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The Airbnb cleaning checklist that builds itself
Most checklists are a generic PDF built for someone else's property. This one asks about your place. Bedrooms, bathrooms, hot tub, pets, patio, then generates the exact turnover list, times it, and remembers where you left off. Bookmark it and run it every single turnover.
131
tasks in the master library, filtered to your property
30s
from zero to a checklist built for your listing
0
Emails, accounts, or paywalls. The PDF is just free
0
turnovers you've completed on this device
The turnover, in order
Why the sequence matters more than the list
Two cleaners given the same list finish hours apart. The one working top-down and dry-to-wet is done in two and a half hours; the one working room-by-room in whatever order they walked in takes four and still misses the mirror. The generator below already orders your tasks correctly, this is the logic behind it.
01
Strip and start the laundry first
Linen is the only task with dead time built in. Start the first load in the first four minutes and the machine works while you do. Every minute you clean before stripping beds is a minute added to the end of the turnover.
02
Dry work before wet work
Dust, cobwebs, crumbs and hair come out before any spray touches a surface. Wet a dusty surface and you've made paste. This single rule removes most double-cleaning.
03
Top down, always
Ceiling fans, then shelves, then counters, then floors. Gravity is doing the work whether you cooperate with it or not.
04
Chemicals need dwell time
Spray the toilet and shower, then leave the room. Come back after the kitchen. Most people scrub because they didn't wait 90 seconds.
05
Bathrooms and kitchen decide reviews
Guests forgive a dusty skirting board. They do not forgive a hair in the shower or a sticky cabinet handle. Weight your time accordingly.
06
Photograph the finished room
Two minutes of photos at the end is your entire defence in a damage claim and your proof for a cleaner you didn't supervise. It's the last item on every list this tool builds.
Time budget
How long a turnover actually takes
These are the numbers this tool estimates, and they assume one cleaner working a thorough turnover, every task on the generated list, not a rushed pass. Experienced cleaners who know the property beat these by 20–30%. Two people roughly halve them. Hot tubs and pools are always additional.
Title | Standard turnover | Deep clean | Linen loads |
|---|---|---|---|
Studio / 1 bath | 1.75–2 hr | 2.5–3 hr | 1 |
1 bed / 1 bath | 2–2.25 hr | 3 hr | 1-2 |
2 bed / 2 bath | 2.5–3 hr | 4 hr | 2-3 |
3 bed / 2 bath | 3 hr | 4.5 hr | 3-4 |
4+ bed / 3 bath | 3.5 hr | 5 hr | 4-6 |
Hot tub (add-on) | 20 min | 45 min drain & refill | - |
Pool (add-on) | 20 min | 45 min | - |
Questions hosts actually ask
Cleaning, fees and etiquette
No, guests are not expected to clean. That is what the cleaning fee pays for. What is reasonable to ask is a short, specific checkout list: bag the rubbish, load and start the dishwasher, and report any breakages. Airbnb's own policy limits checkout requests to a small number of simple tasks, and hosts who demand stripped beds, mopped floors and laundry loads reliably attract lower ratings for value.
If you want guests to do something, put it in the house manual as a request, not a rule, and keep it to three items or fewer.
Three things, maximum: rubbish in the outside bin, dishes in the dishwasher and started, and keys returned to wherever you specified. Anything beyond that trades a few minutes of cleaner time for a real risk to your review score.
Work backwards from cleaner cost, never from what the neighbouring listing charges. Take the turnover hours from the table above, multiply by your local cleaning rate, add linen and consumables, and add roughly 15% for the turnovers that run long. A fee that doesn't cover the actual clean quietly comes out of your nightly rate.
Watch the ratio too: a cleaning fee above about 20% of a typical booking total starts suppressing conversion on short stays, which is usually an argument for raising the nightly rate rather than the fee.
Split it in two. The cleaner's kit travels: all-purpose spray, bathroom and limescale cleaner, glass cleaner, degreaser, toilet cleaner, colour-coded microfibre cloths (one colour per zone — never the toilet cloth on a counter), non-scratch pads, a grout brush, vacuum, microfibre mop and a bucket.
The property's own stock is separate: dishwasher tablets, dish soap, hand soap, washing-up sponge, bin liners in every bin, toilet paper (two spares per bathroom minimum), paper towels, laundry detergent and a plunger the guest can find without asking. Running out of bin liners is the single most common turnover failure.
Three per bed and three per towel slot. One on the bed, one in the cupboard, one in the wash. Two sets works until a back-to-back booking lands on a day the dryer breaks, and then it doesn't. Buy identical white, it launders together, bleaches, and any piece replaces any other.
Yes. The task library is short-term-rental generic; the platform doesn't change what makes a bathroom clean. For a long-term move-out, switch the clean type to Deep clean, which adds appliance interiors, inside windows, skirting boards, light fittings, and cabinet interiors.
Yes. It generates in your browser and downloads immediately. No email, no account, no watermark. Print it, hand it to a cleaner, stick it inside a cupboard door. The tick boxes are left blank on purpose so one printout covers many turnovers.
