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We have two recommendations on who to interview for a housekeeper. We will be hosting from 2 hours away, so also feel like this will be our general eyes on the place. One is an actual small, local company that has a few housekeepers as staff. They are the ones that cleaned the house for the Airbnb business prior to us buying the place. The reviews of how clean it was permeated through all guests. The other is a single housekeeper in our neighborhood who comes highly recommended from our realtor.
What questions should we be sure to ask them? Is it appropriate to ask if they also would do random extra check ins if itâs vacant for a few weeks? Do we enter into a formal contract with them?
Do you have a cleaning checklist? I strongly advise you to develop one.
What is your experience cleaning Airbnbs?
In your experience how is cleaning a short-term rental different from cleaning an ordinary home? [After their answer, ask âAnything else?â After that, ask âAnything else?â]
Do you do laundry?
How will you know everything is in its place?
What disinfection routine do you use?
What are the âtricksâ to cleaning this property?
What was the best of and worse of your experience cleaning the property as an Airbnb?
How long did it take you to clean?
How often did you clean the drains of hair?
Is the toilet seat removable?
Give me an overview of your cleaning routine. What do you do first, second, that kind of thing.
How did you check things with the owner? If you needed more toilet paper, what did you do?
Was it your job to make sure that the consumables were replenished â salt, pepper, toilet paper, soap, etc. Explain.
Did you ever see something tat needed to be repaired? What did you do? What happened next?
Who changes the batteries on things?
For the individual housecleaner I would ask the same questions, modified for the fact that the housekeeper is not familiar with this property. [I would ask that the housekeeper visit the property.]
This exchange would be better if you would start with your checklist, which we could try to improve.
I donât know why it wouldnât be. Be prepared to have an idea what you would pay for that, and what you really expect the person to do. Write a checklist (you have to do the work of writing out your expectations). Otherwise, I think you put the person in a âno winâ position or will not get what you are asking for.
A cleaner may want to take on extra work as a co-host, thatâs something you would have to ask them. But a host who doesnât live near their rental needs to have someone on call to do more than the occasional check-in. You need someone who can attend to any guest issues that arise that require in-person assistance, as well as making sure guests arenât having a party and trashing the house, in which case they might need to be booted out in person. Or maybe the guests need help with any one of a myriad of things.
Thatâs interesting, Your interpreting â and I bet youâre right â that the Host suggesting this question is for someone to enter the property for a guest issue:
I really didnât think of that as something triggered by guest request because it says ârandom extra check-ins.â But you might be right that this is what the OP is getting at.
If this Host is looking for a co-Host â another topic â I agree with you that the Host should have a local co-Host and should have co-developed with that co-Host a written out list of responsibilities.
You can ask for periodic check-ins when the place is vacant and the answer may depend on their schedule. My housekeeper charges a flat hour for the service.
A check list with crystal clear descriptions of what you want done each visit is vital. You cannot be too specific. I have had professional cleaners at my own home, at our weekend house and our STR for 25 years. Even the âprofessionalsâ have very different ideas on what constitutes a cleaning/turnover.
Think about if it will be an hourly job or set price per visit. There are pros and cons to both methods.
If your cleaner will be stocking supplies for the house, think about how you will pay for that. My person buys what is needed and adds it to the bill. If you go this route, I would advise you to not micromanage purchases, let them do their job.
Unless the former cleaner got bad comments, I would stick with them. A stellar individual cleaner creates the risk of he/she having and emergency and leaving you with no one.
@Junco As far as a formal contract is concerned, yes, you should have a contract with anyone who is employed in your business. This even holds true if a friend or relative is working for you. Many a long-standing friendly relationship has gone sour because business wasnât kept separate from friendship.
Something else to consider is that you wonât have to file a 1099 for the one at the company but you likely will have to for the one that is just a single housekeeper. Itâs not an onerous task so probably doesnât matter but good to keep in mind.
Iâd just add that this should be part of your contract with them, where they come over and periodically air out the house when itâs unoccupied to keep it smelling fresh. You could conceptualise this as a regular aspect of cleaning, not ârandomâ or âextra.â
How often that has to happen depends on your climate, so I donât know if itâs an issue for you, but in Sydney when itâs humid and raining, my place would start smelling musty if left closed up for too long; however, debris and rain also blow in the open windows so I canât leave them open all the time.
I suggest that, upon leaving after cleanup, the cleaner activates (or you activate) a camera inside. And of course you will have cams at the doors, right? We often hear of cleaners with very remote hosts using the place, whether it be for âside moneyâ. trysts, or worse.
