A written Airbnb cleaning checklist protects your Cleanliness rating and lets a cleaner turn the unit right without you on site. Make it one fixed route: strip the beds and start laundry, clean the kitchen, then bathrooms, bedrooms and living areas top to bottom, floors last, then restock and photograph every room. Airbnb's ground rules require cleaning between every stay, including laundry, trash, vacuuming or sweeping and wiping down surfaces, with the listing free of health hazards like mold and pests before check-in.
Maybe your cleaner texted "all done" at 2:40, and at 4:15 the next guest sent a photo of hair in the shower drain. You weren't there, the checklist on the fridge said "clean bathroom," and nobody can tell you which step got skipped. Now you're refunding a frustrated guest and bracing for a 3-star Cleanliness score you can't trace to anyone. This guide covers Airbnb's cleanliness rules, a turnover order, a room-by-room checklist your cleaner can follow alone, the safety checks to add, and a six-step process for building your own version.
What Airbnb Requires Before Every Check-In
Airbnb sets a floor for cleanliness in its ground rules, and guests can grade you against it after any stay. According to Airbnb's ground rules for home hosts, all listings should be clean and free of health hazards before check-in. The rule has three parts:
Rule | Covers | Item |
|---|
Health | Mold, pests | Pest and mold check |
Clean | Dust, dander, dishes | Surface and dish pass |
Turnover | Laundry, trash, floors | Full clean every stay |
The same page says Airbnb may send messages to hosts with low ratings, and that repeated or severe violations can lead to suspension, removal or lost Superhost status.
Cleanliness is one of the star-rating categories guests score after a stay. Airbnb's ratings for homes page frames the Cleanliness question as "Did the home meet our standards?" and spells out that the home should be free of health hazards like mold and pests, and free of extensive dust, pet dander and dirty dishes. Guests and hosts each have 14 days after checkout to submit a review, per Airbnb's reviews for homes article, so a missed step on Monday can still land in your ratings two weeks later.
Airbnb's Resource Center article, Ensuring your place is sparkling clean, publishes a 12-line checklist. It's a good final inspection list, but its 12 lines aren't in work order and don't say how to prove each one got done.
Airbnb Turnover Cleaning Order: Why Laundry Starts First
Airbnb's own host tips put laundry first and floors last, and a fixed sequence makes a skipped step easy to trace. Airbnb's article passes along host tips: strip the beds and start a load of laundry first so there's time for several loads, clean and dust surfaces with attention to high-touch items like remotes and doorknobs, make the beds and reset pillows, and sweep and mop the floors last to collect dust and debris.
Here's the order this checklist uses, and why each step sits where it does:
Walk-through and photos of arrival condition. Before touching anything, photograph each room as the guest left it. If there's damage or excessive mess, you need the "before" picture.
Strip beds, gather towels, start laundry. The washer and dryer run while everything else happens.
Trash and dishes. Bag trash from every room, then run or empty the dishwasher so it finishes during the clean.
Kitchen. Food prep surfaces get cleaned before anything dusty gets disturbed nearby.
Bathrooms. Separate cloths from the kitchen, every time.
Bedrooms and living areas, top to bottom. Dust high surfaces first so debris falls to floors you haven't cleaned yet.
Make beds once linens are dry, or from a clean spare set.
Floors last, working from the back of the unit toward the exit.
Restock, safety checks and final photos.
The order matters most on a same-day turn. If the laundry starts at step 8, the guest arrives to a made bed only if you own a second full set of linens. Our Airbnb supplies list with par levels covers how many sets to keep so a slow dryer doesn't hold up check-in.
If you want a second set of eyes on where your turnovers break down and which fix to make first, book a complimentary one-on-one diagnostic call.
The Room-by-Room Airbnb Cleaning Checklist
Each line below is written as a finished state your cleaner can verify with a glance or a photo. "Clean bathroom" invites interpretation. "No hair in the drain, tub or floor" doesn't. Copy this Airbnb cleaner checklist into whatever your cleaner uses, whether that's a laminated card, a shared doc or a turnover app.
Kitchen
Dishes, cookware and utensils clean, dry and put away in their labeled spots.
Dishwasher emptied, filter free of food.
Fridge and freezer empty of guest food, shelves wiped, no odor.
Stovetop, oven interior, microwave and toaster free of crumbs and spills.
Coffee maker emptied, rinsed and ready; pods or filters restocked.
Counters, backsplash and cabinet fronts wiped; sink scrubbed and dry.
Trash and recycling emptied, bins wiped, fresh liners in.
Dish soap, sponge, dish towels and paper towels at par.
Bathrooms
Toilet cleaned inside, under the seat, around the base and behind it.
Shower, tub and glass free of hair, soap scum and water spots.
Drain checked and cleared of hair.
Sink, faucet and mirror free of water spots, toothpaste and smears.
Fresh towels hung or folded to your standard layout.
Shampoo, conditioner, body wash and hand soap refilled.
Toilet paper at par, with spare rolls visible.
Floor clear of hair, including corners and behind the door.
Bedrooms
Fresh linens on every bed, including beds that look unused.
Mattress protector checked for stains; swapped if marked.
Pillows fluffed, throws and decorative pillows reset, lint rolled.
Under beds, behind nightstands and inside drawers checked for left items.
Closet hangers reset, luggage rack in place.
Lamps and bedside outlets working.
Living areas and entry
High-touch items wiped: remotes, light switches, door handles, thermostat, lock keypad.
Couch cushions lifted and checked underneath.
Shelves, TV stand and window sills dusted.
Welcome book and house rules in their spot, with the wifi card current. Our Airbnb welcome book guide covers what belongs inside.
Entry mat shaken out, lockbox or smart lock code confirmed for the next guest.
Patio, laundry and the final pass
Patio furniture wiped, grill brushed and covered.
Washer and dryer empty, lint trap cleared.
All trash out to the outdoor bins on the right collection schedule.
Thermostat set to your arrival temperature; lights in your standard arrival state.
Every room smells fresh, with no product smell strong enough to bother a sensitive guest.
Clean, Sanitize, Disinfect: What the Labels Mean
The CDC treats cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting as three separate steps, and the order matters. The CDC's guide, When and How to Clean and Disinfect Your Home (cdc.gov), says cleaning with soap or detergent removes most germs from surfaces and should come first, because dirt can keep chemicals from reaching germs.
Step | When | How |
|---|
Clean | First, always | Soap or detergent |
Sanitize | Raw meat, recall | Weak bleach or product |
Disinfect | Sick or high risk | EPA product, contact time |
The CDC recommends cleaning high-touch surfaces like light switches, doorknobs and countertops regularly and after you've had visitors. A rental has visitors every stay, so those surfaces belong on every checklist.
Disinfecting is a different job. The CDC lists it for when someone is sick or at higher risk of getting sick. When you do disinfect, the CDC says to leave the product on long enough to kill germs, called the contact time, and the surface should stay wet for that whole time. A quick spray-and-wipe may not meet the label's contact time. The EPA's guidance on following disinfectant directions says to read the product label and follow its instructions, including the application method.
Two CDC safety lines belong on your cleaner's card: don't mix products or chemicals with each other, and ventilate when using products indoors. Airbnb's host tips also suggest opening windows while cleaning when the weather allows.
The Checks That Ride Along With Every Clean
Your cleaner sees every room between guests, so a few non-cleaning checks belong on the checklist.
Signs of bed bugs. The EPA's How to Find Bed Bugs page says to look for physical signs when changing bedding: rusty or reddish stains on sheets or mattresses, dark spots about the size of a dot that bleed into fabric like a marker, and tiny pale yellow eggs or shed skins. Around the bed, the EPA says bed bugs hide near the piping, seams and tags of the mattress and box spring and in cracks in the bed frame and headboard. Have your cleaner check the mattress seams and tags during every strip. If your cleaner finds signs, the unit comes off the calendar until a professional confirms.
Smoke alarm test. The NFPA's guidance on installing and maintaining smoke alarms says to test smoke alarms at least once a month using the test button. A busy unit turns over more than once a month, so assign the test to the first turnover of each month. Our guide to Airbnb smoke detector and CO alarm requirements covers what Airbnb and local codes ask for.
Damage and missing items. Arrival-condition photos are your record. Airbnb's ground rules for guests say guests are expected to pay reasonable requests for reimbursement for damage, missing items or unexpected cleaning costs they caused, and ask hosts to document issues with photos. Our guide on what to do when a guest damages your property walks through the claim.
Maintenance flags. A dripping faucet, a slow drain or a wobbly chair gets a photo and a note, then goes to whoever handles repairs. Our maintenance schedule by turn count shows how to fold recurring checks into the turnover checklist itself.
Keep Cleaning Tasks Off the Guest's Checkout List
Turnover cleaning belongs on your cleaner's list because Airbnb lets guests flag heavy checkout requests. Airbnb's check-in and checkout instructions article lists the preset checkout options as return keys, lock up, turn things off, throw trash away and gather used towels, plus additional requests. Its Resource Center piece, A clear and simple checkout, says guests "expect an easy checkout without any cleaning tasks," that guests can report "excessive checkout tasks," and that listings with repeated low ratings from unreasonable tasks may be removed.
Airbnb's guest ground rules add the money side: cleaning fees cover standard cleaning between reservations, and hosts may not charge guest fees for failing to perform specific cleaning or checkout tasks. Hosts can still leave ratings and reviews based on cleanliness. So stripping the beds and running or emptying the dishwasher belong on your cleaner's list. Our breakdown of cleaning fees versus what you pay the cleaner covers how to price that turnover.
How to Build Your Airbnb Turnover Checklist: A Six-Step Process
A checklist you write once and never test will drift from what happens in the unit. These six steps produce a version your cleaner can follow without calling you.
1. Clean the unit yourself once, with a timer
Airbnb's own advice for hosts who hire out the work is to run through the cleaning process yourself once, so you know exactly what needs to be done. Time each zone as you go. That number is what you'll use to set turnover windows and judge a cleaner's pace.
2. Write the list in walking order
Arrange every line in the order a person moves through the unit, using the sequence above. A list sorted by room type ("all bathrooms, then all bedrooms") sends a cleaner back and forth across the floor plan. If you run several units, keep one master list and change only the room lines that differ.
3. Set photo points for every room
Pick two or three fixed angles per room and ask for the same shots every turnover: made bed from the doorway, shower with the drain visible, open fridge, kitchen counters. Same angles make a skipped step easy to spot from your phone.
4. Build a time budget for the window
Use your own timed clean from step 1. As an illustration only, here's how a hypothetical two-bedroom, one-bath unit might break down if each zone were timed as shown:
Zone | Mins | Notes |
|---|
Photos, strip | 15 | Laundry starts |
Kitchen | 35 | Fridge empty |
Bath | 30 | Drain check |
Beds, living | 50 | Top to bottom |
Floors | 20 | Back to exit |
Restock, final | 15 | Photo set |
Total | 165 | 2 hrs 45 min |
Those figures are assumptions for the arithmetic, not a benchmark. If your checkout is 11:00 AM and check-in is 4:00 PM, you have a five-hour window, and a 165-minute clean leaves room for a late checkout or a second load of laundry. If your own timed clean runs longer than the window, you'll need a second linen set, a second cleaner or a later check-in.
5. Line up a backup cleaner
Airbnb's checklist article tells hosts to find a second cleaner or other backup plan in case the regular cleaner can't make it. Give the backup the same checklist and photo points, and have them do one paid trial turnover before you need them.
6. Review Cleanliness ratings every month
Check your category ratings in Insights. If Cleanliness dips, match the review date to that turnover's photos and find the line that slipped. Then reword the line so it describes a finished state, and add a photo point if it didn't have one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should be on an Airbnb cleaning checklist?
At minimum, Airbnb's ground rules call for laundry, trash removal, vacuuming or sweeping and wiping down surfaces between every stay, with the home free of mold, pests, extensive dust, pet dander and dirty dishes. A working checklist adds the room-by-room details, restocking, safety checks and photo points so someone else can do it the same way each time.
How long does it take to clean an Airbnb between guests?
It depends on unit size, linen setup and condition at checkout. Airbnb's cleaning article tells hosts to schedule enough time between bookings for a thorough job. Time your own clean once, zone by zone, and build the turnover window from that number plus a buffer for late checkouts.
Should my cleaner check for bed bugs at every turnover?
It fits into the bed strip. The EPA says to look for physical signs when changing bedding, such as rusty or reddish stains, dark dot-sized spots and tiny pale yellow eggs or shed skins, and to check the seams, piping and tags of the mattress and box spring.
Do I need to disinfect after every Airbnb stay?
The CDC separates cleaning from disinfecting. It recommends regular cleaning of high-touch surfaces and cleaning after visitors, and lists disinfecting for when someone is sick or at higher risk. When you disinfect, follow the product label, including the contact time.
What should my cleaner photograph after a turnover?
The same fixed angles every time: each made bed, each shower with the drain visible, the open fridge, kitchen counters and the living area. Add arrival-condition photos before cleaning starts so damage or excessive mess is documented.
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