Why the order matters more than the list
Most checklists you will find are a list of tasks with no sequence attached, and that is the reason turnovers overrun. Laundry is the constraint: a washer and a dryer take as long as they take, and nothing you do can compress it. So the linens go in first, before a single surface is wiped, and the rest of the clean is arranged around the machines.
The second rule is to work top-down within each room, and to leave the floors until the room above them is finished. Dust and crumbs fall. Vacuuming before you wipe the surfaces means vacuuming twice.
Step 1: Arrive, look, and strip
- 1Walk the whole property before touching anything. You are looking for damage, anything left behind, and anything that needs longer than a turnover allows.
- 2Photograph anything that is not right, before it is cleaned up. After the clean there is no evidence either way.
- 3Strip every bed and collect every towel, including the ones behind bathroom doors and on radiators.
- 4Start the first load immediately.
- 5Open the windows if the weather allows, and empty every bin in the property in one pass.
Step 2: The room-by-room clean
This is the full turnover list. It is not a deep clean, and the difference between the two is set out further down.
| Room | What gets done every single turnover |
|---|---|
| Bedrooms | Beds remade with fresh linen and hospital corners; headboard and frame wiped; bedside surfaces, lamps and switches; mirrors; inside wardrobes checked and emptied of anything left; under the bed checked; dust from high to low; floors last |
| Bathrooms | Toilet inside and out including the base and behind; shower or bath, screen and any glass to a shine; taps and drains descaled; sink and counter; mirror streak-free; every surface a hand touches; fresh towels hung evenly; consumables restocked; hair removed from every corner, which is the single thing guests notice most |
| Kitchen | All counters and the backsplash; sink and taps; outside of every appliance including the fridge door and handles; inside the fridge emptied of the last guest's food; inside the microwave; hob and extractor; dishwasher emptied and left open or running; cupboard fronts; bin emptied and relined; crockery counted and checked for chips |
| Living areas | Sofa cushions lifted, crumbs and items retrieved, cushions replaced square; all surfaces dusted; TV screen and remotes wiped, batteries checked; skirting and switches; windows and sills; furniture returned to the layout in the listing photos |
| Entry and hallways | Front door and handles inside and out; light switches; mats shaken out; stairs and bannisters; any welcome material reset and any previous guest's paperwork removed |
| Outside space | Furniture wiped and set out; grill or fire pit cleaned if the listing offers one; sweep the deck or patio; check the hot tub if there is one, which is its own job and is not part of a turnover |
| Whole property | All floors vacuumed then mopped where appropriate; a check that every light works; heating or air conditioning set to the arrival setting; all interior doors left in their normal position |
Step 3: The restock
Whatever the listing promises has to be there, and the way to make that reliable is a fixed par level per item rather than a judgement call each visit. Decide once how many rolls, how many pods, how many coffees, and top back up to that number every turnover.
- Toilet paper, to a set number of rolls per bathroom plus a visible spare.
- Hand soap, shower products and dish soap topped up or replaced.
- Kitchen roll, bin liners, dishwasher and laundry pods.
- Coffee, tea, sugar and anything else the listing names by name.
- Cleaning basics for the guest's own use during the stay.
- Fresh towels to the guest count on the booking, not to the property's maximum.
Step 4: The reset and the photographs
The last five minutes are what the guest actually walks into. Set the property back to the state it is in on the listing, then photograph it. The photographs do two jobs: they prove the condition it was left in, and over time they become the standard a new cleaner can be handed instead of a paragraph of description.
- 1Walk the property in the order a guest will: front door, hall, living space, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms.
- 2Look at it from standing height rather than from where you have been working. Most misses are visible from the door and invisible from the floor.
- 3Photograph each room from the same corner every time.
- 4Check the smell. A property that looks clean and smells closed-up reads as unclean.
- 5Send the photographs and any issues to the host before you leave.
What belongs in a deep clean instead
These are real jobs and they matter, but they are not turnover work and pricing them as if they were is unfair to whoever is doing the cleaning. Most properties need them on a schedule rather than between guests.
- Inside the oven, and behind and under the large appliances.
- Windows inside and out, including tracks and frames.
- Baseboards, door frames, light fittings and ceiling fans.
- Upholstery, mattress protectors, curtains and rugs.
- Descaling showerheads and kettles, and the back of the toilet cistern.
- Wardrobes, drawers and storage emptied and wiped through.
A deep clean is normally quoted separately, and the cleaning fee calculator prices it as a distinct job rather than as a bigger turnover.
How long a turnover takes
It depends on the property and on how much of the laundry can run on site, so a single number would be a fiction. What is reliable is what drives it: the number of beds to remake, the number of bathrooms, whether linens can be washed on site or have to travel, and how tight the window is between checkout and check-in.
Those are the same four things that drive the price, which is why the published averages climb steeply with bedroom count: $102 for a one bedroom against $285 for a four, per AirROI's study of 2.4 million listings. If you want the full table, it is on the average cleaning fee page.
Handing this to a cleaner
A checklist a cleaner has never seen before is a document, not an instruction. Three things turn it into one:
- Photographs of each room in its finished state, taken from a fixed position, so 'reset the living room' has a picture attached.
- Par levels written down, so restocking is counting rather than guessing.
- A named place to report problems, and an expectation that they are reported from the property rather than later.
If you have not found someone yet, tell us where the property is and we will pass it to the cleaning company we work with in your area.
Common questions
- What should be included in an Airbnb cleaning checklist?
- Four blocks in order: strip the beds and start the laundry, clean each room top-down, restock consumables to a set par level, then reset the property to its listing photos and photograph it. The room-by-room detail is in the table above. Laundry goes first because it is the only step with a fixed clock on it.
- How long does it take to clean an Airbnb between guests?
- It depends on the number of beds and bathrooms, whether the laundry runs on site or has to leave, and how tight the window is between checkout and check-in. Those four factors also explain why published cleaning fees climb from around $102 for a one bedroom to $285 for a four bedroom.
- What is the difference between a turnover clean and a deep clean?
- A turnover resets the property between guests: linens, bathrooms, kitchen surfaces, floors and a restock. A deep clean covers what a turnover deliberately skips, such as inside the oven, windows and tracks, baseboards, ceiling fans, upholstery and descaling. Deep cleans are normally scheduled and quoted separately.
- What do guests notice most in an Airbnb clean?
- Hair in bathrooms, streaked mirrors and glass, crumbs under sofa cushions, and smell. They are also the four things easiest to miss, because three of them are invisible from where the cleaning is being done and the fourth is invisible to anyone who has been in the property for an hour.
- Should guests do any cleaning before checkout?
- That is the host's call and it belongs in the checkout instructions rather than being assumed. Short, reasonable asks like starting the dishwasher or bagging the trash are common. A long list of chores next to a substantial cleaning fee is where guests push back.
Where these numbers come from
- AirROI cleaning fee study — Published February 3 2026. 2.4 million active Airbnb listings across 20 countries. Source of the per-bedroom averages quoted on this page.