What a great Airbnb turnover actually includes (and why it makes or breaks your reviews)

Cleanliness is the one thing guests will never forgive. You can get away with a slightly dated sofa or a view of the car park — but one hair in the shower, and your five-star streak is over. The good news: a great turnover isn't luck or talent, it's a repeatable checklist done the same way every single time. Here's what a proper one actually covers, the way we run it across our own 60+ apartments.

Why the turnover is where reviews are won or lost

Every stay resets to zero on cleanliness. It doesn't matter how spotless the last guest found it — this guest sees only what's in front of them today. The turnover is the one moment you control that perception completely, and it happens on every single booking. Get it consistently right and cleanliness quietly stops being a risk.

1. The core clean, room by room

• Bathroom — the make-or-break room. Toilet, shower/bath, sink and mirror; descale the glass and taps; no hair anywhere; fresh towels folded, floor washed last.
• Kitchen — inside the microwave and fridge, hob and splashback, sink shining. Every dish washed, dried and put away — nothing "soaking".
• Bedrooms — fresh linen on every bed, beds made hotel-style, surfaces dusted, under the bed checked (guests leave things there).
• Living areas — surfaces wiped, cushions plumped, remotes and cables tidy, skirting and switches spot-cleaned.
• Floors — vacuumed throughout, then hard floors washed. Always the last thing you do.

2. The reset — not just clean, but ready

A clean room still isn't a guest-ready room. The reset is what makes it feel like a hotel:

• Restock consumables — toilet paper, hand soap, dish soap, sponges, bin bags, plus any welcome items (coffee, tea).
• Stage it — towels and toiletries presented, cushions and throws set, curtains and lighting as they should be for the arrival photo the guest takes in their head.
• Empty every bin and reset the recycling.

3. The check — cleaning is also inspection

Your cleaner is the only person in the apartment between guests, so a good turnover is also a quiet inspection:

• Damage & missing items — spot what the last guest broke, took or stained, and report it so you can claim it.
• Maintenance issues — the dripping tap, the flickering bulb, the loose handle, caught before the next guest meets it.
• Inventory — enough linen, towels and consumables staged for the next stay.

4. The hard part: timing and back-to-backs

The real test isn't a leisurely clean on an empty day — it's a same-day turnover, guest out by 11:00 and the next in by 15:00, done to full standard in the window. That's where reliability matters most: a cleaner who cancels on a back-to-back doesn't just cost you a clean, it costs you a review. This is exactly why hosts hand turnovers over first — it's the piece that punishes any weak link hardest.

The small touches guests notice

None of these are strictly "cleaning", but they're what turns a good review into a rave: beds made tightly, towels folded the same way every time, a faint fresh smell (not overpowering), toilet paper folded, everything squared to the same angles. Consistency reads as care.

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That's the standard we hold, every turnover, every apartment. If turnovers are the part eating your time — or you just want them done to hotel standard without managing a cleaner — you can buy cleaning by the turnover, 365 days a year, timed to your check-in and check-out. Not sure what else you could hand off? See the full menu of services.