I’m often asked for an early check-in, most commonly by wedding parties - but many others as well. I have several creative options that seem to help guests get what they want, including charging extra for early-check-in (they pay for a second cleaner to speed it up), Self-Clean On-Arrival (Guests do their own cleaning, quite popular) but there is another good option that seems increasingly commonly requested - or at least after I offer it as a possible suggestion: Late Cleans. This is where we clean in the late afternoon or evening, hours AFTER the guests have checked in.
Early check-ins put pressure on cleaning schedules, or it may be physically impossible to clean in such a short window, with back-to-back bookings. However this approach still provides guests with professional cleaning, but ALSO allows a super early (e.g. 11am even!) check-in. All it takes is to negotiate cleaning at a time well after the guest has checked-in.
Yes, this DOES mean the guest will arrive at an unmade, messy house. At first it may sound crazy, yet numerous guests seem positively delighted with this option, and noting it is only ever an option, not a surprise. Guests who want to arrive at a freshly cleaned house can do so, with the usual check-in time. Those who are very keen to arrive early, now have a new option. They get to check-in super early at 11am even, and still have professional cleaning - just that this occurs later, while they attend some event or dinner. It’s not unlike a Hotel maid cleaning while you are out - just that it isn’t your mess there when you arrive!
This gives the guests a great option they didn’t have before, but it can also benefit the host. Cleaners are often locked into back-to-back windows to clean between guests. A late clean however, can give new options. It allows professional cleaners to do two different homes the same day, as the late clean can be done in the late afternoon or even evening, providing a lot more flexibility for them. Often there is far more hours in the possible cleaning time window than usual. You often get guests saying just clean between 3pm and 10pm while we are out - Not bad to get a 7hr possible cleaning window!
It doesn’t mean you must clean late either. Often, if cleaners are not far away, they may at least have time to strip beds and put on washing quickly before they arrive, and then return late afternoon after guests have checked in and left for their event, to ‘finish off’ the cleaning.
In some cases, guests seem happy to make their beds, so it may be ‘reduced cleaning’ if you start in the morning, and you leave when they arrive midday. Smart is to leave fresh folded linen on the beds after stripping them if you duck in for a ‘start’ on the cleaning before they come. Guests often say they are fine to ‘finish off’ for you later, to avoid the need for cleaners to be there with their stuff.
Take care to ask ‘Late Clean’ guests to not unpack too much, and to leave beds and bathrooms free of clutter, to enable efficient cleaning while they are out. You may want to suggest not leaving valuables out while away, as while you trust your cleaner, you want to avoid misunderstandings - given cleaners don’t usually clean around guest stuff in an Airbnb. Note however that this is the usual approach for any hotel, where cleaners come in while you are out of your room. It’s normal, and can be your new normal for your Airbnb if you want - at least for those guests who seem eager to take up this option.
Surprisingly, there seem a LOT of guests who are delighted with this arrangement, and many of them are fancy wedding parties. You might think they would be horrified to arrive to a messy house, and yet that could be because you never heard of this idea before, or never gave it as one of several early check-in options. You might be surprised, and every single time it’s been positive for me - which is after managing a lot of ‘Late Cleans’.
I didn’t realise it could work at all, but after guests kept pushing for early check-in, I’ve learned that smart is to at least offer - you can totally arrive at 11am if you want, but either you clean, or we clean after you have arrived, or you pay for a second cleaner. There is now always an option to suit everyone. Hope it helps hosts consider new opportunities to better manage their early check-in requests 
