A clean Airbnb is a must when it comes to hosting. As spoken about in, “How to Clean your Airbnb”, keeping your listing in tip-top shape ready for visitors is key to your success as a host. Keeping your Airbnb clean must be of top priority. In recent times, Airbnb has added on additional cleaning steps that must be achieved when welcoming strangers into your home. This article explores ways in which Airbnb has enhanced their cleaning requirements for hosts.
Airbnb Enhanced Cleaning Requirements
The cleanliness requirement has always been a major part of the Airbnb process. Why would we need to enhance these cleaning requirements? You guessed it; good ole’ COVID. As new threats over this hyper-infectious virus came into play, hosts need to prepare accordingly. These enhanced cleaning requirements protect the host as well as the guests.
Many disease experts consider Airbnb rentals as safer accommodation options compared to hotels during COVID-19. Therefore, you can take advantage of this opportunity and sway guests to book your listing over a local hotel. To successfully attract travelers during these challenging times, hosts must tend to the changing needs and priorities of travelers. This not only requires you to focus on keeping your Airbnb clean, but to essentially raise the bar of your cleaning standards.
Airbnb has adjusted Airbnb cleaning protocols and cleaning guidelines. Airbnb aims to keep host on top of their game and ensure the guests’ safety.
This article will talk about Airbnb’s 5 steps that enhance the overall cleaning process. We will also cover the special cleaning requirements for hosts who share their own homes with strangers. Additionally, we’ll tackle the issue of adjusting your cleaning fees accordingly.
What is Airbnb’s 5-Step Enhanced Cleaning Process?
Airbnb’s 5-step enhanced cleaning process is simply an expansive and multi-tier cleaning initiative that Airbnb released in June 2020. This new Airbnb cleaning protocol includes strict cleaning and sanitizing guidelines for the hosts. Following these guidelines help you in keeping your Airbnb clean.
When Airbnb first developed this 5-step enhanced cleaning process, it was optional for hosts. Hosts had the ability to opt-in to these enhanced cleaning protocols. When hosts opted in to this new high-level of cleanliness, it was proudly displayed on their listings. It was found that Airbnb hosts who decided to take advantage of this new cleaning regimen became more popular and received approximately three times more booking than other listings.
In November 2020, Airbnb required all hosts to comply with this strict approach to Airbnb Cleaning Guidelines. These new protocols not only ensure guests’ safety, but also protect hosts. To aid hosts with this new regimen, Airbnb provides hosts with helpful tools and resources. This includes articles, videos, checklists, and recommended supplies for preparing your place according to the new Airbnb cleaning protocol.
Prepare, Clean, Sanitize, Check, and Reset
The five-part Airbnb Cleaning process consists of Prepare, Clean, Sanitize, Check and Reset.
To prepare, ensure there is proper ventilation and personal protection being worn during cleaning. Because viruses such as COVID are airborne, it is necessary to have ample airflow within your listing – especially when cleaning. Airflow prevents the air from being stagnant and trapping nasty viruses and bacteria. When cleaning, ventilation must exist to lessen the potential for germs to be contained within the premises. Additionally, the allowance for airflow protects any germs from infecting whomever is cleaning the home before and after guests have visited.
Protection such as masks and gloves prevent germ exchange between the previous guests and the person cleaning. This also helps to protect the upcoming guests from any germs the person cleaning may leave behind.
When cleaning it is vital that you are not only cleaning, but you are also sanitizing the Airbnb listing. Cleaning products must be approved by your local regulatory agencies to make sure this step is followed. It is vital that you are using proper disinfectants at all times when cleaning in between guests.
Always double check to make sure all areas within the listing have been properly cleaned and sanitized. Additionally, hosts must not enter the rooms after they have been cleaned. This again goes back to the issue of ventilation. Hosts must leave the rooms in a pristine condition. This includes staying outside of the areas that will be private for the guests during their stay.
These steps must be followed each and every time in between guests.
As a reminder, Airbnb now requires all hosts abide by the new 5 step Airbnb cleaning guidelines. This is mandatory for all hosts. It is important to note that hosts who don’t adopt Airbnb cleaning protocol might face listing suspension or removal from Airbnb.
Hosts who rent out spaces within their own homes have to be extra vigilant when cleaning. Sharing areas with strangers increases the potential for germ flow from both the host to the guest and guest to the host. This makes these 5-steps extra important to ensure everyone’s safety and for keeping your Airbnb clean.
Additionally, remember that in most home sharing situations, guests and hosts share common areas. This can add additional challenges for keeping your Airbnb clean. There are extra tips for hosts with common areas or shared spaces. Let’s have a look at our tips to your commitment to Airbnb cleaning guidelines.
Define the Boundaries for Airbnb Guests
Whenever you open your home to strangers, you must be extra vigilant about any expectations you may have for guest action and behavior. This includes setting the boundaries for the common areas your guests may have access to.
Accessible areas should be clearly defined within your House Rules. It is also good practice to remind guests of these boundaries upon check-in.
This holds especially true for situations in which you share common spaces, but not common restrooms.
Imagine a situation where your bathroom is private from your guests. However, your guest accidentally stumbles across your personal restroom and doesn’t realize this and decides to use it. Later on, when you use your bathroom you have no idea that your guest has accessed it.
Normally, this may not be too big of a deal. But now, during times of pandemics, this could be more of a serious matter. If you or your guest happened to be carrying the COVID virus, you could be sharing dangerously contagious particles.
Follow Social Distancing Rules in the Common Areas
As a private room Airbnb host, you have to follow all the rules that come with the new Airbnb cleaning policy. Additionally, you have to be meticulous to keep hygiene standards high in your common areas. To start with, it is essential to be clear and consistent about the common areas in your house. Therefore, it’s better to check what might include common areas before talking about keeping common areas up to standards.
The areas below are most likely to be used by you and your guests.
- Bathroom(s)
- Dining room
- Entryway
- Garage
- Kitchen
- Laundry room
- Living room
- Game room
- Lounge
Here are a few tips to make following Airbnb’s 5 steps enhanced cleaning process more effortless in the common areas.
- Make it clear that your guests have to follow social distancing rules in the common areas. This includes not gathering as big groups, keeping distance, wearing masks, and using hands sanitizer when necessary. You also have to keep practicing social distancing while using these areas.
- While asking your guest to keep social distancing, you have to make this possible in all common areas. For doing so, you might need to decrease the number of guests you can host at a time. And don’t forget to add all the limitations to your listing descriptions to keep your guests informed.
Adjusting cleaning fees due to the 5-step enhanced cleaning process
After reading about all of these enhanced efforts that must come into play when keeping your Airbnb clean, you may realize that there is more work for you as the host. These extra efforts come at a cost to both money and time. Your worry is valid considering the requirement of using specific cleaning products and increasing deep cleaning frequency. Here you need to remember that you can add a cleaning fee to your listing as a host. If you already apply an Airbnb cleaning fee for your listing, you can easily adjust it.
When you add or adjust your cleaning fee, you may give a detailed explanation to your guests. You can add your cleaning process to your listing to ensure that your guests are paying for a reason. For more information about adding or adjusting Airbnb cleaning fees, you may read “Airbnb Additional Fees – What can Hosts Charge to Increase Income?”. In this article, you can also learn about what is an Airbnb cleaning fee, Airbnb cleaning policy, and so on.
Main Takeaways
We are living in one of the strangest times of modern history. As COVID-19 continues, we all must do our bests to limit the spread. For some, this means to follow COVID-19 guidelines for themselves and their families. However, as an Airbnb host, you have more to do.
Leaving behind a full year of pandemic, we are all now longing to be back in our everyday lives. And for normal lives, most of us talking about the day they can travel freely. By committing your place to Airbnb’s 5 step enhanced cleaning process, you enable people to do this. You’re making it possible to visit friends and family or having a little getaway. Even if Airbnb cleaning guidelines are not easy to apply, you’re doing your part as an Airbnb host. Moreover, your commitment to Airbnb cleaning protocol brings you more guests in the long term. If you have any questions in mind about the process, don’t forget to check Airbnb’s cleaning handbook.
You also shouldn’t forget that you also agree to comply with local law by committing Airbnb’s 5 steps enhanced cleaning process. Therefore, make sure that you’re regularly checking if any safety or social distancing guidelines change in your area.