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With a growing variety of cleaning services and many hosts, including myself, struggling to manage cleaning quality and/or cleaners, I thought I’d start an open list of what are the cleaning services and apps out there (at least the ones I’ve used) and what’s my and everyone else’s impressions of them. For example, how suitable is the app for finding good cleaners specifically for our niche of short-term property rentals? What did you find worked and what was missing from it for you and your cleaners? Please feel free to contribute your opinion and add anything new you come across. A few notes and disclaimers:
This is not meant to be a list of tips on how to train and communicate with cleaners better. I’m also not looking to start a list of local brick-and-mortar cleaning businesses with whom most clients communicate via text, phone or in person. It’s specifically for apps and services that offer a web interface to book and manage cleaning of short-term rental properties mostly remotely.
Please be sensitive to not use this post for blunt and direct advertising. I didn’t start it to promote any one particular company. I simply want to exchange thoughts, ideas and learn about possible new resources and apps from others. So if you have an app or service to recommend, please share what you think of it and add your opinions of why you like or dislike it etc.
Handy [mobile app and desktop interface] - love the ability to schedule remotely and almost last minute - a day or sometimes as soon as 6 hours in advance. However, the cleaners are a hit and miss. And most times they are not familiar with the specifics of cleaning a short-term rental, so I’ve had to explain and train them additionally or ask for extra tasks such as laundry or doing dishes. Their pricing in my area is very good though and lower than the quotes I’ve gotten from specialized cleaning companies.
Properly [mobile app only] - it seems I can use it to manage cleaners but not to find and schedule new cleaners or pay my existing cleaners. I love the idea of the app since they focus not only on helping hosts manage people and staff, but also on managing the quality of the work. However the app interface is not very user-friendly and my guess is even if I and my cleaners begin using it, we will not last very long with it… simply because of the administrative burden I feel I’ll have if I must click through multiple screens to upload photos and create many checklist items etc… Perhaps other hosts have had better success with it. In all honestly I have not really used it, but that is my first impression understanding of the app.
Hi Skyler. The Propelry app now has a web version so you can manage it all from your computer. And in some areas, you can find cleaners. The number of available cleaners is growing all of the time. Payment through the app will also be added in the next few months. I hope this is helpful information. Very best, Tammi
I find with Handy even cleaners who were once good, start to slip and make HUGE mistakes. For example. I had one guest demand their cleaning fee back because the handy cleaner forgot to remove the dirty sheets from the room. She changed the bed very nicely but left the dirty ones on a pile on top of the dresser. Another is several cleaners have removed all the garbage, but didn’t put in any clean garbage bags. UGH. Then they say they are bringing supplies, but I can clearly see them on my camera using my soap and towels to clean. This has directly lead to me just doing my own cleanings. I don’t trust anyone at all.
I use AirGMS for messaging mostly, but I know they do have a feature for cleaners/team management. You are able to schedule cleanings, leave notes and make work orders in the app.
@Ping_Keck@skylar I don’t know if you’re still looking, but we were having the same issues so we wrote our own code that syncs with ABB and VRBO calendars and then automatically schedules are cleaners. It’s free to use if you want to try it - TurnoverBnB.com
To answer your question, GuestBook Host may solve some of your problems if not all of it. Me and my friends are building the app to help hosts like you to manage your cleaning professionals.
For your information, Guestbook Host allows you to create a checklist for the cleaning persons. The interface is super cool, biased opinion though. Some of the interfaces are as attached.
One great feature is that you can auto-send weekly, monthly or 2 month booking lists to your staff. Additional bookings that occur inside the timeframe are auto-sent highlighted within the revised list, saving you hours and eliminating errors.
I’m in Orange County, CA and we use Elite Maids, they have a website where you can book remotely. They also have specialized Airbnb teams and you can request the same team for each cleaning. We created a “to-do” list for the team that cleans our rental, and they’ve always honored our request to have the same team clean. Not sure if this is the type of information people on this forum are looking for, but for us it’s been very handy because it has provided consistency.
www.elitemaid (dot) com (booking top right corner)
