Airbnb housekeeping systems, what works best?

Question

Background:

I've been hosting in St. Paul, MN since 2015. Current listings include two SFs, 4 apartments, and managing 4 properties for clients. I enjoy just about everything about the business, minus the scheduling/management of housekeepers.

Any other Airbnb/VRBO hosts out there? Looking for some tips. How do you:

-find consistent, quality cleaners

-keep costs down

-deal with scheduling issues

-coach cleaners to maintain your high standards

I've experimented with a variety of systems, thought I'd reach out and see what else is out there. Thanks!

Michael Sjogren · Answer

Use www.turnoverbnb.com you can get quotes from numerous cleaners and add them to your team in Turnoverbnb. Any time you get a booking on Airbnb or VRBO/HomeAway it notifies your cleaners and the first one to accept it gets that cleaning. This allows you to build in backup cleaners for your properties. You can build out cleaning checklists with photos and require them to submit the photos to you when they're done. They have to check-in when they get to the property and when they finish. If you use smart locks like August and a Ring security camera you can double check to make sure they showed up and left when they said they did. Then Turnoverbnb pays them automatically with your card on file. Super simple and easy. We built out teams in 5 different states with Turnoverbnb.

Karen Chenaille · Answer

Hi!

@Adam Tafel For my local cleaners I found them by creating a Facebook job ad. For remote properties, I stay in a STR while prospecting. If the place is well kept, I get In contact with the cleaner and hire them

I use TurnoverBnB to auto schedule and manage my cleaners. No confusing google calendar and it syncs with Air BnB and HomeAway. It also does round robin scheduling. That means if the primary cleaner rejects the job it will automatically send to the alternate. cleaners have access to a calendar for the property they are assigned.

Smart BnB also has some cleaner scheduling but it doesn’t do round robin scheduling and is a little more manually intensive to manage for the host.

Good luck!

Karen

@Adam Tafelundefined

Ken Latchers · Answer

Consistent Quality Cleaners goes along with how much you're willing to pay them. You are cheap you get cheap.

some prefer an existing cleaning company with references. Of course it will be more expensive.

some prefer hiring and possibly training someone according to their specifications. With an individual, you may find a time that don't show up because they have an issue or other places they have to do.

in some places it can be really difficult to find people such as very rural or places they are in very high demand.

it also depends on where you are, different places might have different expectations and availability.

you can find people by Craigslist, care.com, perhaps handy.com, and other places.

when you find a good cleaner or company, you should pay premium rates and treat them like gold.

I personally find quote systems quote as minimally important. Again, pay and train cleaners what they're worth and make sure your partner and they will take care of most of your problems.

a lot of people seem to think that your cleaner has to be female or Havoc cleaning experience people but I have also had success with a good handyman who can also clean and fix the problems. Pay them well and many either don't really care what they do as long as they get the money. They will change the sheets or fix your vent if the Bucks are there.

Jeffery Wilen · Answer

We have multiple units that we also sync on a google calendar. Totally agree that once you find a good one, pay a premium and treat like gold. They are invaluable!!

Allen Livingston · Answer

Great info, thanks!

Ken Latchers · Answer

i do not get the strong worry about "scheduling or calendars"

all my check-in and check-out times are the same. Scheduling or calendars cannot control people who decide to leave early or late. Or those trying to get in early.

if you are on multiple listing sites and or your own website, you shoukd have a property management system to control your calendar. Those usually have some form of view for the cleaners

Paul Sandhu · Answer

My housecleaner does it for free.  Plus I get to sleep with her.

Ruth Blue · Answer

@Adam Tafel We had a not fun time last year because some cleaners are not always into technology so google calendars confused them. We have found success using Your Porter. It has a feature where each cleaner can be assigned a shared calendar especially helpful if cleaning more then one location because you can color code them also. They receive a link that they can click on and it loads a web-page that is automatically updated with information you specify. We only share number of guests for each reservation. It has many more features for scheduling that we have not even utilized but so far sharing calendar has worked wonders. Here's a snap shot from online.

Luke Carl · Answer

@Adam Tafel Seems with that many properties you should be able to hire someone pretty much full time and keep them happy?

Another vote for Google calendars.

John Underwood · Answer

I research and find great cleaner/s that I can depend on and I keep the same ones for years. We spot check behind them occasionally to make sure things are being done to our expectations. We have over 100 5 star reviews on Vrbo and many comments about how clean our house is.

We give them the schedule a month ahead and immediately let them know of any schedule changes. You can also sync Vrbo and Airbnb to a shared gmail calendar.

Airbnb housekeeping systems, what works best?

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