10/25/2026
🏡🧹 AIRBNB'S NEW CHECKOUT RULES — WHY CLEANING FEES MAY ACTUALLY INCREASE!
As the owner of a professional cleaning business that handles vacation rental turnovers, I want to share a perspective that I don't think enough people are considering.
Airbnb's new rules are limiting what guests can be required to do before checking out. While I absolutely understand that guests are on vacation and shouldn't be expected to professionally clean a property, there's another side to this that often gets overlooked.
TIME IS MONEY — ESPECIALLY IN THE CLEANING INDUSTRY!
When guests are no longer required to complete certain basic checkout tasks, that responsibility falls on the cleaning company.
And here's what that can mean:
⏰ Longer cleaning times: Stripping beds, managing additional dishes, removing trash, and starting laundry all take time. Even an extra 30–60 minutes per property can make a HUGE difference when multiple turnovers are scheduled.
👥 More employees: Many vacation rentals have just a few hours between checkout and the next guest's arrival. Additional work may mean hiring more cleaners to get everything completed on time.
💰 Higher operating costs: Employees must be paid. Cleaning supplies, disinfectants, disposable materials, laundry products, fuel, equipment, insurance, and other business expenses are NOT free.
🏡 Higher cleaning fees: When the amount of work increases, the cost of providing that service can increase too. Those costs eventually have to be covered somewhere.
NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT A PROFESSIONAL VACATION RENTAL CLEAN ACTUALLY INVOLVES.
Take a look at my cleaning checklist below! 👇
At my company, cleaning isn't just changing sheets, wiping counters, and running a vacuum.
For example, when I clean a bathroom, the ENTIRE toilet gets disinfected — inside, outside, underneath, around the base, and even the surrounding floor. I use disposable paper towels for these areas to help prevent cross-contamination.
And that's only ONE small part of what goes into preparing a property for the next guests!
Every room must be thoroughly cleaned, sanitized where appropriate, inspected, restocked, and made guest-ready.
There is a BIG difference between a quick tidy-up and a professional vacation rental turnover.
I completely agree that guests should not be responsible for deep cleaning a property they've paid to stay in. That's what professional cleaners are hired to do.
However, there's also a difference between deep cleaning and simple acts of consideration that help keep a property manageable between stays.
Running a cleaning business is NOT cheap.
We aren't just charging for the cleaning itself. We're charging for the time, labor, experience, supplies, equipment, and responsibility of making sure someone else's property is clean, safe, and ready for the next paying guest.
And when additional work requires additional employees, those expenses increase.
So while Airbnb's new rules may sound wonderful for guests, they could also result in higher cleaning fees, higher rental costs, and more scheduling challenges for property owners and cleaning companies.
Before assuming a cleaning fee is too expensive, please consider everything happening behind the scenes.
Quality cleaning takes time. Professional cleaning takes money. And the people doing that work deserve to be paid fairly. 💚
— Amanda's Green Cleaning
🌲 Clean. Fresh. Guest Ready.
