Maintaining near perfect reviews across the board is a necessity to get top dollar in the busy season, and to stay booked through the winter months. Perhaps the most common issues in the review process stem from the cleanliness category. The cleanliness rating is vital to a short-term rental's success, but the guests version of cleanliness can often be blurred into other factors such as curb appeal, supplies, working-order, and maintenance. For a cleaning company, this can be frustrating, but for hosts, you seemingly can not afford to have a single thing out of order as it related to the appearance, smell, feel, and usefulness of your property. Here are some things to consider if your cleaning team is great, but you can not seem to maintain 5-star cleanliness reviews.

The most important aspect of short-term rental operations is the cleaning. Between every guest, the home must be completely turned over with fresh linens, new supplies, and completely cleaned of any sign of previous guests. Although this process is straight-forward, it is not necessarily easy. There are many small details to remember, and unless you have an outstanding cleaning partner, little things that are missed can quickly add up. This is why we always recommend regular deep cleans of your units, and why we perform them monthly on all of the properties we service, for no extra charge.

The first impression your guest haves, regarding the cleanliness of the home, will go a very long way in their satisfaction and eventual review. Likewise, if this impression is a bad one, the guest will likely begin looking for things to invoke a refund. Once a guest starts doing this, there is little you can do to stop them, so it is vital to blow the guest away with a feeling and appearance of cleanliness and freshness.

Before you begin your search for the perfect AirBnB cleaner for your short-term rental, it’s important to first take a step back and identify exactly what kind of cleaning services you need. There are many different aspects involved with turning-over a short term rental between guests, and being able to clearly communicate what you are expecting to potential contractors will help not only find a partner, but also help the relationship in the long term. Are you looking for someone to just clean, or will they be responsible for more of the operations as well? Will they be responsible for laundry services? Do you want to schedule your cleaners, or would you rather them schedule themselves automatically?

When it comes to hiring a cleaner for your AirBnB or short-term rental, there are many factors to consider. Perhaps one of the most important factors in a successful host/cleaner relationship is clear and concise communication. This communication begins, believe it or not, in the way you "interview" your potential cleaner, the expectations that are set before an initial cleaning, and the questions that are asked, both by the host, and by the cleaning company. Here are a few questions that we have found are vital to setting expectations that lead to a quality result in the working relationship, and give Hosts a better idea of what to expect from a potential cleaner.