Managing Your Property Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Short-Term Rental Host Report

A short-term rental preparation day is the time you allow your cleaning team to prepare your property for the next arriving guest. Typically the time allowed for cleaning and preparation is 24 – 48 hours. During this time the cleaning team will clean, vacuum or mop, do the laundry and other various tasks to make your property sparkling clean. Selecting Your Preparation Time On short term rental platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO and Evolve, you can set the time allowed for cleaning and prep. Doing so means you are blocking out time, or a day or two, for cleaning. For example, Airbnb allows you to set your preparation time setting to block one night or two nights before and after each reservation. You can also choose none, which means a guest could check out and a new guest arrive the same day. Our experience tells us that one day before and after a reservation gives your cleaning team ample time to clean and resolve any issues they come across. However, in busy times of the year, you may only want 24 hours between guests. Short Term Rental Host Pro Tip: be wary of how your preparation days affect your weekends. View your calendar closely to ensure you are not accidentally blocking a weekend day or days for preparation. What Are the Key Preparation Day Tasks? In short, most short term rental properties will need the following cleaning tasks performed once a guest checks out: Assess for damages, stains, etc. Laundry, including towels and bed linens Bathroom, shower and toilet cleaning Kitchen cleaning, including microwave, stove and countertops Vacuum and/or mop floors Empty trash and line receptables with new bags Turn thermostats down or up contingent on season Coordinating Your Cleaning Team: Keeping your cleaning team apprised of upcoming short term rental bookings is paramount to eliminating issues with incoming guests. One of the best ways to coordinate your team is to provide them access to your booking calendar. In addition, you can even just share screen shots of your calendar so the cleaning team is always up to date. Another best practice is to send reminders of guest check-outs and check-ins to your cleaning team. The short term rental business can move quickly, so it’s best to over communicate with your team. Finally, using text to stay in close contact with your cleaning team will provide real time assessments of what is happening on the ground at your property, particularly if you live a distance away from the property.