The Airbnb Changeover: What Actually Needs Doing Between Guests

A changeover isn’t a hoover and a fresh towel. It’s the difference between a five-star review and a paragraph about the shower screen.

The gap is the whole problem

Most hosts I work with in Donegal have the same window: guests out at 11, next lot in at 4. Sometimes it’s tighter. Everything has to be done in that gap — and done properly, because the next guest photographs everything.

That’s the real job. Not cleaning. Cleaning to a deadline, to a standard, without you having to drive over and check.

What a proper changeover covers

• Beds stripped and made fresh. Not straightened — stripped, checked, remade. Guests can tell.
• Bathrooms reset. Sanitised, glass and taps polished, hair gone from every corner. This is where reviews are won and lost.
• Kitchen cleaned down. Fridge emptied and wiped, bins out, no leftovers in the press, hob and sink done.
• Floors and touch points. Vacuumed, washed, handles and switches wiped.
• The reset. Everything back where the listing photos show it.

The bits that cost you stars

• Hair in the shower drain or on the bathroom floor
• The inside of the microwave and the kettle
• Smears on the shower screen — the one thing every guest looks at
• Dust on skirting and behind the bedroom door
• A bin that was emptied but not wiped

None of it takes long. All of it gets noticed.

How long it really takes

A two-bed cottage, done right, is usually two to three hours — more if the last guests were heavy going. Anyone promising a full changeover in 45 minutes is skipping something, and it’ll show up in your reviews before it shows up on your invoice.

The eyes-on part

The thing hosts actually pay for isn’t the hoovering. It’s having someone in the house between guests who tells you the truth: the kettle’s gone, there’s a mark on the couch, you’re nearly out of loo roll.

That’s what I do on a changeover — if something needs your call, you get a message with a photo, not a surprise a week later.

Deep clean vs changeover

A changeover keeps the standard. It doesn’t remove a year of build-up. Most lets want a proper deep clean once or twice a year, and then changeovers hold that line. Same with carpets and sofas: guests are harder on soft furnishings than any family is.