Most people have a clear idea of what a clean vacation rental looks like. In a nutshell, a clean vacation rental means perfectly vacuumed floors, dust-free surfaces, and a fresh scent that delights your senses and invigorates your mood. But with the exception of those who work in the industry, very few people know what it takes to clean a vacation rental property in order to offer guests the “immaculate experience” they expect.
If you’re new to vacation rental management, one thing you need to know is that the most frequent complaints about vacation rentals concern their cleanliness. Because cleaning a vacation rental involves more steps (and a few more secrets) than cleaning a standard house or hotel room, you need a professional cleaning service or an in-house team that has plenty of experience cleaning vacation rental properties.
Because finding a cleaning service or staff that is able to take this burden off your shoulders can be difficult, we’ve put together a succinct list of questions you should ask when looking for the right service provider or employees.
Do you have any experience with cleaning vacation rentals?
Keeping vacation rentals properly clean has always been an essential part of vacation rental management. But this aspect has become even more important in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure proper cleaning, it’s advisable to create detailed cleaning checklists with all the tasks that cleaners need to perform when they clean your vacation rentals. Additionally, it’s important to hire a cleaning service or employees who know exactly what steps to take in order to get a property ready for guests. In essence, the best candidates for the job are those who not only can ensure that your rentals will be spotless every time, but are also able to clean your rentals quickly and efficiently in order to reduce cleaning time. This is particularly important when turnover times are short.
How much do you charge for cleaning vacation rentals?
If you intend to outsource vacation rental cleaning to a third-party service provider, it’s important to know their base rate as well as any emergency fees they might charge in case of last-minute bookings that require a quick turnover on short notice.
Knowing whether the cleaning service requires an additional charge for emergencies is very important. Even though cleaning fees are typically passed on to guests, a high fee may prevent you from offering potential guests a good deal, which could put them off from booking with you.
The easiest way to determine whether the cleaning fee that a service provider requires is right for you is to include the fee in your booking rate. Then, check what your competitors are charging. If their booking rates are lower than yours, you may want to consider looking for another cleaning service.
If you intend to hire your own cleaning staff, the key is to create an offer that meets your business strategy and the individual’s salary requirements. However, when determining the base pay for a person you intend to hire it’s essential to consider a series of monetary as well as non-monetary factors.
What cleaning standards do you follow?
According to experts, vacation rental property managers should create standardized cleaning checklists for each of the vacation rentals they oversee. This way, you can make sure that nothing will ever be overlooked. However, each cleaning service may follow different cleaning standards. Because cleaning standards can vary greatly among cleaning companies, you should ask the service provider you intend to hire about the cleaning and safety protocols they have in place.
The best cleaning companies, which provide top-notch services, always follow the cleaning recommendations from the CDC and use only EPA-registered cleaning products and disinfectants.
If you use any vacation rental listing sites, such as Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com, to advertise the properties you manage, make sure the cleaning company is able to meet the requirements set forth by each site.
Do you have your own cleaning supplies and equipment?
As part of their services, most cleaning companies have their own equipment and cleaning supplies required to get the job done. This might be very convenient, as you don’t have to spend extra time buying cleaning products and/or moving cleaning equipment from one property to another.
License and insurance are two other important aspects you should consider when looking for a cleaning service. To begin with, a licensed cleaning company is legally registered to operate as a business. Additionally, hiring a company that’s insured is the best way to make sure that property owners’ possessions are safe. Insurance also protects both you and the cleaners from any liability issues that may arise from property damage or loss claims.
If you need assistance in managing different areas of your vacation rental management business, including housekeeping, you can count on our lodging management software solution. To find out more about our software, which provides an impressive set of features that complement each other perfectly in order to offer a comprehensive PMS solution, get in touch with our professionals, watch our demo or schedule a personal demo at your convenience.