# How to clean an Airbnb fast: the turnover routine for professional cleaners

> How to clean an Airbnb fast: run the same turnover routine every time. Walk through and photograph, strip the beds and start the laundry first, apply product in the bathrooms and kitchen so it dwells, clean dry rooms while the washer runs, finish the wet rooms, make beds from a par stock of clean linens, restock from a written list, do floors last and photograph the staged unit. A trained cleaner turns a one-bedroom in about 90 minutes this way.

Published 2026-11-06 by Broombook · Run the day to day · 12 min read  
Canonical page: https://broombook.com/guides/how-to-clean-an-airbnb-fast

## Key takeaways

- Laundry is the critical path: strip beds and start the first load before anything else, a tip Airbnb itself gives hosts.
- Keep a par stock of at least three linen sets per bed so the beds are made from clean stock, never from the dryer you are waiting on.
- Apply disinfectant early and wipe late: EPA says the surface must stay visibly wet for the full label contact time.
- Cleanliness is one of the categories guests rate on every stay; once three guests have rated a home, its overall rating shows near the title, with category averages alongside the reviews.
- A written restock list and three sets of photos (arrival, damage, staged) turn a fast clean into one the host can verify.
- A hypothetical time budget: about 90 minutes for a one-bedroom turnover, about 2 hours for a two-bedroom, measured and trained with a four-stay drill plan.

## Why does an Airbnb turnover reward a fixed routine?

An Airbnb turnover is the same unit, the same tasks and the same deadline every time, which is exactly the kind of job a fixed routine makes fast. The unit does not change between stays; what changes is how the last guest left it. A routine absorbs that variation because every step has a slot, and the slow part (laundry) runs in the background from minute one.

Airbnb tells hosts that a clean space is the most important part of five-star hospitality and that the space should be thoroughly cleaned between every guest, every time; its own tips to hosts include stripping the beds and starting a load of laundry first, paying attention to high-touch surfaces, and sweeping and mopping the floors last ([Airbnb: Ensuring your place is sparkling clean](https://www.airbnb.ca/resources/hosting-homes/a/ensuring-your-place-is-sparkling-clean-570)). That is the skeleton of the routine below. Guests rate Cleanliness as its own category on every stay; once at least three guests have rated a home, the average overall rating appears near the listing title, and the average for each category, Cleanliness included, appears alongside the reviews ([Airbnb: Ratings for homes](https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1257)), so one missed hair in a shower is public within days.

This page is the routine for cleaners and the owners who train them: the sequence, the linen system, the restock list, the photos and the pace. The room-by-room task list is the [Airbnb cleaning checklist](https://broombook.com/guides/airbnb-cleaning-checklist); how to price and sell turnovers is in [how to start an Airbnb cleaning business](https://broombook.com/guides/airbnb-cleaning-business).

## What is the fastest Airbnb turnover sequence?

Walk through with the camera, strip and start laundry, apply product in bathrooms and kitchen, clean the dry rooms while the washer runs, finish the wet rooms, make beds from par stock, restock from the list, floors last toward the door, stage and photograph. Ten steps, always in this order. The minutes shown are for a two-bedroom; the time budget further down scales them by unit size.

1. **Arrive, walk through, photograph (5 minutes).** Every room as found, before anything is moved. Damage, left items and anything unusual get their own photo. Open windows if the weather allows, another of Airbnb’s own tips.
2. **Strip and start laundry (5 minutes).** Every bed and every towel into the washer in the right loads; the first load starts before you touch anything else. Start the dishwasher if there are dishes.
3. **Trash and left items (5 minutes).** Every bin, the fridge (all leftover food out, per Airbnb’s checklist), left items bagged and labeled with the date and unit.
4. **Pass one in bathrooms and kitchen (5 minutes).** Bowl cleaner under the rim, disinfectant on toilet, shower, sink, counters; degreaser on the stovetop. Leave them to dwell.
5. **Dry rooms (20 to 30 minutes).** Bedrooms and living area: top to bottom, one lap, dust, remotes and switches and handles wiped, furniture reset to the listing photos, under the beds checked.
6. **Pass two in bathrooms and kitchen (25 to 35 minutes).** Top to bottom: mirrors, counters, sink, shower, toilet last; kitchen counters, stovetop, appliance fronts and interiors that are in scope, sink, then dishes away.
7. **Beds from par stock (10 minutes).** Clean linens from the closet, not from the dryer. Lint roll the duvet and pillows. Decorative pillows and throws set as in the listing photos.
8. **Restock from the list (5 minutes).** Paper, soap, coffee, the welcome items, counted against the written list in the next section.
9. **Floors last (10 to 15 minutes).** Vacuum from the far room toward the door, mop hard floors backward to the exit.
10. **Laundry swap, stage, photograph, lock (10 minutes).** Move the wash to the dryer or fold what is dry into the par stock, final look from each doorway, staged photos of every room, lockbox code checked, door locked.

The order matters most in steps two and four. Laundry started at minute five instead of minute forty is the difference between leaving when the clean is done and waiting an hour for a dryer. Product applied at minute twenty and wiped at minute fifty has had its contact time; EPA’s guidance is that a disinfectant must remain visibly wet for the whole time its label states, reapplied if it dries early ([EPA: reading a disinfectant label](https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/selected-epa-registered-disinfectants)).

## How should linens and laundry be handled on a fast turnover?

Keep a par stock of at least three complete linen sets per bed and three towel sets per guest capacity in the unit, make the beds from clean stock, and treat the laundry you start on arrival as stock for the next turnover, not for this one. That single rule removes the dryer from the critical path.

### The par-stock system

- **Set A** is on the beds. **Set B** is clean in the owner’s closet. **Set C** is the one you strip today and wash. After the turnover, B is on the beds, C is drying or folded into the closet, and A is the next wash.
- **Inspect as you strip.** Stains, holes, makeup on pillowcases. Stained items are bagged separately, photographed and reported; they do not go back into rotation.
- **Loads in order.** Towels first (longest dry time), sheets second, kitchen cloths and bath mats last and never with the sheets.
- **Off-site laundry.** For units without a washer, or for cleaners running several units a day, take the dirty set with you and bring the clean set from your own stock. Price the laundry into the turnover.

### Bed making that survives a guest’s photo

Fitted sheet tight at the corners, flat sheet with a hospital corner at the foot, duvet cover shaken and aligned, pillows plumped and lint rolled, the top edge folded back the same way in every photo. Airbnb’s own checklist says beds should be remade, fluffed and lint-rolled ([Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.ca/resources/hosting-homes/a/ensuring-your-place-is-sparkling-clean-570)); guests notice a single hair on a white duvet more than anything else in the unit.

## What should the restock list include?

The restock list is a written count per unit of everything a guest uses up, with the par level, where it is stored, and who buys it. Airbnb’s cleaning checklist tells hosts that shampoo, body wash, hand soap and dish soap should be refilled between guests ([Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.ca/resources/hosting-homes/a/ensuring-your-place-is-sparkling-clean-570)); a professional list goes further so the host never gets a 10 p.m. message about toilet paper.

| Area | Items | Example par level (set per unit) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bathroom | Toilet paper, hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, tissues, trash liners | 2 rolls on the holder plus 4 in the cabinet; dispensers above half |
| Kitchen | Dish soap, dishwasher tablets, sponge, paper towels, trash bags, coffee, filters, tea, sugar, salt and pepper, oil | 1 open plus 1 spare of each; new sponge every turnover |
| Bedrooms | Spare blanket, extra pillows, hangers, luggage rack in place | As the listing promises |
| Welcome and safety | Welcome card, house manual, Wi-Fi card, first-aid kit, fire extinguisher visible, smoke and CO detector check | 1 each, checked not counted |
| Cleaner’s own supplies | Spare liners, cloths, products, batteries for remotes and locks | Kept in the locked owner’s closet |

Two rules: the cleaner counts and reports, the host decides who buys (many hosts prefer the cleaner to buy and bill at cost, which you should write into the agreement), and anything below par gets photographed at the end of the turnover so the host sees it before the next guest does.

## Which photos should a turnover cleaner take?

Take three sets: arrival photos of every room before you touch anything, damage and left-item photos as you find them, and staged photos of every room when you lock up. The arrival set protects the host’s damage claim and protects you from blame; the staged set proves the unit was guest-ready at a time stamp.

- **Arrival set:** one wide shot per room from the doorway, plus close-ups of anything broken, stained, missing or left behind. Taken before the beds are stripped.
- **Damage and left items:** the item, where it was, and a photo of it bagged and labeled with the date and unit. Sent to the host the same day with a one-line note.
- **Staged set:** every room from the same angle as the listing photo, the made beds, each bathroom, the stocked bathroom cabinet, the fridge interior, the thermostat setting, the lockbox closed.

Attach the photos to the job itself rather than a group chat, so a host can find the staged set for a stay from three weeks ago when a guest complains. Broombook’s checklists carry photos on each booking (see [features](https://broombook.com/features)), and our [Airbnb cleaning software](https://broombook.com/software/airbnb-cleaning-software) page covers how turnovers are scheduled from the booking calendar. Hosts who use a dedicated turnover app will have their own photo flow; follow theirs if they ask.

## How long should an Airbnb turnover take?

Budget by unit type, measure every turnover, and retrain whoever runs more than 15 percent over. The example below is hypothetical: a maintained unit, one trained cleaner, in-unit laundry, the sequence above. The industry’s formal reference for task times is ISSA’s Official Cleaning Times, which includes hospitality sections ([ISSA: The Official ISSA Cleaning Times](https://www.issa.com/education/issa-cleaning-times/)); for short-term rentals, your own timings over twenty turnovers will be more useful.

| Step | Studio or 1-bedroom, 1 bath | 2-bedroom, 2 bath | 3-bedroom, 2 bath |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Walk-through, photos, strip, start laundry, trash | 12 min | 15 min | 20 min |
| Pass one, wet rooms | 4 min | 6 min | 6 min |
| Dry rooms | 18 min | 28 min | 38 min |
| Pass two, wet rooms | 25 min | 35 min | 40 min |
| Beds and restock | 10 min | 15 min | 20 min |
| Floors | 10 min | 15 min | 20 min |
| Laundry swap, staging, photos, lock-up | 10 min | 10 min | 12 min |
| **Total** | **About 1 h 30** | **About 2 h 05** | **About 2 h 35** |

### What moves the number

- **Guest count and stay length.** Six guests for a week leave more than two for a night. Airbnb lets hosts set a lower short-stay cleaning fee for one- or two-night bookings and a standard fee for longer stays ([Airbnb: Add cleaning fees to home listings](https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/58)); your turnover price should follow the same logic.
- **No in-unit washer.** Removes the laundry wait but adds the trip; price it.
- **Outdoor space, hot tub, barbecue.** Each is its own line, not “included.”
- **Same-day back-to-back.** A four-hour window between checkout and check-in means a two-bedroom gets one cleaner, no slack. Send two and split wet and dry, and charge for it.

Record clock-in and clock-out on every turnover. Over a month, the gap between budget and actual tells you which units are underpriced and which cleaners need the drill plan again.

## What do professional turnover cleaners do differently?

They never wait on a machine, they reset the unit to the listing photos rather than to “tidy,” they check the things guests check, and they leave a record. Train these in this order.

1. **Washer first, always.** Nobody in your company cleans a surface before the first load is running.
2. **The listing photos are the standard.** A printed set in the owner’s closet. Pillows, throws, chairs, the coffee station, all reset to match.
3. **The guest’s first five minutes.** They open the door, look at the bed, use the bathroom, open the fridge, check the Wi-Fi card. Those five things get a second look before lock-up.
4. **Hair hunt.** A final lap with a flashlight at a low angle across the bathroom floor, the shower, the sheets and the sofa. Hair is one of the most common cleanliness complaints and the easiest to prevent.
5. **Smell check.** Fridge, drains, trash cabinet, bathroom. Airbnb’s own checklist ends with “the space smells fresh and clean” ([Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.ca/resources/hosting-homes/a/ensuring-your-place-is-sparkling-clean-570)). Fix the source; do not mask it.
6. **Report, do not fix, maintenance.** A loose towel bar, a dead bulb, a slow drain: photo and note to the host. Fixing it unpaid is how a 90-minute turnover becomes a 150-minute one.
7. **Lock-up ritual.** Thermostat set, lights as the host wants, windows closed and locked, lockbox or smart lock checked, staged photos sent, clock out.

## A drill plan for new turnover cleaners

Train new turnover cleaners on four supervised turnovers in the same unit, each one timed, each one inspected against the guest’s first five minutes, then one unsupervised turnover inspected before check-in. Airbnb units are less varied than homes, so the plan is shorter than for house cleaning, but the inspection has to be stricter because the guest’s review is public.

### Turnover 1: shadow

- The lead runs the full sequence and narrates it: why laundry starts first, when product goes on and comes off, how the beds are made, where the par stock lives.
- The hire takes all three photo sets and fills the restock list. The lead checks both.

### Turnover 2: split roles

- The hire runs laundry, dry rooms, beds and restock; the lead runs the wet rooms, then swaps on the next unit if there is one the same day.
- Timed against the budget table. Misses listed on paper.

### Turnovers 3 and 4: the hire runs it, the lead inspects

- The inspection list: bed (hair, corners, alignment with the photo), bathroom (hair, mirror, toilet underside, drain), fridge (empty, wiped, smell), coffee station (stocked, clean), Wi-Fi card and house manual in place, floors under furniture edges, trash all empty with new liners, lockbox and thermostat.
- Pass mark: within 15 percent of budget on turnover 4 and no misses on the list.

### Turnover 5: solo, inspected before check-in

- The hire turns the unit alone; the lead arrives an hour before check-in and runs the same inspection. Clear it and the hire gets their own units.

Keep the drill sheets and the photo sets from training in the hire’s file. For hiring, pay and onboarding beyond the drills, see [how to hire cleaners](https://broombook.com/guides/how-to-hire-cleaners).

## Frequently asked questions

### How long does it take to clean an Airbnb?

In our hypothetical budget, a trained cleaner turns a maintained studio or one-bedroom in about 90 minutes, a two-bedroom in about two hours and a three-bedroom in about two and a half hours, with laundry running in the background from the start. Heavy use, no in-unit washer and extras like hot tubs add time.

### What is the fastest way to clean an Airbnb between guests?

Walk through and photograph, strip the beds and start the laundry first, apply product in bathrooms and kitchen so it dwells, clean the dry rooms, finish the wet rooms, make beds from a par stock of clean linens, restock from a written list, do floors last and photograph the staged unit.

### What should an Airbnb cleaning routine include?

Everything on Airbnb’s own checklist (surfaces, floors, linens, bathrooms, refilled soaps, a clean fridge with no leftover food, trash out, fresh smell) plus a reset to the listing photos, a restock count, damage and left-item photos, and a lock-up check of the thermostat, windows and lockbox.

### How many sets of sheets should an Airbnb have?

At least three complete sets per bed and three towel sets per guest capacity: one on the beds, one clean in the closet, one in the wash. That lets the cleaner make the beds from clean stock instead of waiting on the dryer.

### Should the Airbnb cleaner take photos?

Yes, three sets: arrival photos of each room before anything is touched, close-ups of damage and left items as found, and staged photos of every room at lock-up. They protect the host’s damage claim, protect the cleaner from blame, and prove the unit was ready.

### How do hosts rate cleanliness on Airbnb?

Cleanliness is one of the categories guests score on every stay, alongside accuracy, check-in, communication, location and value. Once at least three guests have rated a home, the average overall rating is shown near the listing title, and category averages appear with the reviews.

### Who pays for restocking supplies on a turnover?

Whatever the cleaning agreement says. Many hosts have the cleaner buy consumables and bill at cost; others stock the unit themselves. Either way, the cleaner counts against the par list each turnover and photographs anything below par so the host sees it before the next guest.

## Sources

- [Airbnb Resource Centre: Ensuring your place is sparkling clean](https://www.airbnb.ca/resources/hosting-homes/a/ensuring-your-place-is-sparkling-clean-570)
- [Airbnb Help Centre: Ratings for homes](https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1257)
- [Airbnb Help Centre: Add cleaning fees to home listings](https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/58)
- [EPA: Selected EPA-Registered Disinfectants, reading the label and contact time](https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/selected-epa-registered-disinfectants)
- [ISSA: The Official ISSA Cleaning Times (tasks, tools and workloading reference)](https://www.issa.com/education/issa-cleaning-times/)

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Broombook is scheduling, online booking and crew software for residential cleaning businesses. More guides for cleaning business owners: https://broombook.com/guides