Pricing guide
How to price Airbnb and vacation rental turnover cleaning
Turnover cleaning is a different business than residential cleaning: fixed checklists, hard checkout-to-check-in windows, laundry, restocking, and a host who needs a number they can build into their nightly rate. This guide shows how to package that into a flat per-turnover price that holds up.
Deadline premium
Same-day windows between checkout and check-in are the real product. Price the reliability, not just the hours.
Fixed scope
A turnover checklist is the same every visit — which makes flat-rate pricing safer here than anywhere else.
Beyond cleaning
Laundry, restocking, staging, and damage reporting are billable work. Name them in the quote.
Build the turnover rate from four blocks
- Base clean — price the property like a small recurring clean: size band, bedrooms, bathrooms. The unit is usually smaller than a family home, but it must be reset to photo-ready, not just tidy.
- Laundry — a per-bed (or per-load) fee. On-site machines mean longer time at the property; off-site or linen-swap services are a separate line item hosts understand.
- Restock & staging — consumables check, supply topping, and resetting the space to match the listing photos. Small per-visit fee, but it compounds across dozens of turnovers.
- Deadline premium — same-day turnovers with a fixed check-in time deserve a premium over flexible-schedule work. This is also your buffer for the visit that runs long.
Quote the sum as one flat turnover rate, and keep the blocks in your notes. When a host asks why you’re above a competitor, you can show what’s included instead of defending a number.
The mistakes that eat turnover margins
Pricing it like a maid visit
A recurring home clean can slide a day; a turnover cannot. If your rate doesn’t include the cost of guaranteed scheduling — including the occasional scramble — the deadline risk is priced at zero and you’re the one paying for it.
No heavy-use clause
Most turnovers are predictable; a few are disasters. Put an extra-labor rate in the agreement for post-party or heavy-use conditions, triggered with photo evidence, so the bad visits don’t average down your good ones.
Volume discounts that don’t backfire
Hosts with multiple listings will ask for volume pricing, and it can be worth giving: clustered properties cut your travel time, and a steady turnover calendar smooths your schedule. Discount the travel-and-scheduling component, not the labor — the beds don’t make themselves faster because the host owns three units. A small per-turnover discount for guaranteed weekly volume is sustainable; a percentage off the whole rate usually isn’t.
FAQ
Should Airbnb turnover cleaning cost more than regular house cleaning?
Usually yes, per visit. Turnovers carry hard same-day deadlines, laundry, restocking, staging, and guest-damage reporting that a standard recurring clean doesn’t include. Many hosts happily pay a premium for reliability because a missed turnover costs them a booking and a review.
Should I charge per turnover or hourly for vacation rentals?
Flat per-turnover pricing is the norm. Hosts want a predictable number they can pass into their nightly pricing, and you learn the true time per property after a few visits. Protect yourself with a clear scope list and an extra-labor rate for post-party or heavy-use cleanups.
How do I price laundry for short-term rentals?
Decide whether linens are washed on-site, off-site, or swapped from a second linen set. On-site laundry stretches your time at the property (machines run while you clean); off-site laundry or linen rental is usually a separate per-bed fee added to the turnover rate.
What should a turnover checklist include?
Full reset of beds and towels, kitchen and bathroom sanitation, consumable restocking (paper goods, soap, coffee), staging to the listing photos, damage/left-item reporting, and a final photo set. Pricing gets easier when the checklist is fixed — every visit has the same scope.
Keep reading
Office cleaning pricing
Quote commercial spaces by square footage and frequency, and structure monthly contracts.
Apartment cleaning pricing
Set studio-to-3-bedroom rates that respect minimums, building access time, and add-ons.
House cleaning price list
A worked example price list — hourly rate, minimums, multipliers, and add-ons — you can adapt to your market.
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