Hospitality
Turnover Cleaning Checklist for Short-Term Rentals
By Jillian Mood6 min read
In Southborough, checkout is 11 AM and check-in is 3 PM. Those four hours are the only part of hosting a guest never sees, and the part they grade hardest. This is the list our housekeepers run them from.
Why our turnovers run from a list
The D in the Mood Method stands for Details and delight, and the first half of that promise is plain: spotless, every stay. Airbnb's Resource Center says it without decoration: "One of the most common reasons guests give Hosts fewer than five stars is a lack of cleanliness." Its ground rules for hosts require that every listing be clean and free of health hazards before check-in, and cleaned between every stay.
A checklist is not there because anyone forgets how to clean. It is there because stay 50 deserves the same house as stay 1, and memory gets creative under time pressure. Ours is written for one house and no other. We vet every housekeeper, supervise closely, and check the results with audits and random surprise inspections. Then, in the spirit of kaizen, guest feedback keeps reshaping the list to fit the home's quirks.
One more reason, specific to how we host. Our checkout page in the house manual opens with "No complicated chore list, just a few small steps before you head home": bag the trash, leave the towels, no need to strip the beds. That kindness to guests means the turnover carries the full load. We planned it that way, and the list below assumes it.
The order of operations
Airbnb's own guide to a sparkling clean place suggests starting with the beds and the laundry so the machines work while you do, and doing the floors last. I add two rules: work top to bottom, and work from the farthest room toward the door.
On products, the CDC's guidance on cleaning and disinfecting a home is the reference my checklist follows: clean a surface before you disinfect it, because dirt gets in the way of the chemistry, and read and follow the directions on the label.
The checklist, room by room
Copy it, print it, and edit it until it sounds like your house.
Before anything else
- Walk the whole house once with your phone out. Photograph anything broken, stained or missing before you touch it.
- Collect lost items in one labeled bag and report them right away, so they can go home to their owner.
- Strip every bed, gather every towel, start the first load.
- Open windows if the weather allows. Fresh air beats any spray.
- Empty every trash can and recycling bin, including the bathrooms and the garage.
Entry and hallways
- Wipe door handles, the keypad or lockbox, light switches and railings.
- Shake out or vacuum the mats. Sweep the front step.
- Check that every bulb works, inside and at the door.
- Reset the welcome spot. Ours is a chalkboard by the door that says "See you again", rewritten fresh when it smudges.
Kitchen
- Run the dishwasher, then empty it. Open every cupboard and check that what is inside is clean, dry and where the manual says it lives.
- Fridge and freezer: empty, wipe the shelves, check the door seals and the drawers.
- Oven, cooktop, microwave (inside, including the ceiling), toaster crumb tray, coffee maker.
- Sink, drain and faucet. Fresh sponge, fresh dishcloths.
- Count against the inventory: plates, glasses, cutlery, the big pasta pot, sharp knives, corkscrew.
- Restock to your minimums: coffee, tea, oil, salt, dish soap, dishwasher tabs, paper towels, trash bags. If you promise a full spice rack (we do), check the jars.
- Wipe cabinet fronts and handles. Guests touch them more than the counters.
Living and play spaces
- Dust top down: shelves, frames, lamps, screens, baseboards.
- Wipe every remote and controller, check the batteries, and put them back in their spot.
- Log out the TVs. In our media room the projector's Roku runs in guest mode, which wipes streaming logins at checkout. Confirm it did.
- Lift the sofa cushions. Vacuum under them and under the furniture.
- Open every game box and count the pieces. Rack the pool balls, chalk by the cues, chess set back to move one.
- Fireplaces: glass clean, hearth swept, tools in place.
- Fold the throws and square the pillows to match your staging photo.
Bedrooms
- Check the mattress and pillow protectors before the fresh sheets go on. Swap any that are marked.
- Make the bed to the photo standard. Same fold, same pillow count, every time.
- Look under the bed, in every drawer and on the closet shelf.
- Hangers counted and facing one way. Luggage rack out.
- Nightstands wiped, lamps tested. In our bedrooms, the white-noise machine goes back to its default setting and the wireless charging pad gets a test with a phone.
- Bunk room: climb up and check the top bunks too.
Bathrooms
- Toilet, top to floor, including the base and behind it.
- Shower and tub: walls, glass, fixtures, drain. Then the hair check, with a flashlight held low across the floor and tub.
- Mirror, vanity, faucet, soap dispenser, toothbrush holder.
- Jetted tub: run and clean it the way the manufacturer's instructions say.
- Fresh towels to your count per guest, a bath mat, and spare rolls within arm's reach of the seat.
- Refill soap, shampoo and conditioner. Empty the bin, new liner.
- Floors last, working backward out the door.
Laundry and supplies
- Clean the dryer lint screen after every load.
- Inspect linens as you fold. Anything stained or tired leaves the rotation.
- Restock the owner's closet to its minimums and write down what ran low.
Outdoors
- Sweep the patio and deck, wipe the tables, straighten the chairs and cushions.
- Grill: grates brushed, grease tray emptied, fuel checked.
- Fire pit tidied, firewood restocked and dry. For ashes, follow your fire department's guidance.
- Bins to the curb on collection day, and back again.
- Test the path lights and string lights, even at noon.
The guest's-eye final walk
Cleaning happens looking down. Guests arrive looking up and around. So the last ten minutes are a different job: go outside, close the door, and come back in as the guest.
- Enter the way they will, with the code they will use.
- Stop in the doorway. What do you smell? What is the first thing you see?
- Sit on the sofa. Lie down on one bed. Stand in the shower and look up at the ceiling, the fan and the corners.
- Look at the windows and mirrors against the light for streaks.
- Set the temperature for arrival, plus the lamps you want glowing if they land after dark.
- Put out whatever you promised for this booking: the welcome note, the dog bed, the high chair.
- Take your "ready" photos, one per room, the same angles every time.
- Lock up and test the door from outside.
A clean house says "we were here." A reset house says "we were expecting you."
Send the report
A turnover ends with a message, not a locked door: the ready photos, anything damaged or wearing out, what ran low, and anything odd. Thirty seconds of typing, and it keeps small problems small.
Repairs feed the maintenance calendar. Patterns (the same rug corner flipped up every week) feed the M in our method, Make it better, every stay. The turnover also hands off to the guest preparation checklist, which covers the days before each arrival. And if you want to find the details worth protecting in the first place, start with the spice rack theory.
Sources
Want this done for your home?
Everything in this article is part of what Jillian does for the homes she hosts. Tell her about yours and she will tell you, honestly, what she would do with it.
