This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
Newbie here. I saw an ad placed for an Air BNB so close to where I live… It sounds perfect. I want to send my info. I dont have any formal experience but I was a personal assistant for over 14 years. Anyways… The ad says
Cleaning/Assisting Partner.
The job:- Tight schedule from 10am-3pm DAILY; 30-60mins per unit in average- Cleaning/organizing 1bd-3bd apartments.- Possibly managing Airbnb account/schedule and following through with guests on booking, check-in/out in near future
Will train if you have no Airbnb experience. Compensation can be either job-based or periodical flat rate. Contact with your desired rates …
This is for the Los Angeles Area, DTLA ( I say this because I posted the question on a reddit AirBNB page tonight) The only reply I received was asking, what region?) SO not sure how that factors in.
Now my questions are:
Compensation either based on job, or periodical flat rate.
So 10 am-to 3pm daily as written, I am not sure what to say. I don’t want to go too high, I dont want too go to low… Any advice?
I want to respond asap, but I’m really not sure what my rate should be…
Also, are you normally paid weekly? bi-weekly? Cash? check? itunes gift cards? hehe jk. I’m so new to this. Be gentle
The standard model in my area is to charge 15-20% of the booking revenue , after deducting for cleaning, consumables. Usually the cleaning fee is passed on to the guest , and what is left, you deduct consumables , and take 20% of the remainder. Some companies do not allow deduction of consumables.
I see. However none of that info was in the brief ad at all. I have no idea what the booking revenue was , it wasnt written anywhere… Just merely what my preferred rate is.
In the ad as written its saying Possibly managing in near future. Starting is the cleaning… I will just reply either way and learn more. Getting too many mixed responses. lol Its confusing.
This host is expecting you to clean a three bedroom place from top to bottom, change bedding etc, put out towels in 60 minutes. And a one bedroom place in 30 minutes. You cannot clean and prepare a property properly within these timescales…
What if guests check out late and you are only have 30 minutes to clean a three bed place? What if they leave the place in a filthy state and it takes you three hours to clean one place.
The host/management company asking for people to do this are either a cheapskate, don’t know what they are doing - or both.
If you want to be a cleaner, apply for a cleaning job with a decent hourly rate. In most major cities cleaning jobs are fairly easy to come by.
I’m an Airbnb host looking for an assisting partner to manage Airbnb short-term rentals in downtown LA and possibly Hollywood/Santa Monica in near future. I’m expanding a few more units so I’m looking for a long-term relationship to grow the business with rather than just a gig.
Critical requirements:
A detail-oriented cleaner/organizer
Reliable/responsible
Having a genuinely hospitable personality
Flexible with schedule
Having reliable means of transportation to arrive at the units on time
The job:
Tight schedule from 10am-3pm DAILY; 30-60mins per unit in average
Cleaning/organizing 1bd-3bd apartments.
Possibly managing Airbnb account/schedule and following through with guests on booking, check-in/out in near future
Will train if you have no Airbnb experience. Compensation can be either job-based or periodical flat rate.
Helsi is so right. All I can add is my own experience, where I host three set ups in my own home, so the cleaning ratio is different, but;-
For a proper job on the two bedroom suite it takes either me or my cleaner an hour and a half to gather used linen, change both beds, vacuum and dust, including going on bug-patrol for spiders and webs, deep clean the bathroom and replace/replenish supplies
The other bedroom and shower room takes an hour, so if I have a full house that’s three and a half hours on rooms alone.
I launder and iron towels and pillow cases myself, which I do as we go along, but the sheets go out to a laundry service.
My cleaner is here x 3 times a week for two hours= 6hrs. We also have to keep the kitchen pristine, all communal areas, two stair cases and landings, and the guest dining room. So pretty much the same as a three bedroom unit, leaving our own living space aside. Check out is 10 am, so with an average booking of four people, when my cleaner is here, I am finished by midday, 2 pm when she’s not.
I hope this gives you a better sense of what’s being needed. 30-60 minutes is completely unrealistic.
My cleaner does it in 60-90 minutes, but most of the job is focused on the bathroom. She does some light vacuuming, tops up the consumables and changes the bedsheets for 2 rooms. To speed up the process they just use toilet paper to clean the washroom and flush down. She doesn’t sweep under the carpet nor does she clean inside the microwave or fridge. I do my own deep cleans once a month.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s always interesting to hear what other hosts do in terms of their turnaround/prep process.
OP was being asked to clean whole apartments not just a bathroom and cleaning of guest bedrooms @PETRELLI. .
So that would normally mean a full clean of living space, kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms and changing bedding, hoovering, cleaning floors, all work surfaces, dusting, checking to ensure anything the host provides such as kitchen stuff and toiletries are full stocked, checking key items such as shower are working, batteries in remote etc
When I clean a two bedroom place it takes me three hours to do all the above. And I do this or my cleaner does this every time I have a guest.
On top of this I do a deep clean each month including getting the windows cleaned.
Yes I am aware of that. I said my cleaners focuses the majority of her efforts on the bathroom, not just the bathroom alone. The routine she practices is not all that different from the Airbnb cleaners in and around the city. Judging by the many 5 star reviews for the many apartments cleaned by her company, it’s safe to say most guests are happy with the level of cleanliness. The caveat is that the apartment was always very clean from the start, and setup for Airbnb in that it’s not cluttered. Plus, given the fact that these cleaners do the routine day in day out, I won’t be surprised if they could clean in half the time we do, given the right tools.
Take mopping and vacuuming for example. I recently bought a fibre mop with a large surface area which has an interchangeable dry mop that does the job better than a vacuum cleanee . The device cut my entire vacuum/mopping time for the entire apartment down to 30 minutes, including fumbling with first time usage . An experienced pair of hands would have done it in 15-20.
I’m going to be contrary here and agree with Petrelli. I think most 5 star clean Airbnbs are not as throughly cleaned as some of us here clean. And I think most guests are fine with it. I do think many one BR apartments could be cleaned in 30 minutes most of the time with a rotating schedule of special tasks. Most people don’t wash all the blankets and duvet covers and shams. They change the sheets. They dust and vac, wipe down hard surfaces in the bathroom and kitchen, quickly mop and they are done.
Express your outrage but if the OP doesn’t take the job, someone will and they will be expected to clean a 1BR in 30 minutes. Longer than that and they will be fired for slacking off.
I do everything I listed and still sometimes get marked down for cleanliness.
If I could get away a basic clean in between guests, believe me I would. It would save me a fortune in cleaning fees
Having said all that I would still struggle to turnover and clean a one bed place in 30 minutes
I think @PETRELLI also made a useful point in that their place is just for Airbnb. I live in mine, so that will mean there is always more to clean. Having said that I would find it impossible to clean a one bedroom place and do the turnover in half an hour.
I’d like to speculate, if I may, that this is due to sharing a space compared to not doing so. When I hosted in my part of the home I had about 80% 5 stars on cleanliness. Now I have 99% 5 star. I can turn over my one bedroom, ensuite bathroom, hallway with desk, fridge and microwave on a rack but no full kitchen in 20 minutes, not counting waiting for the laundry to finish. It almost always takes longer because I’m dusting the fan blades or defrosting the mini fridge freezer compartment, etc. But as I said, I think the bottom line is the employers expectation. If the OP wants to go try it and maybe try to convince the owner that they need to invest a bit more time in cleaning I wouldn’t discourage them.
We have hosts here who are perfectly content with their sub-5 star ratings, they don’t go above and beyond and they keep getting booked. Who I am I to argue with their success?
Yup. Definitely not going to be that easy if you’re cleaning your own home. Plus, the monthly deep cleans take me 3-4 hours at minimum, and I work through the microwave, oven, the fridge, a good mopping, dusting the artificial plants, cleaning out the dust in the cupboards etc. They accumulate over time, but I can generally get away with a once a month clean. The cleaners also waste tons of toilet paper with their speed cleaning - it gets the job done, but I can never get myself to waste all that paper. For the messy cleanup jobs I use wet wipes, but all other jobs I use a window wiper, old rags, tea towels, and rinse in between wipes. This takes a lot more time, but is much more eco-friendly.
I’d reply with a reasonable hourly wage. In my area for cleaning it’s $25-35/hour.
I agree with the others that the host is underestimating the time it takes to get places prepped. Or at least they’re quoting the amount in a best case scenario (no real mess, wipe down a few surfaces, swap the sheets, run the vac). They’re not factoring in the intermittent deep cleans or situations where the guests left a time-consuming mess. Since I think it will take more time than they think I’d stick with an hourly wage rather than “per job”.
I have a 440/sf space with 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, and a breakfast/coffee bar. It takes us about 2 hours (rarely more, sometimes less) and I pay $50/cleaning. I also pay myself $50/stay for administration (stuff like ordering, taxes, painting and upkeep), communication, and laundry.
I would stick to an hourly wage as there is just not enough information available for the job-based.
And then add that once responsibilities increase, you are open to revisiting that to job-based.
We have a self contained 1 bedroom guest suite (essentially a bungalow/flat). It takes us, on average, 45 minutes to clean when there is one of us or 30 minutes when we both do it.
Every turnover we: change all bed linens and wipe desk area; wipe down kitchen surfaces and sink area and oven, microwave and fridge as required; clean the glass shower cubicle, wipe down the toilet and sink, restock the toilet roll and shampoo etc. and replace the towels and shower mats; vacuum all floors and carpets; and rearrange the sofa/cushions and taper the curtains to be straight.
We do extra cleaning, like dusting around doors and a deeper clean of the oven, every 3-4 weeks. This is normally when we don’t have a booking.
We’ve had 79 reviews in total and all have been 5* for cleanliness. I think you’re right that the level of expectation for cleanliness is not looking for excellence. We clean it on this basis as it is still very clean and we would personally be happy to stay in it.
I really need to tone down on the cleaning, it’s becoming obvious. I picture with each change over:
A) my parents are visiting and “white gloving” me.
B) someone may come in with blue light.
Or (horrors) both. Lol
Thanks @joan for the shower spray tip, it’s changed my life! BTW
I’m still trying to swallow the cleaning with toilet paper though? How does that work?
