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Cleaning checklists

Holiday Let Changeover Checklist

A changeover is not a small clean, it is a full reset against a clock, usually between a ten o'clock checkout and a four o'clock arrival. This list is ordered the way the work has to run: strip first so the laundry is moving, report damage before you clean over the evidence, and finish on the photographs.

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Holiday Let Changeover Checklist

Strip and load first. Report damage before cleaning over it. Photograph last.

Property
Changeover date
Checkout time
Next arrival
Cleaner(s)

First fifteen minutes

Do these before anything else. The laundry clock is the constraint on the whole job.

  • Walk every room and photograph anything damaged, broken or missing
  • Report damage or missing items to the owner or manager immediately, before cleaning
  • Check for items left behind and bag them with the property and date noted
  • Strip all beds and towels; load the first wash or bag for the laundry service
  • Open windows to air the property
  • Empty all bins including bathroom and bedroom bins
  • Check the property for anything the guest has moved and needs putting back

Kitchen

  • Dishwasher emptied; any dirty crockery washed and put away
  • Fridge and freezer emptied of guest food; shelves wiped; nothing left in date or otherwise
  • Oven, hob and microwave cleaned
  • Kettle descaled and emptied; toaster crumb tray emptied
  • All crockery, glassware and cutlery counted against the inventory
  • Cupboards checked for guest food and wiped
  • Worktops, sink, taps and splashback cleaned
  • Tea, coffee, sugar, salt, pepper and oil restocked to the standard
  • Dishwasher tablets, washing-up liquid, cloths and bin bags restocked
  • Bin relined
  • Floor swept and washed

Bedrooms

  • Beds made with fresh linen, hospital corners, no creases visible
  • Mattress protectors checked for stains; replaced if marked
  • Pillows plumped; spare bedding present and clean in the cupboard
  • Wardrobes and drawers emptied and wiped; hangers counted
  • Under the bed checked for guest items
  • Surfaces, sills and skirting dusted
  • Mirrors polished
  • Curtains or blinds straightened; windows closed after airing
  • Floors vacuumed to the edges

Bathrooms

  • Toilet cleaned including under the rim and the pedestal base
  • Shower, bath, screen and tiles descaled
  • Basin, taps and mirror polished
  • Hair removed from plugholes and the shower tray
  • Fresh towels set out to the property standard, folded consistently
  • Toilet roll restocked, spare rolls visible
  • Soap, shower gel and shampoo restocked or replaced
  • Bin emptied and relined
  • Extractor cover wiped
  • Floor washed including behind the pedestal

Living areas and throughout

  • Sofa cushions straightened; under and behind cushions checked for items
  • Throws and cushions arranged to the property standard
  • All surfaces dusted; TV and remotes wiped, batteries checked
  • Wifi details, welcome book and house manual present and undamaged
  • Light bulbs all working; any blown bulbs replaced or reported
  • Windows and glass doors smear-free at eye level
  • Radiators and heating controls set to the standard
  • Floors vacuumed and washed

Outside and utilities

  • Entrance, path and doorstep swept
  • Outdoor furniture wiped and arranged if in season
  • Barbecue cleaned if provided and used
  • Bins put out or brought in according to the collection day
  • Recycling sorted to the local authority's rules
  • Hot tub checked and treated if applicable, with readings recorded
  • Keys, key safe code and any parking permit checked

Final ten minutes

  • Walk every room in arrival order, as a guest would
  • Smell check: bins, drains, fridge, washing machine drum
  • All lights off, windows closed and locked, heating set
  • Photograph each room finished, in the same order each time
  • Confirm the property is ready to the owner or manager
  • Note anything needing maintenance before the next stay

Photographs of the finished property are what settle a complaint about cleanliness from a guest who has already checked in. Take the same shots in the same order every time so they can be compared.

Report damage before cleaning it. A photograph taken after the clean cannot show who caused it.

Free to print, copy and use commercially, including with your own clients and staff. From CleanFlo, cleaning business software for UK companies.

In CleanFlo

The changeover, on a clock

CleanFlo runs changeovers as recurring jobs with the checklist attached, the photographs captured against the job, and the damage report reaching the owner from the cleaner's phone. It works with no signal, which most holiday lets have plenty of.

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Why the order matters more than the list

Most changeover checklists are organised by room, which is how a deep clean is organised and is the wrong shape for a turnaround. A changeover has one hard constraint that is not cleaning at all: the laundry. If the first wash goes on at the end, the job is finished and the beds are not made.

So this list runs on the constraint. Strip and load in the first fifteen minutes, then clean while the machine runs, then make up the beds last. The same logic applies to damage: photograph and report before you clean, because after you clean there is no evidence of who did it.

A four-hour window sounds generous until a guest checks out late, and it is the ordering rather than the speed that absorbs that.

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The consumables that generate complaints

Guest complaints about changeovers are rarely about dirt. They are about running out of something in the first evening, which reads as neglect and lands in a review.

  • Toilet roll. Spare rolls visible, not in a cupboard the guest will not open.
  • Bin bags. The single most-forgotten item, and the one that causes the most mess.
  • Dishwasher tablets and washing-up liquid.
  • Tea, coffee, milk and sugar to whatever the property standard is.
  • Hand soap and shower gel, replaced rather than topped up when low.
  • Spare bedding and towels, present and clean in the cupboard.
  • Light bulbs, checked every changeover rather than when a guest reports one.

Holding a minimum stock level against each property, and being told when it is crossed, is the difference between restocking on a schedule and discovering a gap at eight in the morning.

Pricing a changeover so it still pays

Changeovers are priced per turnaround rather than per hour, which means every minute of overrun comes out of margin. The three things that most often break the price are laundry handling, late checkouts and damage reporting: none of which is cleaning, and all of which take time.

Price the laundry explicitly, whether you launder on site, use a service or swap linen sets. Agree what happens on a late checkout before it happens, because it will. And treat damage reporting as billable work, because the alternative is that it stops being done.

The time estimator will give you a realistic figure for the clean itself; add the laundry and the reporting on top rather than hoping they fit.

Frequently asked questions

01 How long should a holiday let changeover take?
For a one-bedroom property, roughly 1.5 to 2.5 hours for one cleaner including linen; a two-bedroom 2.5 to 3.5 hours; a three-bedroom house 3.5 to 5. Add time for laundry handling, hot tubs and outdoor space. The usual window between a 10:00 checkout and a 16:00 arrival is six hours, which is comfortable for one property and tight for two.
02 What is the difference between a changeover clean and a regular clean?
A changeover is a full reset to a fixed standard, not a maintenance clean. Everything is stripped and replaced, consumables are restocked, the inventory is checked, and the property has to be photograph-ready for a stranger arriving the same day. A regular domestic clean maintains a home somebody is living in and has no inventory or handover.
03 Who is responsible for reporting damage in a holiday let?
The cleaner is usually the first person to see it and should report before cleaning, with photographs. Most hosts have a limited window to raise a damage claim with the booking platform after checkout, so a report that arrives a day late may arrive too late to be actionable.
04 Should changeover cleaners handle the laundry?
It depends on the property, and it should be priced explicitly either way. On-site laundering ties the cleaner to the property for the machine cycle, which is fine for a single changeover and impossible across several. Linen swap services cost more per turnaround and free the cleaner to do more properties in a day.

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