Housekeeping
Housekeeping might very well be the toughest aspect of the vacation rental business. It’s obviously a chore, and nobody likes chores. But then housekeeping is actually what keeps everything together. Think about it.
You do the initial setup once. The rest is housekeeping.
Hosting is ongoing but will fail without housekeeping.
So what does housekeeping entail?
How do you manage
housekeeping?
Your vacation rental home will always be in competition with nearby hotels and vacation rental homes. So to keep afloat, you need to up your game when it comes to managing housekeeping.
Here are a few insider tips
Develop a Schedule
When do you clean the property? Immediately after guests check out or when you have a new guest coming? When do you restock your home with supplies? For scheduling cleaning, laundry, and other aspects of housekeeping, you should try the app Properly. It gives order and sanity to housekeeping.
Don’t Delay on Home Restock
To keep your property up and running and your guests comfortable, you will occasionally need to restock the property with home essentials such as shampoo, laundry and cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, and so on. Don’t wait until you’ve exhausted your supplies before restocking. Do an inventory regularly and restock appropriately.
Get Help from a Professional Cleaner
The standard is so high in the industry that a speck of dirt or a disheveled bed can bring your vacation rental business down. So if you have no experience with housekeeping, get help. The cleaning fee attached to your listing should cover this cost.
Develop a Schedule
When do you clean the property? Immediately after guests check out and when you have a new guest coming? When do you restock your home with supplies? For scheduling cleaning, laundry, and other aspects of housekeeping, you should try the app Properly. It gives order and sanity to housekeeping.
Don’t Delay on Home Restock
To keep your property up and running and your guests comfortable, you will occasionally need to restock the property with home essentials such as shampoo, laundry and cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, and so on. Don’t wait until you’ve exhausted your supplies before restocking. Do an inventory regularly and restock appropriately.
Get Help from a Professional Cleaner
The standard is so high in the industry that a speck of dirt or a disheveled bed can bring your vacation rental business down. So if you have no experience with housekeeping, get help. The cleaning fee attached to your listing should cover this cost.
Organizing and Rearranging
Decorating and organizing your vacation rental home work hand-in-hand. You don’t need new items to decorate your home. Sometimes, simply organizing or rearranging what’s already in your home does all the trick. However, if you see a nice pot flower or lighting you think can give your home character and you can afford it, by all means, go for it.
Organize and Decorate
And remember, keep it simple and avoid clutters. Chances are that you need storage with a lock on the door where you keep things like supplies, laundry items, and so on. Have everything your guests need placed where they can easily find them. You can store extras in a special closet in case of emergencies.
Kill Two Birds with a Stone
Don’t just get a professional cleaner. Get one that can do the following:
- Clean
- Make the bed
- Refill supplies that guests need
- Do laundry if possible
Organizing and Rearranging
Decorating and organizing your vacation rental home work hand-in-hand. You don’t need new items to decorate your home. Sometimes, simply organizing or rearranging what’s already in your home does all the trick. However, if you see a nice flower pot or lighting you think can give your home character and you can afford it, by all means, go for it.
Organize and Decorate
And remember, keep it simple and avoid clutters. Chances are that you need storage with a lock on the door where you keep things like supplies, laundry items, and so on. Have everything your guests need placed where they can easily find them. You can store extras in a special closet in case of emergencies.
Kill Two Birds with a Stone
Don’t just get a professional cleaner. Get one that can do the following:
- Clean
- Make the bed
- Refill supplies that guests need
- Do laundry if possible
Use a Laundromat
If your cleaner won’t do laundry, and you too don’t have the stomach for it, you might want to enlist the service of a nearby laundromat. It’s seamless, cost-effective, and works like a charm.
Quality and Refreshing Is Great
If you checked into a hotel room, wouldn’t you be happy to have a quality mattress, a working TV, a heating and cooling system that is easy to control, and fresh quality towels and sheets? Provide the same quality experience to your guests.
Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
People will be people. Nobody is perfect. Sometimes your cleaner will disappoint. So you might want to alternate between multiple cleaners. So that if one disappoints, you can call the other.
Use a Laundromat
If your cleaner won’t do laundry, and you too don’t have the stomach for it, you might want to enlist the service of a nearby laundromat. It’s seamless, cost-effective, and works like a charm.
Quality and Refreshing Is Great
If you checked into a hotel room, wouldn’t you be happy to have a quality mattress, a working TV, a heating and cooling system that is easy to control, and fresh quality towels and sheets? Provide the same quality experience to your guest.
Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
People will be people. Nobody is perfect. Sometimes your cleaner will disappoint. So you might want to alternate between multiple cleaners. So that if one disappoints, you can call the other.
Never Leave the Trash Undisposed
This is a big no-no. There’s no worse first impression than a smelly overflow of trash right in front of your vacation rental home. Therefore, find out the trash and recycling days in your community and schedule disposal around them in a way that trash doesn’t stay long in your home.
Learn to Do It Yourself
Although you have a professional cleaner, learn to do it professionally yourself so that should all cleaners on your speed dial disappear, you can quickly get the job done.
Inspection, Maintenance, and Repairs
Of course, cleaning, laundry, organizing, etc are all aspects of maintenance. But you need to do more than that. The goal of regularly inspecting your property is to discover flaws before your guests notice and fix them.
Never Leave the Trash Undisposed
This is a big no-no. There’s no worse first impression than a smelly overflow of trash right in front of your vacation rental home. Therefore, find out the trash and recycling days in your community and schedule disposal around them in a way that trash doesn’t stay long in your home.
Learn to Do It Yourself
Although you have a professional cleaner, learn to do it professionally yourself so that should all cleaners on your speed dial disappear, you can quickly get the job done.
Inspection, Maintenance, and Repairs
Of course, cleaning, laundry, organizing, etc are all aspects of maintenance. But you need to do more than that. The goal of regularly inspecting your property is to discover flaws before your guests notice and fix them.
There Are Three Types of Cleaning
- Maintenance cleaning (that’s the regular cleaning)
- Deep cleaning (this should happen once in a while)
- Seasonal cleaning (this is perfect when you want to dewinterize)
Be sure to implement these cleaning types at the right time to keep your vacation rental home in optimum condition.
Don’t Delay on Bill Payment
The last thing you want is the water company cutting off your water supply or your electricity going off while guests are in your home.
Need help with Housekeeping?
