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Today I turned over both cabins myself for the first time, checkout is 10 and check in is 3 . Cabin A left at 940 and I started on the laundry and Cabin C left at 10, I was bouncing between both cabins changing laundry and cleaning and was finished with only a half hour to spare. I am wondering if I would be better off staggering the check in and outs of the cabins by an hour to give me more time, or should I just work on my systems and make the 5 hour window work better… Today’s guests were pretty easy, one cabin did not even use the shower so I got off easy. I like the idea of them being on the same schedule but I am wondering what other hosts do with multiple cabins/units on the same property.
We do checkout at 10 a.m. and checkin at 4 p.m. Gives us enough time.
Staggering the checkouts would be confusing to me, if I were the host. And extra confusing if Guest A asked for late check out and Guest C asked for early checkin, or whatever. I’d be in a dither.
Aren’t they the best?? If I could give 6 stars… We had one of them last night
Because your checkout is already 10, I don’t think you can stagger it by having an earlier checkout; however, you could change one of the cabins to a 4 pm checkin and give yourself an extra hour at that end.
During the summer we are so busy, back to back in all 3 units, we do have some staggering like that. Our usual checkout is 11am and checkin is 4pm but in the busier months we make one of the larger apartments a 10am checkout to give us a little more time. It does help. What else helps is finishing one apartment and then doing the next. If you can get your guests to give you an ETA, it will help a lot. Then you can do the cabin that’s coming at 3 first. Do it completely. And then do the cabin that is arriving at 6 (or whatever). Bouncing between units sounds crazy making to me.
Can you just take the laundry home to do at your leisure? That might save you some time, and then you can focus on doing one cabin at a time rather than bouncing back and forth. You know, Cabin A: strip and bag laundry, make beds, clean; then Cabin B the same way. I’m sure you already have multiple sets of linens for each cabin.
I could but I have washers and dryers in both units and soon to have a third set in the new glampers kitchen and bath, it just seems like with 2 soon to be 3 sets of machines on the property I should not be bringing it home. It is always an option though.
I also prefer to run the laundry at my listing while I clean, but if time is tight I will bag some and take it home. It could also help to find out if guests are leaving early/arriving late and stagger your cleaning accordingly, i.e. clean the cabin for guests arriving on time first, then do the one for your late arrivals.
I have to assume that they will all be on time. Check in is when it is they need to be ready. I have enough time, barely and tbh I do not have to do them myself I could get housekeepers to do one or both, I just need to be able to get them done myself.
I imagine most of your guests are arriving by car so I understand that is different and would probably also feel the need for them to be ready at checkin time. A certain amount of my guests will tell me that their flight arrives at 8pm or something so that gives me some wiggle room. However, my husband goes to work at 330 pm and so that is always the goal because that’s when I lose my helper
I moved to 10am check out this year and it doesn’t seem to have hurt my business. When people arrive later than expected I often message them in the morning and “give” them extra time if I can.
I “kind of” do and it really helps, if for nothing else, just feeling less stressed with the turnovers. I put something like this in the check-in info message: “We appreciate if you keep us updated on your approximate arrival time as it helps us to be best prepared.” 98% of guests give me an ETA. If they don’t, I don’t sweat it but it really helps just to have an idea when they do.
It also helps with knowing how to set the lights and the curtains and the heat, etc. For example, if they aren’t arriving until late, I close the bedroom curtain and blind and turn on the bedside lamp. And if they aren’t coming until 9pm, then there’s no reason for me to turn on the heat at 4pm.
Yep, I do 10 am check in and 4 pm check out. I charge for early/late checkin/outs so it’s rare that I get the request but when I do, it’s usually only once a month. I also find that with a 10 am check out guests really do leave on time. Had more problems when I had a 11 am check out.
I would stagger the check ins. One day you might need that extra hour. If not needed, then you can text guests and tell them to feel free to check in earlier. They will appreciate an “early check in.” I think it’s a win win situation.
I have a five hour window (11 - 4) and sometimes I have two same day turnovers during that time. It’s really a case of being organised and having everything ready so that I can leap into action at 11 am.
I have come to accept that the apartments will not be as thoroughly cleaned on those days bearing in mind that for a regular same day turnover I do the windows, inside the kitchen cabinets and the shower curtains and other things that all hosts don’t always do. So when I say not as thorough, they are still cleaned to proper standards.
I insist on having interchangeable goods for both apartments - the same bedding (same colour and size), same towels, same robes, everything as much as possible.
When I’m just doing one apartment, I do the laundry during the time I’m cleaning. On days when I’m doing two, I take fresh laundry into the apartments that I’ve washed previously. (I prefer sheets to have a just-washed smell when guests arrive but this is one of the corners I cut).
I use floor robots and set them cleaning as soon as possible. I only use the cleaning products that are in each apartment - I don’t have to move any cleaning appliances or cleaning stuff. (The robots are in locked cupboards during the stay).
It’s never yet happened but if I’d had particularly messy guests I’d feel fine calling the incoming guests and telling them that I’d appreciate another half hour to get the place ready for them ‘so that it’s just perfect for you’.
I have had this issue once and it was really bad with a horrible curry smell. My biggest house was ready and not booked, so I asked the guests if they would accept a free up grade. They went from 3 bedroom and 1 bath thats 1100 sq ft to a 4 bedroom house with 2.5 bathrooms thats 3000 sq ft. They had no issues. It took days to get rid of the smell even boiling white vinegar and setting it all over the house which almost always works in a few hours. It was the worst I think because they did not clean up any dishes or pots for a few days and were all left for us to clean with food still on them and in them.
The one thing I don’t need to do as part of a change over and as an on-site host,/B&B, without kitchen access for guests, although they do get to admire/gasp at my “farmhouse” kitchen as they walk in.
TG they can’t see into the cupboards or drawers. They are cleaned regularly, but at the moment, I have Mr Joan sporting a broken collar bone, and able to do little but cook with one hand. Copiously. He’s been watching far too much MasterChef, but guess who gets to clean up?
Turkey soup on the go for the last two days. Meanwhile, I have a heavy cold, so want to eat little. Nor do I wish to fill/empty the dishwasher thrice per day, or clean the kitchen floor yet again…
We do checkout 10am checkin 4pm. Not only does that allow time for cleaning, but I also need that space for repairs & maintenance since we have back to back rentals all winter. Many times I am not alerted that something needs attention until checkout day and I am scrambling to get things fixed by 4pm.
