10 December, 2025

The Ultimate Guide to Short-Term Rental Cleaning: Impress Guests and Boost Your Ratings

For the happy stay of your guests in your short-term rental business, it’s really important to keep your rental property clean. As they say, the first impression is the last impression. Guests always expect neat and clean rooms and surroundings when checking in. When your property remains uncleaned during their check-ins, that ruins their experience. Eventually, this affects the ratings and reviews of your short-term rental business as well.

So, if you want to boost the ratings of your business, proficient short-term rental cleaning is non-negotiable. Struggling with subpar cleaning measures for your short-term rental business? Not aware of how commercial-grade cleaning is done to impress guests? No worries, this comprehensive guide will guide you.

How to Perform Short-Term Rental Cleaning Professionally?

Short-term rental businesses have to conduct turnover cleaning sessions every time guests leave. But these cleaning sessions have become more difficult than ever before because guests have raised their expectations related to cleanliness.

Nowadays, guests expect short-term rental businesses to match standard hotels and luxury stays in terms of cleanliness. Many short-term rental businesses have handed over the cleaning part to reputable commercial cleaning services for that reason. However, it’s still possible to impress your guests with the efforts of your in-house staff. Let’s explore how-

Cleaning Checklist

The extra cleaning in the short-term rental businesses like yours is generally pretty short, especially in peak months. So, it’s quite common for the cleaning staff to overlook some uncleaned corners or spots. That’s why a standard, detailed cleaning checklist is mandatory for satisfactory short-term rental cleaning. Such a checklist helps your entire cleaning crew work in sync and deliver the best output. From bedrooms to bathrooms, all the key points of your rental property should be in the checklist.

Turnover Cleaning Efficiency

As already mentioned, your cleaning staff has to perform cleaning operations within very short time frames. So, a well-structured cleaning approach is necessary to seize the maximum number of bookings. In fact, proactive and efficient cleaning sessions ensure better guest satisfaction. A reputable commercial cleaning company achieves that by implementing smart strategies into its checklist.

If you have a large rental, a Team-based cleaning is the best approach to ensure faster cleaning sessions without compromising on cleaning quality. Here, different zones of your rental property are allocated to separate cleaners to pace things up. Also, you can avoid cleaning interruptions by pre-stocking the supplies necessary for the entire cleaning session. For that, you can keep a cleaning supply checklist ready beforehand.

Deep Cleaning and Sanitizing

Even after frequent near-perfect turnover cleaning sessions, your rental property needs deep cleaning sessions every 30 or 60 days. Rental businesses that skip deep cleaning sessions often end up receiving complaints from guests regarding cleanliness. Deep cleaning sessions are necessary to clean behind and under heavy furniture and inside all appliances.

Sometimes deep cleaning also includes:

Cleaning walls
Scrubbing tiles
Decluttering storage areas
Cleaning windows

Most rental businesses can’t achieve expected deep cleaning outcomes with their in-house cleaning staff and end up accessing commercial cleaning services that offer additional services.

Sanitizing is also an essential part of regular cleaning and deep cleaning. Guests expect professional-grade sanitization for extra safety. High-touch points like light switches, remote controls, door handles, cabinet pulls, and faucet handles must be sanitized properly during a turnover cleaning session.

Laundry and Inventory Management

Modern-day short-term rental cleaning practices include special laundry measures. You must adopt commercial washing techniques and use commercial-grade detergents to match the expectations of guests. Besides that, batch washing ensures that bedsheets, towels, bath linens, and kitchen cloths are timely washed without fail. Also, make sure that adequate units of bedsheets, towels, and linens are available in your inventory so that guests don’t face inconvenience.

When to Hire a Commercial Cleaning Company?

You should consider seeking commercial cleaning services from a reputable company when your in-house cleaning team is falling short in matching your clients’ expectations, or you don’t have adequate cleaning resources.

A highly rated commercial cleaning company offers several perks, like-

Professionally trained teams for deep cleaning.
Quick and efficient turnover cleaning times.
Cleaning using industrial-grade equipment and supplies.
Satisfaction guaranteed.
Simultaneous cleaning sessions in multiple rental properties you own.

Inconclusion

Short-term rental cleaning isn’t as easy as it sounds. It stresses rental property owners during peak months. In these months, emphasize cleaning your rental property professionally using the pro tips shared in this guide. Instruct your cleaning team just as suggested in this guide to achieve peak cleaning results.

If your cleaning staff is lacking the professional expertise to deliver the expected cleaning outputs, it’s better to hire a commercial cleaning company. Sparkle Freshness is your best choice when it comes to short-term rental cleaning. With our professional approach and years of experience, we match your cleaning expectations every single time to ensure that your guests remain happy and your business’s rating improves.