If you’re an owner, operator, or property manager it’s important to know what to look for in-between guests to be sure the next guests have a great stay. We’ll use an example of a few properties we clean and do handyman work for in Wayzata and Minneapolis.
Just last week our team was in the Minneapolis short term rental cleaning in preparation for the next guests. While cleaning is what our team was there to do; we know that the owner is relying on us to provide them with any insight with any missing items or damage that may have occurred. Our team found several towels and a couple sets of sheets that looked to have blood stains them as well as a missing coffee machine. We notified the owner of both items and took the sheets and towels off site to get dry cleaned and bleached. As for the coffee machine, they ordered a new one and it arrived before the next guest arrived. While the coffee machine going missing was far from ideal, it was important for us to notify the owner because the owner does have that as an amenity listed on Airbnb that the next guests are expecting to be there. Whatever the previous guests did with it is not ok, but the next guests no nothing about that other than knowing that the rental should have a coffee machine there!
Or an example from about a month ago at a short term rental we clean in Wayzata. The previous guest had ripped the toilet paper out of the wall. I’m not sure how or why, but it happened and if our cleaning team didn’t report that next guests would have likely messaged the owner and then we are scrambling around playing damage control. Our cleaning team notified us right away and we contacted the owner and had our handyman out there that same day to reinstall the toilet paper holder. Little things like this happen all the time in the short term rental space. At Tomms, we’ve noticed about 1 out of every 4 cleans there is something that needs to be reported. Some spaces have more issues than others, but to think that guest wont by accident damage something is naïve. Being proactive during the turns can save you a lot of time and ultimately provide a better customer experience when you are on top of these things.
At Tomms for every turn we do the following:
- Clean (of course)
- Check for any damage (stained towels/sheets, holes in wall, items missing, etc.)
- Check if we are low on supplies
- Pass along all info to the owner in one organized email. Sending several photos of the cleaning, any damage, and any supplies needed.
If your maintenance team isn’t doing these 4 things during turn cleans for your short term rental; it should be time to have a chat with them. Your cleaning team needs to be your eyes and if they’re not it may be time to make a change.
