Cleaning between guests: a system, checklists and working with a cleaning company

Among the negative reviews in short-term rental, one subject keeps coming back: cleanliness. A hair in the bathroom, crumbs in a drawer, a dusty windowsill. Small things, and enough to sink the rating of even a well equipped apartment. The good news is that cleaning is the most repeatable process in the whole business. It can be written down, delegated and checked, as long as you build a system rather than rely on your memory or the cleaner's.

Why "it has been cleaned" is not enough

A hotel guest has different expectations from a guest staying with friends. They are paying for a room, so they compare the standard to a hotel, and a hotel runs on procedures, not on a housekeeper's judgement. If the apartment looks slightly different every time (towels folded on the bed once, in the wardrobe the next; coffee restocked once, not the next), guests will notice. Consistency builds trust and good ratings, and ratings feed straight into occupancy and nightly rate.

The checklist: the foundation of the whole system

The basic tool is a cleaning checklist: a list of tasks to tick off at every turnaround, split by room. It does not have to be long, but it does have to be complete and unambiguous. A sample skeleton:

• Bedroom: change the bedding (in full, including the protector if soiled), dust the windowsills and bedside tables, look under the bed, check the drawers after the previous guests.
• Bathroom: disinfect the toilet and basin, clean the shower and the grout, fresh towels in the agreed arrangement, restock paper (at least two rolls) and soap, check the drain.
• Kitchen: inside of the fridge and microwave, the kettle, empty the dishwasher, restock the starter set (coffee, tea, sugar, dishwasher tablets), take the rubbish out of every bin.
• Everywhere: vacuum and wash the floors, air the rooms, check bulbs and the remote, set the decoration to match the reference photos, close the windows, check the keys or change the lock code.

Print the checklist and leave it in the apartment, or send it to the cleaner in a message before every turnaround. A ticked-off list is also your evidence of diligence if a guest complains.

Reference photos instead of descriptions

The simplest trick, and one that saves dozens of misunderstandings: photograph every room in its ideal state, exactly as it should look before a guest arrives. The arrangement of the pillows, the towels, the toiletries, the position of the chairs. The cleaner then has nothing to remember or interpret, only a picture to reproduce. Ask for one or two photos after the clean as well: that gives you remote quality control without driving over, and comparison material should a guest report damage.

On your own or with a cleaning company?

With one apartment in the same town, cleaning it yourself can make sense. The trouble starts with back-to-back turnarounds (checkout at 11, arrival at 15) and when you have more apartments, or they are far away. At that point a standing arrangement with a cleaner or a cleaning company stops being a cost and becomes a condition of growth. What to watch in the terms:

1. A rate per turnaround, not per hour. You are paying for a result that matches the checklist, not for time. It simplifies settlement and rewards efficient work.
2. Is laundry included or separate? Settle this clearly. At a larger scale it pays to have a second set of bedding to swap in, with laundry done externally or in the apartment between turnarounds.
3. Reporting faults and shortages. The cleaner is your eyes: they should report a blown bulb, dishwasher tablets running out or traces of a party straight away. Put it in the checklist as a duty, not a courtesy.
4. Access to the calendar. Rather than dictating dates by text, give them a view of the booking calendar. Fewer mistakes, and no cleaning trips made blind.

A fallback plan for fast turnarounds

Sooner or later you will hit a day when one guest leaves late and the next wants to arrive early, or the cleaner falls ill. Three things are worth having ready in advance: the number of a backup cleaner, a spare set of bedding and towels in a locked cupboard, and a short version of the checklist for an express turnaround (the critical items: bathroom, bedding, rubbish, floors). Better to push check-in back by an hour and hand over a clean apartment than to let a guest in on time to an uncleaned one.

What it costs and how to price it

In Polish cities the rate for turning around a standard apartment (sleeping 2 to 4) is usually several dozen to a bit over a hundred zloty, depending on size and whether laundry is included. You have two routes: add a cleaning fee to the booking, or build it into the nightly price. A separate fee is fair on short stays but raises the price shown in comparison sites; an all-inclusive price looks better on longer stays. Whichever model you pick, do the maths. Cleaning across 15 turnarounds a month is a real cost that has to be covered by revenue.

Four parts, one afternoon

A cleaning system has four parts: the checklist, reference photos, clear terms of settlement and a fallback plan. Building it takes one afternoon, and after that it works for you at every turnaround. You can see it in the reviews, because "spotlessly clean" is one of the most common phrases in five-star feedback.