A clean accommodation is by far the most important quality when renting your home out to strangers. People come to your place for a home away from home. Sitting in someone else’s dirt is no one’s idea of a pleasant experience. If you are thinking of renting out a portion of your home, know that cleaning will become a constant activity in your life. You, or whomever you hire, need to understand how to clean your Airbnb.
How clean does my Airbnb need to be?
Imagine it’s your mother-in-law’s first visit to your home. The two of you have not always gotten along and you feel as though she looks for reasons to be able to criticize you. In this type of scenario, you would make sure your home was as clean as possible, right? Well you have to always have this type of attitude whenever you are cleaning before guests. People tend to notice others’ imperfections before they see their own so it’s important to be extra diligent when cleaning for Airbnb.
Do I have to clean all the time?
In addition to having everything clean, everything also should be neat and tidy. When guests are staying at your home, it’s highly recommended to always keep the common areas as if they are on display. Remember, these people are visitors that have the ability to grade you and affect your future bookings. Guests deserve to stay in a home that is presentable. They are not interested in seeing your dirty dishes or random personal belongings laying around. To be a good host, you must know how to clean your Airbnb.
Additionally, when renting out more than one room, you must ensure that none of your guests are having to deal with the dirt from the other guests. Hot spots include both the bathrooms and kitchen areas. Varying degrees of what is considered clean can be expected from different guests. Your job demands these differences go unnoticed.
Depending on your booking settings, you may also need to have your home ready at all times (and not just when a guest is already at the home. Some people choose to have last minute bookings. This will be discussed in further detail at a later date. Just know, that when allowing last minute bookings, your place needs to be presentable at all times.
What Needs to be Cleaned?
In one word – Everything! Top to bottom. All nooks and crannies. All surface areas must be neat and tidy, free from dirt, debris, hair, etc. Here you can find a cleaning checklist to help you hit all spots of your home. Cleaning Checklist. Please carefully review the checklist to see how to clean your Airbnb.
Begin by making sure everything is tidied up. Put away all of your personal belongings. Yes, please feel free to decorate, but excess clutter should be taken care of. If houses are too busy, it can be hard for some people to relax. You want your home to be inviting.
Inspect all flooring. Ensure no stay dirt, hair, or anything else gross is on it. Check all areas where the floor meets the wall. Oftentimes, people commonly ignore these areas. This can make or break your rating. We must learn to inspect areas that normally could be overlooked.
Bathrooms make or break the success of your listing. Hair, dirt, mildew, and anything else yucky cannot exist for a successful home share. Toilets should be clean. Disinfect the inside of the bowl, the toilet seat, the back part between the toilet seat and the tank (this is a common area that does not get the attention it deserves), and around the bottom portion of the toilet that meets the floor. All areas should show off that porcelain white (unless you have a colored toilet). Remember, everything is fair game when it comes to criticism on a listing.
What about the areas that can’t be cleaned perfectly?
There will be times when we may not be able to have everything as clean as we would like it to be. Stains may have superhuman strength requiring something more than elbow grease. Items may show wear and tear. In these cases, include these blemishes within your photos. Guests do not appreciate feeling blind sighted. If they feel you tried to hide something from them, this will be reflected in a poor rating. It is better to miss out on a booking than to have an unsatisfied customer – that doesn’t mind telling the world.
In the world of COVID, cleaning is life or death
During the time of the writing of this article, the world is in the grips of the pandemic COVID-19. Whether hosting an Airbnb or not, we all must take extra precautions to be as clean as possible. Our duty as hosts requires us to keep our guests safe. Likewise, hosts are taking extra safeguards against getting sick from visitors. For an in-depth, step-by-step instruction on how to clean during these crazy times please have a look at this post from Airbnb.