Airbnb cleaning checklist: free printable template (Word, PDF)
Free printable Airbnb cleaning checklist with an inventory, for a holiday let or vacation rental, in Word and PDF: room by room, restocking, damage claims in 14 days.
An Airbnb cleaning checklist is one page your cleaner works through between two guests: strip the beds, kitchen, bathroom, floors, restock, then a photo of each room. Ours is free to print and comes with a second page, an inventory of what is in the home, because that is what you need when something goes missing.
What does a changeover (turnover) clean include?
A changeover, or turnover as US hosts call it, is everything between one checkout and the next check-in. In our flat it takes our cleaner one to two hours, depending on how the guests left it. The order matters more than speed:
- Strip the beds and start the wash first. Linen and towels take longest, so they run while you clean.
- Walk through every room before cleaning. Look for anything broken, stained or missing, and photograph it now. After cleaning, the evidence is gone.
- Kitchen: dishes washed, put away and counted, fridge emptied, oven and hob (stovetop) wiped, bins and trash out.
- Bathroom: shower, basin, toilet, mirror, drains clear of hair, fresh towels.
- Bedrooms and living room: fresh linen, dust, vacuum and mop last so the floors stay clean.
- Restock, then one photo of each room with the date showing.
The same cleaner every time helps more than any list. Ours knows what belongs in the flat and notices at once when something is missing. A written checklist is what lets a new cleaner, or you on a busy Saturday, work the same way.
What do guests break, stain or take?
From our own experience, glasses get broken often. We don't chase that: it's cheaper to keep a few spare. Towels sometimes come back with hair dye or make-up that won't wash out. Slippers disappear now and then. All small things.
Once a guest took the hairdryer. We asked Airbnb for the money and were refused: the hairdryer wasn't in the listing photos, so there was nothing to show it had been there. Since then we photograph everything in the flat and put it in the listing on Airbnb and Booking.com. That's what the inventory page in the template is for: a list of what's in each room, with the number and the condition, before the guest arrives.
How to claim for damage on Airbnb
Airbnb's host damage protection covers damage and missing items caused by guests, but not normal wear and tear (Airbnb Help Center). The steps:
- Within 14 days of checkout, send the guest a reimbursement request in the Resolution Center.
- The guest has 24 hours to reply. If they refuse, don't answer or pay only part, ask Airbnb to step in.
- Evidence: photos or video of the damage, receipts, and an inventory with the condition of each item and what it costs to repair or replace (Host Damage Protection Terms, section 3). For theft, Airbnb asks for a police report.
What doesn't work is noticing an item is gone weeks later with no record of when it was last there. The terms exclude "mysterious disappearance". So write the inventory once, check it at every changeover, and date your photos.
What to restock after every guest
Our list is short: toilet paper, coffee capsules, hand soap, shampoo and shower gel. Next to the capsules we leave something small, a sweet or a cookie. And always a bottle of water: the guest arrives, the home is empty, and they can have a drink straight away.
The thing guests praise most is less obvious: phone chargers that fit any phone. One cable with three tips costs a few pounds or dollars and saves a message at 11 pm asking for a charger.
Restocking is your job, not the guest's. Airbnb's cleaning fee covers standard cleaning, and its ground rules for guests don't allow heavy cleaning or long checkout chores (Airbnb Help Center). What you can ask for at checkout is in our Airbnb checkout instructions.
Cleaner's checklist vs guest guide
The checklist and the inventory are for you and your cleaner. Guests need something else: where the spare towels are, how the washing machine works, what to do with the trash and the dishwasher before they leave. With GuestQR, that goes into your digital welcome book: guests open it from the QR poster on the wall, on their phone, in their own language. Fewer questions, fewer surprises at changeover.
