Turnover cleaning checklist for short-term rentals

A good turnover cleaning checklist is short enough to follow at speed and specific enough that two different cleaners leave the apartment in the same state. Most lists online stop at "clean the bathroom". This one is written for a one- or two-bedroom short-term rental apartment, room by room, and it ends with the part that actually causes complaints: the hand-off. Copy it, delete what does not apply to your place, and add what is special about it.

How to work through a turnover

The order matters more than people think. A cleaner who starts with the floors will mop twice.

1. Walk through the apartment first, before touching anything. Look for damage, stains, missing items and anything the guest left behind. Photograph problems now, while they are clearly the last guest's.
2. Open the windows and strip all beds. Start the washing machine straight away if laundry is done on site; it is the longest job of the turnover.
3. Work top to bottom and dry to wet: dust shelves and lamps before wiping counters, wipe counters before the floor.
4. Clean first, then disinfect. Airbnb's own cleaning guidance makes the same point: remove dust and dirt before using a disinfectant, and leave the product on for the contact time on its label.
5. Floors last, starting from the far room and working towards the door.
6. Final walkthrough with the guest's eyes, then photos, then the hand-off.

Turnover cleaning checklist: bedrooms

• Strip the bed completely, including the mattress protector if it is stained or damp
• Check the mattress and pillows for stains; replace a stained pillow rather than covering it
• Make the bed with fresh linen, the same way every time (your reference photo is the standard)
• Spare blanket and pillows in the wardrobe, clean and folded
• Empty and wipe bedside tables, drawers and the wardrobe; check every hanger
• Look under the bed and behind the headboard: chargers, socks and earrings live there
• Dust lamps, window sills, picture frames and the top of the wardrobe
• Check that bedside lamps and reading lights work
• Vacuum, including under the bed, then mop hard floors

Bathroom

• Remove all used towels, bath mats and the guest's toiletries
• Clean and disinfect the toilet, including the base, the hinges and behind the seat
• Shower or bath: remove hair from the drain, descale the glass and the shower head if needed
• Washbasin, taps and mirror without streaks
• Wipe the extractor fan grille and check it runs
• Empty the bin and put in a new liner
• Fresh towels laid out to the agreed count (see linen counts below)
• Toilet paper, hand soap, shower gel and shampoo topped up
• Hair dryer cleaned, cable wrapped, in its place
• Floor and skirting boards mopped last

Kitchen

• Wash, dry and put away every dish; check the dishwasher is empty and clean inside
• Empty the fridge of anything the guest left, wipe the shelves and the door seals
• Microwave and oven inside, hob and extractor hood
• Counters, splashback, cupboard handles and the sink, then disinfect the surfaces
• Kettle descaled if needed, coffee machine emptied and its drip tray rinsed
• Count cutlery, glasses and cups against the inventory; note breakages
• Bins emptied, sorted by your municipality's rules, new bags in
• Restock: dish soap, sponge, dishwasher tablets, coffee, tea, sugar, salt, oil
• Floor last

Living room and entrance

• Tidy and straighten furniture, cushions and throws to the reference photo
• Dust the TV, shelves and decorations; wipe the remote, light switches and door handles
• Check the sofa: under the cushions and underneath it
• Test the TV, Wi-Fi router lights and the heating or air conditioning
• House manual, Wi-Fi card and local guide in place and not damaged
• Entrance: shoe area clean, coat hooks empty, doormat shaken out
• Balcony or terrace: swept, furniture wiped, ashtray emptied, nothing left drying on the rail

The hand-off items people forget

The cleaning is rarely what goes wrong. The hand-off is: the apartment is spotless, but there is one roll of toilet paper left, the lockbox still has the old code, and nobody knows the guest left a laptop charger.

Restocking consumables

• Agree a minimum per apartment and write it down, for example two spare toilet rolls per bathroom and enough coffee capsules for the stay length you usually get
• Restock to the minimum every time, not "when it looks low"
• Write down what you used from the storage cupboard, so whoever buys supplies knows what to reorder
• If the storage cupboard is nearly empty, say so in the report today, not on the day it runs out

Linen and towel counts

• Count what you put on: duvet covers, sheets, pillowcases, bath towels, hand towels, bath mats
• Count what goes to the laundry, and note anything torn, stained or missing
• Make up beds for the number of guests booked, if you know it; otherwise for the apartment's maximum

Damage photos

• Photograph damage before you clean it, with something in the frame that shows where it is
• One wide photo and one close-up per problem
• Send them the same day. Booking platforms have deadlines for damage claims, and a photo taken three days later proves very little

Lost and found

• Photograph each forgotten item where you found it
• Put it in a bag labelled with the apartment and date, and agree where these bags are kept
• Report it immediately; the guest usually notices on the way to the airport

Keys, lockbox and smart lock

• Keys back exactly where the next guest or the next cleaner expects them
• Lockbox closed and the code scrambled; if the code changes per booking, check it was changed
• Smart lock battery level checked, if the app shows it
• All windows closed and the door locked; try the handle

Report to the manager or owner

• "Done" with the finish time
• Photos of the ready apartment (see below)
• Problems: damage, broken appliances, low supplies, anything that affects the next check-in
• Lost and found
• Linen in and out

What to photograph after every turnover

A fixed set of photos, taken from the same spots every time, is the cheapest quality control there is. It also settles disputes with guests and owners.

• Each bed, made, from the foot of the bed
• Bathroom: toilet, shower and towels in one or two shots
• Kitchen counter and hob
• Living room from the door
• Anything that was damaged or repaired
• The lockbox or key spot, closed

Make it fit each apartment

One master list is a starting point. A studio does not need an "each bedroom" section, and a house with a garden needs bins put out on collection day. Keep a short notes section per apartment: the tricky shower door, the fuse box location, how the sofa bed folds. Add reference photos of how the bed and living room should look, so "made neatly" means the same thing to everyone.

If turnovers are often tight, the checklist is only half the job; the other half is the timing. Our late-checkout playbook covers how to approve a later checkout without putting the next check-in at risk.

How Readyby puts this checklist in the cleaner's hands

In Readyby every apartment has its own checklist, organised by room, with ready-made templates for a studio, an apartment and a house that you then edit. Any item can require a photo, and you can attach a reference photo showing how it should look. The cleaner opens the checklist from a link in WhatsApp, in her browser, with no app to install, and works through it on her phone. A cleaning cannot be marked finished while a required item or a required photo is missing. If something is broken or missing, she reports it with photos from the same screen, and you see it straight away.

Whether you need this at all depends on your size. For one apartment and one trusted cleaner, a printed list on the inside of a cupboard door works. We wrote an honest comparison of spreadsheets, shared calendars and dedicated tools to help you decide.

If you want to see the checklist from the cleaner's side, open the interactive demo. Up to two apartments are free, so you can also try it on your own place: see pricing.