Holiday Home Cleaning

Holiday Home Cleaning

We spend a lot of time working closely with our cleaners, especially any new ones, to ensure they provide the level of service that we expect. 


The Reality of Cleaning in a regional area

One of the key challenges for Short Term Rental is the issue of cleaning . We work with many cleaners – most are sole traders, but a few have a couple of employees and, recently, some larger professional cleaning companies . In order for a cleaner to work with us as a contractor, they need to have an ABN, accept being paid into a bank account (i.e. no cash), agree to be paid monthly, have their own transportation and cleaning equipment, have a police check, have insurance, be reasonably priced, be reliable, flexible and trustworthy, and be able to use an app on their phone. The reality is that the number of cleaners in the area that meet all these criteria is less than we would hope for, and at many times of the year the number of cleaning jobs is greater than the capacity of cleaners who are available.

All this means that cleaners are hard to find, and harder to keep because they can pick and choose who to work for, and what work to do. The reality of the paucity of ‘good’ cleaners (per the requirements listed above) mean that at times we may may soften feedback (more than we would like to in a different market) and ensure that cleaners feel appreciated at the same time as providing constructive feedback.


What we’re doing

We have spent more than 2 decades managing this reality and understand what is required from our end to provide this service for your home. 

Cleaners are paid for doing a job. We provide them with a clear scope of work, support for when something happens (e.g. family emergencies, etc.), software to assist them in reporting, support for invoicing if required, and an annual lunch for them and their families. This all provides an environment that encourages loyalty and a sense of ownership for what can be, at times, an extremely challenging job.  


What we’re aiming for

No cleaner is perfect, and we are always open to receiving productive feedback on how a cleaner is performing. It is important to note, that a fixed-price clean following a Guest booking will not achieve the same level of cleanliness that an owner could achieve themselves. The goal of the cleaning service provided is to ensure that guests have a positive experience, and reviews are favourable (leading to more bookings). We value owners feedback and want you to be happy with the cleaning service they provide, however we have seen examples where everyone in the process is satisfied (near-perfect reviews, happy guests) except the owner. Likewise, if we have a situation where an owner is happy, but guests aren’t - we’d still expect to follow this up with the cleaner (assuming the feedback and expectations are reasonable).

Following from that, there can be cases, where some of the feedback / expectations from an owner or guest are outside the scope that we expect from a cleaner for holiday rental. That's not to say that a cleaner has been perfect, and they may not have been graded as perfect - but they have achieved what we ask of them.

What is included vs what isn’t

As a homeowner, you do need to be aware that a professional cleaning service at a fixed rate covers some duties, but not others. For example, our cleaners will mop, vacuum, clean bathrooms thoroughly, sanitise toilets, conduct a condition report, etc. Examples of things they are unlikely to be able to do (as part of a regular clean) would include checking inside drawers and cupboards, shifting heavy furniture and appliances (eg beds, fridges, couches etc). Please refer to the Cleaning Standards document below for the specific scope of work covered in a post-stay clean. 

"Why don't guests pay for cleaning?"

Guests do pay for cleaning, it's just how that is presented that may be different to your own previous experiences (if you've booked accommodation and paid a separate cleaning fee). When Owners join our group, we explain that cleaning costs (after a Guest stay) form part of the Expected Running Costs for Holiday rental, and make up part of 30-35% of Direct & Indirect Costs (see Understanding Booking Earnings for more detail).

Simple Example


Base Rent
Cleaning
Total Rent
What you may have seen$800$100$900
How we structure it$900
$900
  1. This approach is preferred by guests (Airbnb did a lot of research on guest preferences some years ago, and overwhelmingly their feedback to us was that 'add on' fees are not viewed positively by guests).
  2. Some websites don't facilitate add-on fees (so if we were to charge them separately, you run the risk of not having them apply at all in certain circumstances).
  3. When guests see a separate cleaning fee, they can be overly critical of cleaning standards if they view the cost as being high.
  4. If guests comment on cleaning issues and we have them as a separate add-on, websites (such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Stayz/VRBO) can occasionally insist that we refund the guest those fees (ie deduct them from the payout for that booking).
  5. Websites (such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Stayz/VRBO) rank listings higher if they don't have add-ons. Therefore our listings are 'ranked' higher in search results when people are looking for options.

When will my home be cleaned?

Usually, your home will be cleaned within 48-72h of guests checking out, often sooner. We instruct cleaners that if they can’t clean your home within 72h, that they do a security check within that time frame to ensure your home is secure, there is no damage/issue to report, heating/cooling is turned off etc, and your home will then be cleaned at the soonest opportunity.

“The cleaner hasn’t come, even though guests checked out 4-5 days ago”


For various reasons, your cleaner may not have your home ‘guest ready’, even if the previous booking has checked out 4-5 days earlier. Examples of when this can happen are following a long weekend/key event in the area (such as Moto GP). Typically, all homes are booked for these periods, but not all are booked for the following weekend. Cleaners prioritise cleaning those homes that are booked soonest, so if your home is empty the following weekend, it may not have been cleaned, even if guests checked out many days before. 

Evaluating your cleaner

Another consideration regarding the scope of work a cleaner can/can’t do, is related to how busy they are and the time of the year. Cleaners typically look after a good number of properties and at certain times of year they can be exceptionally busy. This may mean that some tasks that they would do for each clean at other times of the year, may be done less regularly (eg skirting boards). Often this will depend on the number of cleans in a given day which is further impacted by ‘same day’ turn arounds. Conversely, at quieter times, cleaners are often able to attend to additional tasks.

Deep Cleaning

Many tasks that cleaners won’t be able to do as part of their regular post-stay clean can be addressed via a thorough Deep Clean . This is something that we arrange as needed and can include tasks such as going through drawers and cupboards to check each individual item of crockery, cutlery, etc, cleaning fan vents as well as shifting and cleaning behind / under heavy household items. The necessity / frequency of Spring Cleans will, to some degree, depend on your own capacity and availability to attend to such tasks. Please refer to the Deep Cleaning document below for the specific scope of work covered in a Deep Clean. 

“Can I meet my cleaner?”

Unfortunately, the answer is No

Our cleaners ask not to have direct contact with owners for a variety of reasons. In the past some owners, although perhaps well intentioned, have contacted cleaners about miscellaneous issues/questions about their home. Most cleaners look after a large number of homes and can't reasonably be expected to respond to those types of communications. In addition, any communication directly between an owner and a cleaner without us in the loop, is not able to be followed up/enforced from our end, which has led to unhappy owners and sometimes unhappy cleaners. It is best to always have us as the intermediary so we can help both parties.

If you've got specific requests for processes, scope of work, etc., please send them to us, we'll let you know if there's anything on there that we don't feel is in the 'normal' scope of work/reasonable requests for a cleaner and pass it on to the cleaner. This is not meant to create anything except transparency for owners and cleaners around expectations.


Additional charges on Saturday/Sunday/Public Holidays and following long stays

Some of our cleaners charge an additional fee (i.e. more than a ‘standard’ clean) if they are required to do a clean on a Saturday/Sunday/Public Holiday. We negotiate these additional costs to ensure they are reasonable, and it is only applied when the cleaner is required to do the cleaning on those days, and not when they choose to do the cleaning on those days. What this means is that (unless there are extreme circumstances outside the control of the cleaner), only back-to-back bookings on those days will incur the additional cost. Also, after longer stays, some cleaners may charge an additional cost to bring your home back up to the level that we expect. Again, we liaise with the cleaners to ensure the charge is reasonable and justified.


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