Housekeeping software: hotel housekeeping systems vs software for a home cleaning service

Housekeeping software means two different products. Hotels use a housekeeping management system (Optii, Flexkeeping, Quore) that reads room status from the property management system, assigns rooms to attendants and logs inspections; it is sold per property by demo. A housekeeping service that cleans homes needs booking, recurring scheduling, reminders, card payments and a crew app: Broombook (free, or $39/mo on Pro), ZenMaid, Maidily, Automaid (Launch27), Jobber or Housecall Pro.

Go to section10
Written by BroombookPublished 13 min read 8 sections 9 sources cited

Key takeaways

  • If you run a hotel, you need a housekeeping management system tied to your PMS; if you run a housekeeping service for homes, you need cleaning business software. Neither does the other job.
  • Optii maps daily room attendant routes with predictive technology; Flexkeeping integrates with Mews, Cloudbeds, Oracle, Apaleo and Shiji; Quore covers housekeeping, engineering and management. All three quote per property.
  • For home housekeeping services, published prices on October 28, 2026 ran from $0 (Maidily, up to 10 jobs a month) to $329/mo (Housecall Pro Max); Broombook is free, or a flat $39/mo on Pro.
  • The feature that matters most for a home housekeeping service is a recurring schedule where one visit can be skipped without breaking the series.
  • A solo housekeeper needs a booking page, reminders and card payments more than any management feature; a private household employing a housekeeper needs payroll, not this software.

Which kind of housekeeping software do you need?

Decide by who pays you. A hotel, resort or serviced-apartment operator needs a housekeeping management system that works off the property management system (PMS): rooms check out, the system assigns them to attendants, supervisors inspect, and the front desk sees clean rooms come back. A housekeeping service that cleans private homes needs cleaning business software: a booking page, recurring visits, reminders, card payments and a crew app.

Hotel housekeeping systemHome housekeeping service software
Who uses itExecutive housekeeper, room attendants, supervisors, front desk, engineeringOwner, office staff if any, cleaners, and the client through booking and reminders
Unit of workA room, with a status (dirty, clean, inspected, out of order) that changes several times a dayA visit to a home, repeated weekly, every two weeks or monthly
Source of truthThe PMS (arrivals, departures, stayovers) feeding the housekeeping systemThe client record and the recurring schedule
MoneyNo client billing; labor cost per room and minutes per roomPrice per visit, card on file, tips, payroll
ExamplesOptii, Flexkeeping, QuoreBroombook, ZenMaid, Maidily, Automaid (Launch27), Jobber, Housecall Pro
How it is soldPer property, by demo and contractMonthly subscription, public pricing, free trial

A third search sits behind the same words: a family hiring a private housekeeper. That is an employment relationship, and what it needs is household payroll and a written duties list (the housekeeping checklist has one for live-in and full-time housekeepers), not this software. The rest of this page covers the first two.

How hotel housekeeping management systems work

A hotel housekeeping management system takes the day’s arrivals, departures and stayovers from the PMS, builds each room attendant’s board, tracks every room through dirty, in progress, clean and inspected, routes maintenance problems to engineering, and reports minutes per room and rooms per attendant at the end of the shift. The three best-known platforms sell the same core with different emphasis.

  • Optii. Positions itself as an AI-powered platform for predictive hotel operations. Its housekeeping product says it optimizes labor and cleaning sequences through predictive technology, and that it maps daily room attendant routes based on guest profiles and hotel needs. It also sells chat and service (guest request) modules. Sold through a demo request.
  • Flexkeeping. Organized as suites: Housekeeping, Maintenance, Collaboration, Automation and Quality Assurance, plus guest feedback, analytics and lost and found. It lists PMS integrations with Mews, Cloudbeds, RMS, Oracle, Apaleo and Shiji, and one customer quote on its site says everything in the PMS is reflected in Flexkeeping. Sold through a demo.
  • Quore. Calls itself a hospitality orchestration platform. Its housekeeping solution is described as smarter systems for room management and cleanings; engineering covers preventive maintenance (PMs), inventory and asset management; management adds visibility across properties. Its pricing page gives only an average, $171 a month, on a one-year agreement, with the price set by room count and brand.

What to check before a hotel signs

  1. PMS integration, two ways. Room status must flow from the PMS to housekeeping and back, so the front desk sees “inspected” without a radio call. Ask for your exact PMS and version on the integration list.
  2. Room assignment logic. Does it balance credits (minutes) across attendants, account for stayovers versus checkouts, and let a supervisor re-assign mid-shift from a phone?
  3. Inspections and photos. A supervisor’s inspection with a score and a photo, and a reopen if it fails. For how an inspection is run on the floor, see the supervisor section of the housekeeping checklist.
  4. Maintenance tickets. An attendant reports a dripping tap from the room and engineering gets it, with a photo, without a paper slip.
  5. Languages. The attendant app in the languages your team reads.
  6. Reporting. Minutes per room, rooms per attendant, inspection pass rate and labor cost per occupied room, by day.

None of the three publishes a price list; Quore shows only an average of $171 a month. Expect a quote per property that depends on room count and modules, and a contract rather than a monthly card charge. A cleaning company that contracts to clean hotel rooms for an operator usually works inside the hotel’s system, not its own.

What software does a housekeeping service for homes need?

A housekeeping service that cleans homes needs six things: a way for clients to book with a price, a recurring schedule that survives skips, automatic reminders, a card on file, a cleaner app with the address, access notes and a checklist, and payroll from the hours worked. Hotel systems have none of these, because a hotel never bills a guest for a room clean.

  • Booking with a price. A page that turns bedrooms, bathrooms, home size, type of clean and frequency into a price, and offers only the times a cleaner is free. A phone call and a callback loses the client who was comparing three services.
  • Recurring visits with skips. Weekly, every two weeks or monthly, with one vacation visit skipped and the rest untouched. This is the feature to test first; many general tools handle one-off jobs better than a series.
  • Reminders. Confirmation when they book, a text the day before with their own link to move or skip, a receipt after each charge.
  • Card on file. Saved once, charged after each visit, tip included.
  • Cleaner app. The day’s visits, addresses, alarm codes, pets and parking notes, a checklist, clock-in and clock-out. In the languages your team reads.
  • Payroll export. Hours from clock-in, tips split per job, commission if you pay it, in one file for your payroll provider.

Larger tools add quoting for one-off deep cleans, review requests, a client portal and reporting. Those matter at ten cleaners more than at two. If you are deciding whether to sell “housekeeping” (lighter, more frequent, often includes laundry and tidying) or “house cleaning,” the housekeeping checklist explains the difference and what each visit includes.

Software for home housekeeping services compared

Six tools cover most home housekeeping services: four built for residential cleaning (Broombook, ZenMaid, Maidily, Automaid, formerly Launch27) and two general home-service platforms (Jobber, Housecall Pro). Prices were read on each vendor’s pricing page on October 28, 2026, month to month unless noted.

ToolPublished priceHow the price growsBest fit
BroombookFree for you and 2 cleaners (40 visits a month), Pro $39/mo for up to 10 users; no credit card to startIt does not: flat per plan, no per-cleaner feeResidential housekeeping services with recurring clients and a growing crew
ZenMaidStarter $19, Pro $39, Pro Max $49 per month as a base; SMS charges not includedIts calculator adds to the price for each cleaner and office manager on the teamMaid services that want the best-known cleaning-specific tool
MaidilyFree $0 (up to 10 jobs a month), Start $29 (50 jobs), Grow $49 (150 jobs), Scale $99 (250 jobs); unlimited users; dedicated SMS number $10/mo extraBy jobs per month, with small add-on fees per extra 50 jobsSolo housekeepers and very small services that want to start free
Automaid (Launch27)Base $75, Pro $150, Plus $299 per month; 15% off yearly; unlimited users and bookingsBy plan features, not team sizeServices whose main need is a customizable booking form
JobberCore $49/mo (1 user), Connect $139/mo, Grow $199/mo (1 user) or $299/mo (5 users), Plus $499/mo (5 users); $29/mo per extra user; lower annuallyBy team-size tier and extra usersCompanies that quote a lot or run several trades
Housecall ProBasic $79/mo (1 user), Essentials $189/mo (5 users), Max $329/mo (8 users, $35/mo per extra user); lower annuallyBy plan and users includedCompanies running cleaning alongside other home services

The same tools, with BookingKoala and Swept, are ranked with more detail in the best cleaning business software, and ZenMaid’s per-cleaner math is worked through on the ZenMaid pricing page. This page’s job is to separate the hotel question from the home question, not to re-run that ranking.

Housekeeping scheduling: recurring visits, teams and the skipped week

Housekeeping scheduling software should let you set a client to every two weeks on Tuesday mornings with the same cleaner, skip one visit for a vacation, move one visit for a holiday, and leave the rest of the series exactly where it was. Then it should show each cleaner only their day.

The five scheduling tests

  1. Create a recurring client with a frequency, a preferred cleaner and a two-hour window. Does it fill the calendar for a year, or do you re-enter it?
  2. Skip one visit. Vacation in July. The August visits must not move. Broombook runs recurring cleans as a series with per-visit skips; test the same thing in any tool you trial.
  3. Let the client move a visit. From their own link, into a time the crew actually has, without calling you. Broombook allows this up to 12 hours before the visit; check what the others offer.
  4. Swap a cleaner. Maria is sick; who can cover Thursday? The app should show who is free, and the client should get a text if they care who comes.
  5. See the cleaner’s view. Open the day as a cleaner on a phone: addresses, access notes, the checklist and clock-in, and nothing they should not see (you choose whether they see prices and phone numbers).

Hotel systems solve a different scheduling problem, assigning today’s rooms to today’s attendants by minutes, and are not built around a calendar of clients at all. For the deeper residential comparison of calendars and crew apps, see cleaning scheduling software.

How much does housekeeping software cost?

For a home housekeeping service, published prices on October 28, 2026 ran from $0 to $329 a month: Maidily is free up to 10 jobs a month, ZenMaid starts at $19 as a base, Broombook is free or $39 flat on Pro, Automaid (Launch27) is $75 to $299, Jobber $49 to $499 by team size and Housecall Pro $79 to $329. Hotel systems are quoted per property; Quore publishes only an average, $171 a month.

A worked example at two sizes (hypothetical team sizes, real list prices)

ToolOwner plus 1 cleaner, 60 visits a monthOwner plus 6 cleaners, 300 visits a month
Broombook$39/mo (Pro; Free stops at 40 visits a month)$39/mo (Pro)
Maidily$49/mo (Grow, 150 jobs included)$99/mo (Scale, 250 jobs) plus $14 per extra 50 jobs: $113/mo
ZenMaid$19 to $49 base plus the per-cleaner amount its calculator showsBase plus six cleaners and any office manager; run the calculator
Automaid (Launch27)$75/mo (Base)$75 to $299/mo depending on plan, same at any team size
Jobber$49 to $199/mo (1 user) plus $29/mo for the cleaner if they need a loginGrow at the 5-user tier $299/mo plus $29/mo per extra user
Housecall Pro$79/mo (Basic, 1 user) plus a second user or a higher plan$189/mo (Essentials, 5 users) plus two more users, or Max $329

Add what is not in the headline: text message charges (ZenMaid and Maidily list SMS extras), card processing fees on every tool, and your own hours loading clients. Price the tool at the team you expect in a year, because moving 300 recurring clients later is a weekend you will not want to spend.

Housekeeper software for one person, and for private households

A solo housekeeper needs three things from software: a booking page with a price, reminders that go out without typing, and a card on file so no visit ends with “I’ll pay you next week.” Everything else can wait until there is a second cleaner.

  • Lowest cost to start: Maidily’s free plan (10 jobs a month) or ZenMaid Starter ($19/mo base, SMS extra).
  • Everything included for one price: Broombook Free covers you and 2 cleaners (up to 40 visits a month) with the booking page, recurring schedules, card payments, email reminders, the crew app and payroll export, and Pro at $39/mo adds unlimited visits, text reminders and up to 10 users; no credit card to start, see pricing.
  • If you also do one-off deep cleans and move-outs that need quotes: Jobber Core ($49/mo) or Housecall Pro Basic ($79/mo).

A private household that employs a housekeeper is a different situation. The family is an employer, and what it needs is household payroll (withholding, workers’ compensation where the state requires it) and a written duties list, not booking software. The duties list for a live-in or full-time housekeeper is in the housekeeping checklist, and the employee-versus-contractor question is covered in cleaning business W2 or 1099. Rules differ by state, so check yours; this is not tax or legal advice.

How to choose a housekeeping platform without a sales call

For a home service, run two free trials with five real clients each and judge the booking, the skipped visit and the cleaner’s phone. For a hotel, shortlist by PMS integration first and ask each vendor for a reference property of your size.

Home housekeeping service: a one-week test

  1. Book yourself as a client on each tool’s booking page. If you cannot see a price without a callback, neither can your clients.
  2. Create five recurring clients, skip one visit, move another from the client link, and read every text that went out.
  3. Send a cleaner their day. They should see the address, alarm code, pets, checklist and clock-in, in their language.
  4. Charge a saved test card after a visit and send the receipt.
  5. Export payroll for the week and your client list to CSV.
  6. Price it at next year’s team on the vendor’s own pricing page.

Hotel: what to ask each housekeeping system vendor

  1. Which PMS integrations are live today (not planned), and is yours two-way?
  2. How are rooms assigned and rebalanced mid-shift, and from what device?
  3. What does an inspection look like on a phone, with a photo, and what happens on a fail?
  4. How do maintenance tickets reach engineering, and how is lost and found logged?
  5. What reports do you get per day, and can you export them?
  6. What is the price per room per month at your room count, the contract length, and the onboarding time?

Both lists end with the same question: can you get your data out. A platform that cannot export rooms, clients or history is a platform you cannot leave.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is housekeeping software?

It depends who is asking. For a hotel, housekeeping software is a management system such as Optii, Flexkeeping or Quore that takes room status from the property management system, assigns rooms to attendants, logs inspections and routes maintenance. For a housekeeping service that cleans homes, it is cleaning business software with booking, recurring scheduling, reminders, card payments and a cleaner app, such as Broombook, ZenMaid, Maidily or Automaid (Launch27).

What software do hotels use for housekeeping?

Optii, Flexkeeping and Quore are three widely used hotel housekeeping systems. Optii emphasizes predictive routing of room attendants, Flexkeeping lists PMS integrations with Mews, Cloudbeds, RMS, Oracle, Apaleo and Shiji across housekeeping, maintenance and quality suites, and Quore covers housekeeping, engineering and management. All are sold per property through a demo.

How much does housekeeping software cost?

For a home housekeeping service, published prices on October 28, 2026 ran from $0 (Maidily, up to 10 jobs a month) and $19/mo (ZenMaid Starter base) to $329/mo (Housecall Pro Max); Broombook is free, or $39/mo flat on Pro. Hotel housekeeping systems are quoted per property; Quore publishes only an average of $171 a month.

What is the best scheduling software for a housekeeping business?

One that runs recurring visits as a series where a single visit can be skipped or moved without breaking the rest, lets the client move a visit from their own link, and shows each cleaner only their day with access notes and a checklist. Broombook, ZenMaid and Automaid (Launch27) are built around that; Jobber and Housecall Pro handle recurring jobs alongside one-off quotes.

Is there free housekeeping software?

For a housekeeping service that cleans homes, yes. Broombook is free with no end date and no card for you plus 2 cleaners and up to 40 visits a month, with online booking, recurring visits, a crew app and card payments. Maidily has a free plan for up to 10 jobs a month with online booking, a mobile app and customer management. ZenMaid, Jobber and Housecall Pro offer a 14-day free trial rather than a free plan. Both free plans run in a browser, so there is nothing to download. Hotel housekeeping management systems such as Optii, Flexkeeping and Quore are sold per property by demo, not as free software.

What software does a private housekeeper need?

A self-employed housekeeper with several clients needs a booking page, reminders and card payments, which a solo plan like Broombook Free ($0), ZenMaid Starter ($19/mo base) or Maidily Free provides. A housekeeper employed by one family does not need booking software; the family needs household payroll and a written duties list.

Can a cleaning company use hotel housekeeping software?

Not usefully. Hotel systems have no client billing, no booking page and no recurring home schedule; they manage rooms from a property management system. A cleaning company that contracts to clean hotel rooms usually works inside the hotel’s own system and runs its residential clients in cleaning business software.

Sources

  1. Optii Solutions homepage and housekeeping solution (checked October 28, 2026)
  2. Flexkeeping homepage, suites and PMS integrations (checked October 28, 2026)
  3. Quore homepage and solutions (checked October 28, 2026)
  4. ZenMaid pricing page (checked October 28, 2026)
  5. Maidily pricing page (checked October 28, 2026)
  6. Launch27 pricing page, now branded Automaid (checked November 7, 2026)
  7. Jobber pricing page (checked November 7, 2026)
  8. Housecall Pro pricing page (checked November 7, 2026)
  9. Quore pricing page (checked November 7, 2026)

General information for cleaning business owners, not legal, tax or insurance advice. Rules and prices vary by state and city.