I’m surprised that this is legal in the U.S. It appears to me that it violates the minimum wage laws.
I have no idea, Ellen, but I guess the 1,880 hosts in the US may have checked that out …
The idea is a cultural exchange (i.e. the volunteers are expected to gain as much as the hosts) with a small amount of “volunteer help” exchanged for accommodation and food. Those hosts who offer more interesting work tend to get the most results, so I offer to teach soapmaking skills and volunteers help in the workshop as well as a bit of cleaning in the Airbnb apartment.
The Workaway website does mention that some hosts pay a small amount to comply with local minimum wage level laws in some countries and they stress that it shouldn’t be used to replace local labour.
We have a cleaning lady who does our whole house every two weeks. I block the dates on airbnb so the room is empty and she can deep clean everything. That means changeovers are much easier for me - just magic eraser the scuff marks off the walls, sweep, and change the linens. I can get things guest - ready in under an hour, depending how much the cat and baby try to “help”…
Thanks for the workaway link, what a neat program!
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@Malagachica We found we usually need multiple cleaners for a vacation rental due scheduling conflicts by having a single cleaner. So, we wrote some software that automatically manages and schedules our cleaners for us, which makes it way easier. We released our free software to the public, you might want to check it out - TurnoverBnB.com
I used to do my own cleaning and this year I hired someone since I’m concentrating a bit more on the podcast and the other business.
I do charge a cleaning fee. Since at times I had to hire cleaning people.
Whenever she isn’t available I do the cleaning and it takes me longer than I remember.
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I do all my own cleaning. I get to check what is what and is anything is amiss.
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But days change depending on how people book. How will you have a certain day a week for a cleaner?
for me it was a major problem as no one wanted to be on call.
We clean ourselves. I done charge cleaning fees. Before i had longer term guests I had someone coming to clean but I had to finish after her because she was not very good at fine details.
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I like that idea Alia - I hadn’t thought of blocking the dates beforehand.
Get that baby trained - it’s never too early to use child labour!
Working on it! He likes to sweep and put things into the garbage, but he’s as likely to put his shorts in the garbage as his dirty diaper.
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I do most of the cleaning but have also trained the next door 15 year old neighbor to do the turnaround when we are not availabe. We charge 45$ for cleaning fee and pay her 35 for about an hours work (she also takes the linens and washes them).
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One side note: we provide a good quality hand vac and an upright vac in the room
Both have see through canisters and we always empty them after every cleaning. I’m amazed at how often we find that guests have used them. The haND vac particularly.
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Any recommendation for hand vac? Does it charge by battery or you need to plug in?
Thanks
Cordless for sure, got to make it convenient. https://www.amazon.com/BLACK-DECKER-CHV1410L-Cordless-Lithium/dp/B006LXOJC0
This what I have.
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Thank you for sharing the link. What a wonderful way to connect with a local community. Hope you’re feeling better!
5 more properties ?! how does that work ?
My home is a wreck throughout summer! I only have time to do the absolute basics, I have 3 rooms and a cottage that I host, by myself, t and I just recently hired a cleaner to come and help me with the cottage as it is usually the same day changeover. I pay her £50 and she has up to 5 hours to finish. She is usually done in 3. But I still do all the laundry for the 3 bed cottage and the 3 rooms, and I do the changeovers for the rooms as they are 2 night mins. Its a madhouse I tell you. Look forward to winter every year 
How exciting. Are they your properties or are you managing them for other hosts. With six to manage I would definitely have a roster of two or three cleaners who can help and build their costs into the listings.
We bought and have renovated a block of 4 units, and then ended up purchasing the house next door as well (we got an amazing deal). All 6 houses will be right next to my towns main tourist attraction which we have 90% of our bookings from.
I am managing one 3 bedroom house at the moment while renovating all 5 properties and working full time running another business. So im thinking that once the renos are done and all they are all live, I will make airbnb my full time job.
We were contemplating a cleaner, but with all the properties being so close together and the laundromat being a minutes drive away, I think we will be able to handle it. We both work for ourselves and are loving the airbnb experience and are more than willing to take it on… But we also love travelling so will definitely need to hire cleaners when away!
We both work full time and need housekeeping help for our two Airbnb apartments, especially on weekdays. There are cleaning companies that specialize in doing Airbnbs, but quality is a mixed bag. So we have a team of three local grad students. They’re glad for the extra cash and the flexibility to choose slots that don’t conflict with their particular classes/exams.
We also are able to fine tune our cleaning/ prep instructions and get instant photo reports right before they leave.
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