Cleaning and Turnover Guide for Short-Term Rentals

A turnover is the cleaning, reset, and restock between one guest's checkout and the next guest's check-in. Run each one from the same written room-by-room checklist, keep at least three sets of linens per bed, and set the cleaning fee to cover the whole turnover after the platform's cut. Get a Form W-9 from each independent cleaner before paying, and if your rental is a business, file Form 1099-NEC for each cleaner you pay $2,000 or more in 2026. For Airbnb reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026, you can ask guests only for light checkout tasks, such as putting used dishes in the sink.

Room-by-room turnover checklist

Give the cleaner the same list every time, in the order the work happens, and ask for a photo of each finished room.

Before cleaning

• Photograph damage, stains, missing items, and anything left behind, and send the photos to the host the same day. To recover costs from an Airbnb guest, send a payment request through the Resolution Center, Airbnb's tool for requesting money from guests, within 14 days of checkout, which also notifies Airbnb; if the guest does not pay, file with Airbnb within 30 days of checkout. Airbnb's host damage protection pays only extra cleaning costs above your cleaning fee, never normal checkout cleaning such as laundry, dishes, or trash removal. It covers stained sheets and towels only when an unauthorized guest or a pet that broke your house rules caused the stains.

Bedrooms

• Strip and remake each bed with a fresh set, and swap any stained mattress protector.
• Check mattress seams, tags, and the headboard for the bed bug signs the EPA lists, such as rusty stains, dark spots, and live bugs, and report any sign before the next check-in.

Bathrooms

• Clean and disinfect the toilet, shower or tub, sink, and counters, and clear hair from drains.
• Hang fresh towels, and restock toilet paper, soap, and shampoo to your set count.

Kitchen

• Empty the dishwasher, throw out guest food, and wipe the refrigerator, microwave, stovetop, and counters.
• Restock dish soap, a new sponge, paper towels, and coffee, and empty trash and recycling.

Whole home and final check

• Check drawers, closets, and under beds for left items, wipe switches, handles, and remotes, and check the patio, grill, and any hot tub you advertise.
• Vacuum and mop last, working toward the door.
• Test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, lock up, confirm the next guest's door code works, and send the host a "ready" message with the photos.

What fits between checkout and check-in

The cleaning window runs from your checkout time to your check-in time, so 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. gives the cleaner 5 hours. Set those times so your largest turnover, such as the clean after a week-long stay at full occupancy, fits.

Work in this order so the slowest steps start first:

1. Walk through and take the damage photos.
2. Strip the beds, start the laundry or bag the linens for a laundry service, and remake the beds with spare sets.
3. Clean the kitchen and bathrooms.
4. Dust, wipe high-touch surfaces, and restock.
5. Clean the floors and do the final check.

Spare sets let dirty linens finish washing after the next guest arrives. Approve an early check-in only after the cleaner reports the unit ready. Automating your short-term rental business shows how to create a cleaning task for each new booking.

How many linens and supplies to keep

Sets per bed = 1 on the bed + the sets being washed at the same time + 1 spare for stains.

• Washing on site between guests: 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 sets per bed.
• A laundry service with a 2-day return and back-to-back checkouts: 1 + 2 + 1 = 4 sets per bed.

Count towels the same way at maximum occupancy. A 6-guest, 2-bathroom home that washes on site needs 18 bath towels and 18 washcloths (6 guests x 3 sets), plus 6 hand towels and 6 bath mats (2 bathrooms x 3 sets).

For consumables, set a par level, the count the cleaner restocks to at every turnover, such as 2 rolls on each holder and 2 spares under each sink. Keep backup stock in a locked owner's closet and reorder at a set minimum, so the cleaner never leaves mid-turnover to buy supplies.

What turnover cleaners charge and how to pay them

Get each cleaner's flat price per turnover in writing, including whether laundry, restocking, and same-day jobs are covered. Divide each quote by the job's hours to compare: $120 for a 3-hour turnover is $40 an hour. Maids and housekeeping cleaners on employer payrolls earned a national median of $17.07 an hour in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; a contractor's price also has to cover self-employment tax, travel, and supplies.

To pay a cleaner as an independent contractor:

1. Get a Form W-9 before the first payment. It gives you the cleaner's legal name and taxpayer identification number (TIN), which the 1099-NEC needs. If a cleaner will not give you a TIN, the IRS requires you to withhold federal income tax from the payments you report, called backup withholding.
2. Put the job in writing: the price per turnover, what it includes, the cleaning window, the photo report, and what you pay for a canceled clean.
3. Keep it a contractor relationship. The IRS weighs who controls how the work is done, who controls pay and supplies, and whether the relationship looks like employment, such as benefits or open-ended work. Treating an employee as a contractor without a reasonable basis can leave you owing that worker's employment taxes.
4. File Form 1099-NEC after year-end. For each cleaner you paid $2,000 or more in 2026, file a 1099-NEC with the IRS and give the cleaner a copy by February 1, 2027, because January 31 falls on a Sunday. The rule covers only payments made in a trade or business, so ask your tax preparer whether your rental counts. Payments to a cleaning company taxed as a corporation are generally exempt, and payments by credit card or through a third-party payment network go on the payment company's Form 1099-K instead.

Setting a cleaning fee that covers the cost

Airbnb's host service fee is a percentage of the nightly price plus any fees you charge, so it takes a share of your cleaning fee too. To net your full turnover cost on any platform that charges a percentage of your fees, divide the cost by 1 minus that percentage. On Airbnb, most hosts on the single host-only fee pay 15.5%, and most hosts still on the older split fee, which Airbnb is phasing out, pay 3%.

Example: a cleaner at $120, laundry at $18, and consumables at $12 make a $150 turnover.

• At a 15.5% host fee: $150 / 0.845 = $177.51, so charge $178.
• At a 3% host fee: $150 / 0.97 = $154.64, so charge $155.

For 1- and 2-night stays, Airbnb pricing strategies compares a lower short-stay cleaning fee with folding cleaning into the nightly rate, and Airbnb vs Vrbo vs direct booking lists the percentage each platform takes.

Which checkout tasks you can ask guests to do

Each platform sets its own limits, and a task counts only if it is in the listing before the guest books.

Airbnb can answer repeated violations with a notice on your listing page or lower placement in search, and Vrbo can remove noncompliant tasks and suspend hosts who keep breaking its policy. Expedia Group's cleaning tasks policy covers only rentals in California.

Repeat your checkout requests in the checkout reminder; the guest communication templates include one. For how cleanliness affects your ratings, see getting five-star reviews, and for the rest of the setup, see starting an Airbnb business.