How do you find your cleaner?

Guys, I just had an idea to suggest to ABB. You know hosts depend on cleaners and it’s a struggle to find good ones. That’s why now I clean my own house.

But what if there was a section dedicated to cleaning services on Airbnb where cleaners could advertise their services and hosts could look them up and use them. And perhaps use a review system as well, so we should know who is an excellent cleaner and who is not.

I mean, very few people do airbnb cleaning in my area. There are companies like “merry maids” etc but it’s hard to coordinate with them because they do regular cleaning and might have their scheduled booked in advance. Besides, they are more expensive.

If I get someone from craigslist and they claim to have an emergency and not show up, my business will suffer.

I’d like a cleaner to do only abb cleaning and be able to share the calendar with her on the platform. Or perhaps matching hosts with cleaners kind of like when Uber is looking for your ride. So you would post a cleaning job and the platform will match you with a cleaner. They do the job and you rate them. And I would give them a livable wage. 15$/hr goes a long way here. In San Francisco not so much. Just my 2 cents. What do you think?

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I was actually just discussing this on another thread topic. As a CM, I understand the need for a good cleaner. I have suggested adding a third-party cleaning service similar to the professional photography services hosts are offered on the platform. We’ll see if Air takes the suggestion or not, but I know there is a need. I have developed a rough business plan that would strictly be a cleaning company for Air hosts. If the cleaning company makes agreement with H to clean their one-bedroom listing for X amount after each check-out then the H updates their cleaning fee on Air to cover 100% of their cost. Less headache, less time, and someone else to debate with if the cleaning isn’t up to H standards. This platform we are using now for the forum could potentially even have a topic on this, have cleaners post (strictly on that thread) their location, availability, pricing, and contact info. Word of mouth among hosts would spread thus creating new jobs from revenue off Air… everyone wins.

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I think it’s a good idea, but it’s too far on the edge of their main “sell lodging” focus to devote the attention and development time to make it work correctly.

Personally, I wouldn’t trust a one-off cleaner. I use 3 cleaners and each of them needed a training period to learn how I want things done. I found mine through word of mouth, or they’re friends who want some pocket money and clean in the evenings/weekends when regular cleaners aren’t keen on working.

You can set up a Google calendar to share your Airbnb schedule (do the hide details option so they can’t see payment or personal guest info).

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@Allison_H I think they are looking at ways to expand and get more business. I think if enough of us think this is a good idea and ask them to do it - in one form or another - they will do it.

You are right, hosts need a relationship with cleaners; it can’t be one off. I was just curious what hosts think. It is hard to find good cleaners. Plus they need to look up things after guests leave and report if there’s anything missing or broken. For example I have usb chargers in every bedroom and it happened that one time a guest took it. That thing was 30$ on amazon. Luckily for me it was a vrbo reservation and I deducted it from the deposit. So yes, it has to be a dedicated cleaner with a spreadsheet of items to check after guests leave.

I don’t know where you are based @adrienne12, but here in the UK we tend to ask for recommendations on local area FB or other area groups and I have always had a good response.

I posted recently and received 15 recommendations including 6 from those who had used a cleaner. Did the same when I was restoring my house, decorators, builders plumbers, gardeners, electricians etc.

I now have three cleaners I can call on - all of whom have other Airbnb properties that they clean.

Having said that I don’t care whether they have done Airbnb properties I care whether they do a good job, follow my check list and turn up on time.

In terms of calendars there are apps you can use.

My cleaner, cleans my place regularly and then if I need a clean in between, I just text her, she has two or three people that work for her, so if she can’t do it, then she sends one of her other cleaners.

Personally I am not interested in Airbnb providing a matchmaking service between hosts and cleaners.

None of the local cleaners here would most likely advertise on such a site, and it would be the larger more expensive cleaning companies, which would push up costs.

I don’t agree with @TheInsider that this forum would be a good platform for cleaners to advertise their services. There are already enough people who come here just to promote their services. And you get a much better response if you ask for recommendations on local area sites rather than a global forum like this.

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Ah, I’m cynical at this point, I guess.

Hosts have been asking for a way to add pet and other extra service fees into their listings for a coon’s age and it hasn’t happened. If Air still cared about host suggestions they wouldn’t have done away with the “Host Voice” forum (where we could create and vote on ideas) in the community center. There were plenty of great initiatives never implemented that had A LOT of community support and weren’t half as complicated as adding a whole cleaner/host marketplace.

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You would require more that one cleaner.
In my opinion if you want a reliable cleaner you would have to pay more than $15 per hour :disappointed:, that’s what I would pay a babysitter. In the beginning I rarely hired a cleaner, as I blocked off the follow day of the stay to complete the task myself if I’m working, but I find that after years of doing this I treasure any free time I can get, and those blocked dates are now open.

I went to the elementary school a placed a little ad on the bulletin board (yup, old school local advertising) & had quite a few responses so I popped by their homes to introduce myself, that visit said it all, I figure if you can run a house with kids & pets where you can basically eat off the floors and the calendar on the wall is organized, your in.
I pay $50 flat rate per suite, cash in hand, it doesn’t matter if it takes 1 or 3 hrs, I have a big cupboard in the foyer with all the supplies ready to go & a tick list to review, I write up the little cards, and make the little snack plates in advance.
I secured a 3 individuals, mostly it is the dads; Dave or Bruce that come to the rescue.
I now use them in probably 2 to 6+ x per month as they never let me down, the communication is fluid. After years of have so many balls in the air, I treasure having pearls of downtime to do the things I enjoy or just do nothing.

Having ABB involved… really…no thank you, I like to keep my $ local when & where I can, not in corporate pockets, that company owns and dictates enough already & being involved with this blog I concur we don’t have enough of a voice or alternative options as it is.
I’m actually dishearten when I read posts where hosts consider giving or even suggesting we give them more of their sugar coated control over our businesses.

It’s your business, your home, your creation, your investment, think twice before you consider inviting the OP even further in the door, being in business is hard work, personally I’m not looking for the “easyway” and giving into the monopoly.

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I see your point @Robin1 and @Allison_H. @Helsi thanks for suggestions. I’m going to look at local FB pages then. Craigslist has been a disappointment to me, that’s why I was looking.

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They probably don’t see it as being much of a money maker.

A cleaning service might be but just like with photography, Plus and experiences it probably wouldn’t be available everywhere. And they probably wouldn’t hold themselves responsible if the cleaner missed anything. I don’t think it’s a good idea which means they will probably try it. Or let someone else develop the system and website and then buy it with all the money they make on the IPO.

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Given how many complaints I hear about the Air photogs cancelling appointments and delivering sub-par work I can’t imagine what Air Cleaning would be like. And that’s just a service that happens 1x/listing, not daily with time constraints and a guest’s vacation on the line.

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You can’t find a cleaner here in Alaska that will show up for less than $45/hr. That’s the going rate, so that’s my cleaning fee (and I have a 2 night minimum stay). I found my cleaning service by talking to landlords who usually rent their houses or apartments on one year leases. So you might check with local rental agencies who do long term rentals. They usually don’t have their own cleaners because their apartment turns are almost always at month end, all at the same time.

I slipped in some dog poop on the ramp and busted my knee so a friend travelled 120km to clean my place for guests I couldn’t cancel on and turns out the woman up the road was one of her horse therapy clients so she asked her if she knew a cleaner and she put her and then me in touch with her cleaner who is now my cleaner. Shes great! This is how things work in the country.

The only professional cleaning outfit around here who do a lot of AirBnB management as well charge $80 for a quick clean between guests and tell you a week in advance when it will happen. They treat you like they are doing you a favour just turning up with a long list of things they won’t do. I find most good house cleaners don’t need to advertise as they have a waiting list of people to take them on if their current employer ever leaves.

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One of the problems is that a clean can take as little as half an hour if guests are tidy, or up to 3 hours if a group decides to cook for a family get-together, and there’s no foolproof way to know which guests will require extra cleaning time until they check out.

Also worth noting is this study which has found cleaning products may cause respiratory problems. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180216084912.htm

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I love my “magic erasers” (melamine sponges) and microfiber cloths. I use vinegar mostly supplemented with very occasional chemicals of one kind or another.

Like Helsi, I use my local FB page to find cleaners. I’ve had some brilliant ones, and got rid of a couple of bad ones. I only have one x 3 times a week over the high season, and do the rest myself.

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I am a cleaner and have 3 people that clean for my clients.
I pay $20 per hour and have excellent results. I have no need to advertise at this time, word of mouth is enough.
You really get what you pay for.

I have a primary cleaner that I pretty much rely on nearly 100% of the time… but on the rare occasion where I need a back-up cleaner I use TurnoverBnB. There have been a few bumps along the way, but it’s settled into a decent back-up plan.

After vetting cleaners on TurnoverBnB, my primary cleaner is offered right of first refusal, once she declines, the other cleaner(s) are automatically messaged so they have an opportunity to pick up the work. I don’t have to pay fees when using my primary cleaner as we met off platform… but we can still use their calendar (synced with Airbnb calendar) to automatically push out turnover info. It’s pretty cool once you get it set up and the fees to TurnoverBnB are minimal.

When you need a new cleaner, you just fill out some information, hit submit, and it gets pushed out to cleaners in your area… they kind of bid on the work. You then look through their reviews and profile to see if it might be a good fit. You can message them through the app… and eventually exchange phone number to talk on the phone to set up a time to meet or just go ahead and give them a try on a turnover.

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We are associated with a UK-wide cleaning company that we use for all of our properties. We have a good deal wherein we provide them with regular bookings and they provide us with with discounts / extra services.
Because we handle so many properties, it’s easier for us to get discounts. When we were smaller we used recommendation sites such as Facebook or Threebestrated.