New host who thought it was going to be easy money!

41

You do not want to cut corners, however I suggest you take a step back and look at what you’re doing. I’m seeing stuff in your list that you could do away with. I’m not going to tell you how to do your job, but I do think you need to maybe take a different perspective towards what you’re doing.

Other than the bedding (which my OH takes care of), I can turn over two apartments, roughly 55/60m2 (1,300 sq ft), in around 3hrs. That includes sticking to the wanky Airbnb ECP, and the protocols we signed up for with VRBO.

JF

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42

Take what you wish. Ignore the rest or don’t use any. It’s just brainstorming and I’ve never seen your rental

Before beginning cleaning, all high touch surfaces are disinfected.-wear gloves to protect you. Disinfect at the end for guests.

Initial vacuuming done to prevent dirt and hair (always an amazing amount) from traveling room to room as I clean.—-do it one time either at the beginning or as you are finishing

-The sheets, duvets/shams, mattress pads (2x/mo.), towels,

throw rugs, —-keep only the ones needed.

furniture pillow covers,

bathrobes, —-do you need these? Do your competitors offer? Does it mean you can charge more?

dog beds/sheets/towels to cover furniture = 8-10 tubs of wash.—-yes it can be expensive but have extras & you can either wash during the week a load or two a day so have for next reservation or take all to a laundromat, use multiple big washers /dryers and get it done all at one time

-Duvets/shams, pillow cases and 1/3 of top sheet get ironed. (Each BR takes 1-2 hrs)—-lots of other thread discussion about ironing sheets etc. don’t do it unless you are trying to compete with Ritz Carlton.

-Vacuuming includes baseboards, window sills and tracks,—-is this really necessary? Will 1x month work?

furniture and underneath; lint rolled afterwards because pet hair sticks.—if no pets in rental is this necessary?

-Furniture polished—swifter duster instead, maybe polish less often

-SS Kitchen large appliances big time suck to clean. ——are you using the best cleaner for stainless?

Oven usually takes another 30 minutes.—-is this really needed every time? Maybe once a month unless big spill

-Stainless steel pots/pans get washed because guests leave food residue or grease. Ditto with all silverware, small appliances and cooking utensils. Dog feeding stations/bowls washed. —do you have a dishwasher? Everything but appliances can load & go

-Cabinets and drawers are wiped out because there’s always crumbs or hair.—-do cabinets need wiping out? Or can it be part of the monthly cleaning

-All condiment containers and food stocks (ie, oil and vinegar bottles) are wiped/disinfected; spouts cleaned.—-supply less. Are there any that aren’t needed often?

Windows (it’s an A-frame), inside & out, are washed each week during bat season.

-We have hard water which means mineral spots on tub and shower doors - more scrubbing there.

-All games inspected and disinfected.—remove any not used frequently

-Laundry room cleaned
-Deck furniture (cushions usually require spot cleaning),
—rugs and BBQ cleaned

-Backyard and around cabin is raked, watered and weeded. Driveway blown off (always lots of pine needles).

Don’t let perfection get in the way of good enough. It doesn’t matter how perfect you think it is, if someone tries hard enough they will find something wrong. Keep it to reasonable levels.

5 Likes
43

Stop ironing the sheets. Remove from the dryer as soon as they are done, and make the bed right away, or smooth out and fold neatly. If something looks wrinkled, it’s much easier to iron the bottom sheet while it’s on the bed, rather than an ironing board. Same goes for the turn down of the top sheet.

Disinfecting before cleaning is pointless. Disinfectants don’t work properly on uncleaned surfaces. Clean first. Then use bleach or disinfectant wipes on high touch surfaces like doorknobs, light switches, etc. at the end of the cleaning. You can move through the house quite quickly doing this after everything else is done.

Drawers and cupboards are more quickly vacuumed than wiped down. You only need to wipe them if there’s something you see that actually needs a damp wipe.

Furniture doesn’t need to be polished at each turnover. Just wipe down quickly with a damp cloth.

If the bats make a mess on the windows, only wash the outsides of the ones that have bat poop. No need to wash all windows inside and out each time.

Get rid of extraneous stuff like a mass of pillows on the bed no one uses for sleeping, but are only there for decor and just get removed for sleeping and put back on again for decor. 2 pillows per person on a bed is quite sufficient.

You don’t need to disinfect games and books. Virus doesn’t remain active on porous surfaces like paper, cardboard or cloth for more than a few hours.

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44

You don’t need to ‘cut corners’…you need to stop doing unnecessary stuff. Big difference. Most of your list is is totally unnecessary to do every time. I’m sure your place is beautiful and spotless. I’m also sure most people don’t notice or care. Just do the basics. I doubt you will though.

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45

Don’t iron anything!

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46

@Cathryn @Woody @muddy @JohnF
I have a 600 sq ft guest wing, it takes 3 hours to clean even after the most perfect guests, more if they are messy. This is pre Covid, and I disinfected always pre- covid. Cathryn’s place would definitely be 30 hours imho, to do properly.

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47

We do deep cleaning every turnover. I expect that, as a guest, I would find it spotless, no dust anywhere, no fingerprints. I use furniture polish every time as the polish protects my furniture - solid wood, many antiques - on anything that I’ve not had glass tops made for. We have well water, with the minerals you have. Definitely need to remove anything that shows it. We have bats too, they are wonderful. We do not allow pets, so less time there but human hair and dandruff are always there, so it is the same time and effort. We have always provided robes, slippers and an assortment of extra blankets, quilts, and pillows as few people travel with their favorites. We have shut down for over a year for Covid health regs, so we will see what if any of this we can continue to offer. We also provide a dozen extra sets of towels and bed sheets, those are now stored as well. Alas. We have always been proud to have outdone the Ritz Carleton in amenities and standards. We are also considering lowering the occupancy from 4 to 2 people and specify “from the same household” unless vaccinated, and not so sure how to go about stating that. By the time we can reopen per commonsense and health regs, perhaps that will be more clear - it is all changing almost daily.

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48

I wouldn’t have furniture I care about in a rental. My STR furnishings are either IKEA or garage sale/thrift store.

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49

I’m glad that works for you, it would not for me. We furnish the guest wing with the same elegant furniture, linens, sculpture, original art, library, dinnerware, music, house plants, musical instruments, as we have in the portion of the house we live in. It is a treasured place to stay for our guests who understand that. In all these many years we have had no damage, no breakage, nothing missing. Our guests really respect us, our home and its contents. I expect no less from them, and I treat them as visiting royalty. For me, that is the definition of hospitality.

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50

It really depends on the business model. For some, it’s just a business, move 'em in and move 'em out.

For some, it’s more like having friends come to stay. Not all my guests do I have that relationship with, some are hardly home or keep to themselves.

I wouldn’t have a bunch of fragile items in the guest space, nor anything I’d be absolutely devastated to have damaged, but I’ve never had a guest damage anything.

51

To me anything other than living above the Airbnb is considered “long distance” though perhaps right next door might be acceptable. I don’t know how people do it, they must pay a lot to a cleaning agency who can guarantee it will be done and/or a manager.

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52

My welcoming message always says “I live just upstairs so if there is anything you need text me on XXXXX or just knock on the door during the day”. I’ve had a couple of people ask if they had the whole place and then cancel but not many.

53

I once bought a painting that increased in value 20x when the artist suddenly died. So easy money for me but not so much for them and their loved ones.

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54

Yeah, I’ve sold a few books like that. Or when they suddenly became popular. I sold my first edition of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time this past year and donated the money to BLM. I got it for $10 in the 80s and sold for over $200. I’d previously listed it about 10 years ago with a reserve of $40 and no one bid on it.

2 Likes