Unless you live nearby and have enough flexibility throughout your day, it’s likely you’ll want to hire a cleaner for your Airbnb. In this post we’ll talk about what makes a great cleaner as well as ways to find them in your area.
An Adaptive Cleaner
Each guest staying at your property will be unique. They will have their own reason for being there, varying lengths of stays, amount of people, etc. And with that, their messes will be different. But no matter what they leave behind, your next guest will be expecting a sparkling clean property when they arrive. That’s where your choice of cleaner comes into play.
You want a cleaner that knows how to return your property to its former glory each and every clean.
Finding A Reliable Airbnb Cleaner
With Airbnb growing as much as it has, naturally demand for all Airbnb services has risen. This is no different for cleaners. Here are some ways to find cleaners in your area:
Turno
This is easily our favorite way to find cleaners. There is a nearly seamless connection between Turno and Airbnb/VRBO. Now I say “nearly” because there can be a couple hour delay depending on when you receive bookings or cancellations. However, we haven’t had any issues so far and if you do happen to worry about it you can resync your calendars in the app with the press of a button.
Now, in terms of cleaners, this is the place to be. Simply because this is where cleaners know they’ll find partnerships. Turno has created a marketplace that is specifically designed for Short-Term Rentals, so there’s no learning curve for the cleaners. They know exactly what they’re getting into.
To get started, you’ll want to create a new project and connect your listing. Then you can fill out the questionnaire of things like square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, and more. Once you’ve launched the project, cleaners will submit bids and you are able to build your team of primary and backup cleaners based on the criteria you choose.
Our basic criteria is price (we want to work with cleaners that are within our range), 5 star reviews (we want at least 2 reviews), and then we send over some questions. If we like the answers then we add the cleaner to our team!
One of the biggest reasons we like this platform is the backup cleaners. If your primary cleaner declines or cancels, it automatically opens the project up and sends notifications to your backup cleaners to accept. Having a few backups helps here, but most of the time this is very seamless. Especially if the backup cleaner has already worked with your property.
Using Google to Find Cleaners
Finding cleaning companies is as simple as making a Google search.
The issue we found with cleaning companies is they have overhead to take care of. That usually ends up meaning you will be paying more when going with a company. With that, you’ll also have access to multiple cleaners, so you won’t need to worry about scheduling if one calls out. That’s the responsibility of the cleaning company. They also have a much larger reputation to uphold, so there’s a very good chance of finding the perfect cleaner on the first try.
Another benefit to a cleaning company that is well established is their staff. You won’t have to worry about finding a backup cleaner (something you’ll periodically have to pay attention to with Turno). You hired the company, not a specific cleaner, and with that they’ll be able to send any number of cleaners to your property. No need to worry about your main cleaner calling out sick since they’ve got multiple eager to clean!
Facebook Groups
If you’re having trouble finding cleaners using the first two methods, you can hit up trusty Facebook. If you’d like, you could post about it to your timeline and see if any friends or family have recommendations, but you’ll also be able to join Facebook groups to see what’s available. Just search for ‘YOUR CITY cleaners’ and see what pops up. If you’re in a large city you could go one step further with ‘YOUR CITY Airbnb cleaners’.
From there you can make a post asking for some quotes and take it from there!
Keep in mind that without a system like Turno or working with a reliable cleaning company, there will be some manual aspects involved. Things happen in everyone’s lives and if that occurs during the period that your cleaner is supposed to turnover the property, you’ll be out of luck. You’ll want to prepare for this by communicating well with your cleaner, having a backup option in place, or by being able to clean the property yourself.
“Training” Your Cleaner
Once you’ve found your cleaner, you’ll want to get them up to speed on everything you need them to do. Now this of course is optional, but we found it was nice to have peace of mind that we could know that we walked through the property with our cleaner.
Depending on who you decide to go with, you may feel comfortable leaving it up to them. After all, they are the experts!
I decided to clean after our first guess so that I could get a feel for what was being asked. What we ended up doing was finding a cleaning checklist online (which we will be preparing for you in a future post. Full circle!) and then added/subtracted items as I cleaned for the first time. From there, we gave it to our cleaner and let them take the wheel. We did check their work after the first cleaning and were very happy with the results. And have been getting reviews about how clean our property is ever since hiring them (shout out to Cindy!).
The big thing that can help you in the long run is to have them send you pictures and/or a video of each cleaning. Turno is great for this as they can upload it straight to there. This will help you to have evidence should you ever get a guest who claims things happened prior to them coming.
Another thing to mention is to not micromanage your cleaners. I mentioned it earlier, they are the experts. And while a checklist is great for getting the hang of the place, you don’t need to have them check it off every single cleaning and send it to you. Let them take the reins and run with it!
How Much Should I Pay My Airbnb Cleaner?
A tricky thing to figure out is how much you should pay your cleaner. As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to take a look at what other hosts are charging for cleaning fees in your area for similarly sized homes. That will give you an idea of what it costs per clean.
Ultimately, it will be the deal that you strike with the cleaner though, so keep that in mind. You may see an average of $100 per clean for similar homes, but if you have extra amenities or don’t have good equipment (think washer and dryer) to help make things go smoothly, your cleaner will likely ask for more.
Not to keep harping on the same thing (we’re way too small to be sponsored!), but Turno is great for this. Instead of going in dark, you’re able to lay out everything your home has and send it out into the marketplace.
Once your project is submitted, cleaners will be able to bid on the job. You will see some outrageous cleaning fees, but the majority of cleaners will keep things competitive in order to earn your business.
From there you can iron out the details, ask cleaners deeper questions, and then negotiate on price.
When you do things by yourself, you are a little more in the dark. To ballpark the cost, you could try cleaning the place yourself and seeing how long it takes. That way you’ll at least understand what needs to be done and a general idea of the total time. From there you’ll have a bit more knowledge to negotiate with a local cleaner.
Do You Tip Airbnb Cleaners?
One of the most impactful aspects of your place is how clean it is. Would you rather stay in a 5 star hotel that is messy and looks like someone else is staying there or a 3 star hotel that is pristinely cleaned?
It’s the same with Airbnb. Guests want a super clean stay. A great strategy to implement to incentivize your cleaners to go above and beyond is to tip them. Something as simple as giving them a small bonus every time a review mentions how clean the place is can help make it a better experience for your cleaner (and in turn you!).
I personally implement this strategy. I don’t usually tip for every cleaning. We have established a price that both parties are happy with, and we pay on time every time. I am more than happy to tip when a review mentions a great cleaning. I think it’s well deserved, and I appreciate how much effort is spent on keeping our place spotless.
Ready To Find A Cleaner?
I hope this helps you find a cleaner. Using the strategies above we were able to establish some great relationships with both our main cleaner and some backup cleaners. We hope you can achieve the same!