harder if I were to clean my units myself.

I love a low-stress lifestyle and I used to be in an artificial high-stress environment selling software, so I learned what I didn’t like. You can check out my 1st post on hiring a cleaning crew here.

As I’ve mentioned before, a cleaning crew is critical, but a reliable cleaning crew is what will afford you the low-stress and high mobility nomad lifestyle. In this blog post, I’ll teach you how to optimize your Airbnb cleaning with a checklist. This checklist can be used again and again, even for new cleaners. Think of it as the standard that you can refer to it in the future.

Let’s break down a 1-bedroom unit:

1. Bedroom
2. Common Spaces
3. Kitchen
4. Bathroom

Airbnb Home Cleaning: Bathroom

Let’s get my least favorite place to clean out of the way. The bathroom is probably the dirtiest out of them all. This is the area that you should pay the most attention to mainly because of hair and other loose follicles. You know what I mean? 😉

A good scrub should do the job. Make sure you scrub the whole tub/shower down. Please don’t allow grime to build up in there or give water stains a place to hang out on glass doors. Your guests will notice these things and even though it may technically be clean, it won’t look that way.

For my cleaning tools, I only get “Green” products because I am aware of the harsh chemicals that are in non-green products. This is what I usually get: Puracy Natural All Purpose Cleaner (Pack of 2).

Airbnb Home Cleaning: Common Spaces

Living rooms, dining areas, and any other common spaces, much like bedrooms, require a little less headache than the bathroom.

I have carpet, so my cleaner will vacuum the floor. Make sure you’ve dusted your furniture – keep in mind that you should give some attention to table and chair legs and lower shelves and openings, too. Just because it’s not at the very surface doesn’t mean it won’t collect dust!

Airbnb Home Cleaning: Kitchen

Majority of my guests are business clients, so they actually rarely use the kitchen. However, most of my out of town visitors or a small family on a vacation will often utilize my kitchen space.

f you’ve got a dishwasher, invest in dishwashing pods that are designed to leave dishes streak-free so there’s no residue left on clean dishes that make them look dirty. Be sure to sweep every corner and under the cabinets for runaway Cheerios and other debris. If you’ve got a sink food disposal, consider cleaning it thoroughly with baking soda and white vinegar once a month so it stays fresh and doesn’t build up any weird smells.

Airbnb Home Cleaning: Bedroom

The bedrooms are arguably the easiest spaces to clean after guests check out – take a deep breath! However, the bed making is SUPER important because it sets the first impressions for the guest. A great bed is critical to a 5-star review!

Specifically, check out this 5-star review that my guest left about my bed. You can order the same memory foam bed for less than 200 bucks! Check it out in this post here.

The main point here is to change the linens and ensure the bed is made nicely. Fluff the pillows and turn down the sheets. Vacuum or sweep every exposed flooring area and do your best to get under the bed. Don’t let any dust bunnies hide down there!

Treat the bedroom as if it’s a hotel room (find cleaners who can do “hotel-standard” bed making). If it looks cozy enough to relax in, your job is done.

One Last Thing

There you have it. I know you’re probably wondering about a checklist, so here it is. This is your comprehensive checklist for a great clean!

Click here for your cleaning checklist

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