How To Choose An Airbnb Cleaning Service – 8 Simple Steps
Are you worried about how clean your Airbnb listing is? It is a problem that plagues many hosts. Anything less than immaculate when it comes to cleaning can get you negative reviews. That is where; a proper Airbnb cleaning service can help.
While some Airbnb hosts might think it is a tad harsh, would you as a guest rate a place nicely if it was not clean? You know the answer to that. That is why it is necessary to offer the same level of cleaning to your guests.
The solution to this problem is to set aside profits for a scheduled Airbnb cleaning service after each guest checkout or thoroughly clean a few times a week/month. Today, we will help you screen for a great Airbnb cleaning company, but before that, we will help you understand if it’s necessary.
3 Reasons To Hire An Airbnb Cleaning Service:
1. Airbnb Policies
Did you know that Airbnb has specific policies about cleanliness in your listing? If you consistently receive negative reviews due to cleanliness, Airbnb can charge you a penalty or even take your listing down completely.
2. Avoiding Those Negative Airbnb Reviews
If you have searched for an Airbnb listing before, you will realize that most of the negative reviews arise from lack of cleaning. Once you tackle it, you can eliminate the major source of negative reviews. Furthermore, it will help you increase the search ranking of your listing and also the occupancy rate.
3. Stress-Free Turnaround Experience
Turnaround time, especially the tighter ones (same-day), can be a nail-biting experience. Especially if you clean your own Airbnb. However, with a professional Airbnb cleaning service, you can delegate all the tasks and automate the majority of the cleaning beforehand.
All these reasons make it necessary that you hire an Airbnb cleaning service even if it’s every other booking. Now that you are aware of how it’s necessary, we will go into the details of how to choose a company.
8 Questions To Ask Before Hiring Any Airbnb Cleaning Service
1. Experience With Cleaning
Whether you’re selecting the financial consultant or a cleaning company, the experience is essential. We’re not just talking about any cleaning experience but experience in the short term rental markets.
One thing which you should understand is that conventional property management is different from Airbnb management. Any Airbnb cleaning service will understand that last-minute booking and a thorough job will need to be consistent. Do not shortlist short term rental experience.
By experience, we are also talking about at least a couple of years. Only once the Airbnb cleaning service has that experience, you can think about going with them. It is the first parameter which you should judge them on.
2. Services Offered
When it comes to cleaning an Airbnb listing, you will need specific services compared to your personal home. You should always ask any Airbnb cleaning company if they offer the services right away. These can include:
Do you include cleaning and removing the garbage?
How much do you charge for extra stains or dirt marks on the carpets?
Will your Airbnb cleaning service restock supplies? i.e. toilet paper, bathroom towels, etc
Do you maintain our property or just notify us?
Do you screen your employees? How?
How many employees do you have on your payroll?
Once you ask a few of these questions, it is easy to understand what company you should choose. It’s always better to choose a cleaning company that can provide you with all of these services. It will ensure that you can deal with a single provider rather than juggling between various companies.
3. Attention To Detail
Most short term rental cleaning companies understand attention to detail is needed. Cleaning a rental unit is not like cleaning any other property. The company also needs to perform additional duties like:
Spotting missing items compared to your listing details
Detecting any damage done
Proactively searching for maintenance problems
Spotting things that require deep cleaning
4. Turnaround Times
How would you like your guest check-in process to be?
Smooth and quick, of course.
Well, in that case, you have to speak with the Airbnb cleaning service about the turnaround times in advance. In most cases, the cleaning company will not take more than 90 minutes to turnaround the listing. It means that they need to be fully dedicated to the job to get things done on time.
5. Schedule Flexibility
Early check-ins, late checkouts, and last-minute bookings are a reality in this business. It means that the cleaning company should always be on their toes to get things done.
A flexible schedule is very important, you want to be prepared for a last-minute Airbnb turnaround. You have to discuss this with your cleaning company in advance so that you can cater to all types of bookings.
6. Staff On Payroll
You might be thinking, why does staff on their payroll matter?
Well, chances are if they provide cleaning services to other short term rentals, they might be busy during the first half of the day. If they are thin on staff, cleaning some other unit might take precedence over yours. That is not a good situation. In that case, the circumstances will be ripe for receiving complaints as well as negative reviews from guests.
All of this is, however, avoidable. If the company has a large pool of experienced staff on their payroll, they can prioritize all units uniformly. It means that you will never get discriminatory treatment.
You can pose this question to the prospective Airbnb cleaning companies before choosing them. It will give you an idea regarding the one which can handle a higher workload.
7. Insurance
Short turnaround times, high occupancy rate, extensive workload, these attributes are common for short-term rental cleaning companies. The problem is that they can create circumstances that result in accidents or damage to your property. Even though this happens only once in a blue moon, it happens.
In such a case, if the Airbnb cleaning service does not have insurance, the liability can fall on your shoulders as well. On the other hand, when you choose a cleaning company having proper insurance, including the worker’s compensation, you don’t need to worry about yourself or Airbnb coverage.
8. Communication
It is not always possible for the hosts to be on-site during the turnaround.
How can you then keep track of things?
Undoubtedly, you cannot pester your guests again and again regarding updates. The only other way is to contact your Airbnb cleaning company. That is why communication from the cleaning company is critical. We suggest trying to get ahold of the cleaner themselves and have the company as a backup.
Checking the communication skills of any cleaning company is quite easy. You can contact them through different mediums to test their response times. It will automatically help you gauge the effectiveness of the communication.
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Final Thoughts
So, choosing a cleaning company is not a luxury but a necessity.
Up until now, if you were confused regarding how to choose one? We have it sorted for you.
You can use our 8 step checklist above to shortlist the best Airbnb cleaning service. It will help you choose the right cleaning company between hundreds of options and make the task of managing your short-term rental unit easier.