You're not just cleaning. You're certifying a five-star stay.
What a Guestwise clean looks like, what counts as a normal clean, and how to ask for extra time when a guest leaves a real mess.
Picture the next guests pulling up after four hours in the car. The kids are tired, and all they want is to drop their bags and relax. They open the door to crisp white beds, a sparkling bathroom and a kitchen ready to use. That first minute decides their review. Five-star reviews bring more bookings, more bookings bring more cleans, and more cleans mean more money for you.
What guests complain about most
- Dust. Surfaces not dusted, and nothing dusted behind. Guests run a finger along the TV, the headboard and the top of the frames. Dust behind anything you can move safely.
- Floors not vacuumed properly. Crumbs in corners, hair along the skirting, dust under the beds and sofas. Vacuum every room fully, edges and corners included, then mop hard floors.
- Hair on the bedding. Our linen arrives washed and pressed from the laundry, so a hair on a pillow means it came from the room. Check every pillow, sheet and duvet cover before you leave. The check takes seconds.
Marks or stains on fresh linen? Don't put it on the bed. Report it as soon as you find it, with a photo, and we'll get clean linen delivered.
Every clean, in this order
- 1
Walk through first
Before you start, walk every room. Photograph any damage, missing items or heavy mess, and open the windows to air the home.
- 2
Top to bottom
Dust high surfaces first and do the floors last, so dust doesn't fall onto a floor you've already cleaned.
- 3
Wipe what every guest touches
Door handles, light switches, remote controls, appliance handles, taps and the thermostat, in every room.
- 4
Reset each room
Make the beds, lay out the towels and top up supplies once the room is clean.
- 5
Final check
The home should smell fresh, not of cleaning products. Check each room looks like the listing photos, then photograph it.
Some homes also book a deep clean, which reaches behind, under and inside everything. Turnover clean vs deep clean.
Based on Airbnb's 5-step cleaning process: prepare, clean, sanitise, check and reset.
The hotel standard, room by room
Every clean is checked against this list. If a guest would notice it, it counts.
Bedrooms
- Fresh linen on every bed, tucked with hospital corners, no creases
- Pillows plumped and lined up, duvet straight and square
- No hair on any pillow, sheet or duvet cover
- Linen with marks or stains reported straight away with a photo, never used
- Mattress and pillow protectors checked for stains. Report any, never cover them up
- Towels folded neatly at the foot of each bed
- Under the beds vacuumed, nothing left behind
- Wardrobes and drawers empty, clean and with hangers ready
Bathrooms
- No hair anywhere: plughole, floor, shower tray, bath
- Taps, shower screen and tiles free of water marks and limescale
- Toilet cleaned under the rim, seat and base included
- Mirror streak-free
- Hand towel by the sink, bath mat folded over the bath or shower
- Toilet roll folded to a point, with a spare roll
Kitchen
- Every cupboard and drawer empty of guest food and rubbish, and wiped clean
- Dishwasher emptied, clean and left open to air
- Fridge, microwave and hob wiped inside and out
- All crockery, glasses and cutlery clean and put away
- Enough for every guest: count 2 guests per double bed and 1 per single, then check there is a knife, fork, spoon, plate, bowl, mug and glass for each of them. A home with 4 double beds needs 8 of each. Use the calculator below the checklist. Report anything short in the app
Living areas
- Dust every surface, including tops of frames, lamps and the TV
- Dust behind things you can move safely, like the TV and bedside tables
- Cobwebs cleared from ceiling corners, and lampshades, skirting boards and window sills dusted
- Vacuum every room fully, including edges, corners and under sofas and cushions, then mop hard floors
- Cushions plumped and straight, remote controls in their place
- Windows and doors locked
Before you leave
- Bins emptied, clean liners in, rubbish taken to the outside bins
- Enough cleaning products left for the next cleaner. Report anything running low
- Guest supplies topped up: toilet roll, soap, washing-up liquid, bin bags
- Heating and lights set as your job notes say
- Photos of every room, finished, uploaded to the app
- Vacuum emptied, cloths and mop head rinsed, so the next clean starts with clean kit
How much crockery and cutlery?
Enter the beds in the home. We count 2 guests per double bed and 1 per single bed, and every guest needs one of each item below.
Count each item before you leave. Anything short, report it in the app with a photo.
Normal clean or extra time?
Most cleans are finished to standard in the time given. Guests leave some mess behind: that's what the clean is for. Extra time is only for mess that is significant and out of the ordinary.
Normal clean
Part of the job. No extra time.
- A few cups, plates and pans to wash up
- Rubbish left in bags or on the side. Bag it and take it out
- Crumbs, drips and bits of food on the table and worktops
- Wet towels on the floor and beds slept in
- Hair in the shower and sink
- A few empty bottles to recycle
Extra time
Photograph first, then ask your local manager.
- A kitchen full of dirty dishes, with pans of burnt-on food
- Drinks spilled through several rooms, leaving floors and surfaces sticky
- Food trodden into floors, rugs or sofas
- Dirty nappies left around the home
- Vomit or other bodily fluids
- A fridge full of rotting food
- Heavy grease or barbecue mess over the hob and oven
- Party mess: dozens of bottles, cans and bags of rubbish, glitter or confetti everywhere
- Cigarette ash, or pet hair where pets weren't allowed
Don't clean these. Photograph and report them.
Stains on carpets, marks or drawing on walls, anything broken, and mould. These need a specialist or a repair. Take photos, report them in the app and carry on with your clean.
How to ask for extra time
- 1
Stop and photograph first
Before you touch anything, take a wide photo of each affected room and close-ups of the mess. Once it's cleaned, the evidence is gone.
- 2
Message your local manager
Send the photos and say how much extra time you need. Wait for the OK before you start the extra work.
- 3
Clean, then photograph again
Finish to the hotel standard and take after photos from the same spots.
Your photos are how we charge the guest. Airbnb doesn't pay for normal checkout jobs like washing up, laundry or taking the rubbish out. Airbnb can pay for extra cleaning, such as removing stains or smoke smells, but only with photos or videos as evidence, and only if the claim is made within 14 days of checkout. No photos, no claim.
Source: Airbnb, Host damage protection, checked 30 September 2026.
Running out of supplies
If the home has run out of cleaning products or guest supplies, you can go to the shop, and we give you extra time for the trip, as long as you:
- 1
Photograph what's run out, before you go
An empty cupboard, an empty bottle, the last toilet roll. The photo shows there was nothing left to use.
- 2
Keep the receipt
Upload the receipt to the app with the photos. No photo and no receipt means no extra time for the trip.
If there are already products in the home that do the job, use those. A shop trip made just to add time to a clean won't be tolerated.
Can't get in, or the clean is cancelled
If you turn up on time, you don't lose out. Message your local manager as soon as you arrive, so we have the time you got there.
- 1
You can't get into the home
Wrong code, a stuck key safe or guests still inside: we give you extra time for the wait while we sort access.
- 2
The clean is cancelled
If you've arrived on time and waited 30 minutes, and the clean is then cancelled for any reason, we pay you a £20 cancellation fee.
Both only apply if you arrived on time.
Spot checks
We spot check cleans regularly and without notice, from your first clean onwards. A spot check compares the home with every standard on this page. If a clean falls short, you go back and put it right, as explained on our cleaning jobs page.
Extra time is for real mess only
A few plates in the sink or a bag of rubbish by the door is a normal clean, even if it takes you a few minutes. Asking for extra time that the photos don't support won't be tolerated.