Should You Clean Your Airbnb Yourself?
When you run an Airbnb, guesthouse, serviced apartment or small hotel, it is tempting to think: “I can clean it myself and save money.”
And technically, you can. But before you decide that doing it yourself is cheaper, ask yourself one simple question:
HOW MUCH IS YOUR TIME ACTUALLY WORTH?
Cleaning an Airbnb isn’t just about picking up a mop and vacuuming the floor. It is everything that happens between one guest checking out and the next guest arriving.
Let’s Look at a Real Airbnb
Imagine your guest checks out at 10:00 AM and your next guest arrives at 2:00 PM. You now have four hours to get everything ready.
- Strip the beds
- Collect and wash the towels and linen
- Clean the bathrooms and kitchen
- Clean the bedrooms and living areas
- Vacuum and mop
- Remove rubbish
- Restock toiletries
- Make the beds
- Check for damage or missing items
- Make sure everything is working
- Stage the property for the next guest
Now imagine you have two, three or five properties.
Suddenly, cleaning isn’t a small job. It becomes another business that you are running.
Hiring Someone to Clean
“But I Can Pay Someone to Clean”, is a statement we often hear. You might pay someone R300, R400 or R500 to clean your property. At first, that sounds cheaper than using a professional cleaning company.
But what happens when you add everything else?
The cleaner: Who is coming? What time? Are they available?
Cleaning products: Who buys the detergent, disinfectant, stain remover and other products?
Equipment: Who provides the vacuum, mop, buckets, steam equipment and other tools?
Laundry: Who washes, dries, folds and stores the linen?
Quality: Who checks whether the property was actually cleaned properly?
Backup: What happens when your cleaner is sick or unavailable?
Timing: What happens when the cleaner finishes late and your guest is waiting to check in?
Management: Who manages all of this? You.
The Cost You Don't See
Let’s say you pay someone R400 to clean your Airbnb. You might think, “I only spent R400.” But the real cost can include much more:
| Cost | What you’re really paying for |
|---|---|
| Cleaner | The person physically completing the turnover. |
| Cleaning products | Detergent, disinfectant, stain remover and other consumables. |
| Laundry | Water, electricity, detergent, drying and machine wear. |
| Your time | Scheduling, supervising and checking the work. |
| Linen | Replacement when sheets and towels become worn or damaged. |
| Backup | Finding another cleaner when someone is unavailable. |
| Risk | Late or poor-quality turnovers can affect guest arrivals and satisfaction. |
Let’s say a turnover takes you three hours and you have 10 turnovers in a month. 3 hours × 10 turnovers = 30 HOURS EVERY MONTH! That’s 30 hours spent cleaning instead of finding more bookings, improving your Airbnb listing, managing guests, looking for another property, running your business, or simply having your time back.
If your time is worth R250 per hour, those 30 hours represent R7,500 of your time.
What Happens When You Have 5 Properties? One Airbnb might be manageable, but are different. 5 properties × 10 turnovers = 50 turnovers per month. 50 turnovers × 3 hours = 150 HOURS OF CLEANING
Where DIY Cleaning Makes Sense
We’re not saying you should never clean your own property. If you have one property, very few bookings, plenty of free time and don’t mind managing everything yourself, DIY may work.
But once bookings increase, properties increase and your time becomes more valuable, professional cleaning becomes a business decision and not a luxury.
Where CleanHaus Makes Sense
CleanHaus isn’t simply there to clean your property. Our job is to help make sure your property is clean, fresh, presentable and ready for the next guest.
- Cleaning — Bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and living areas.
- Linen — Washing, drying, folding and preparing linen.
- Staging — Beds made, towels presented and the property prepared for arrival.
- Restocking — Helping ensure guest essentials are available.
- Quality checks — Looking out for problems before your next guest arrives.
- Deep cleaning — For properties that need more than a standard turnover.
Cleanliness Is Part of Your Product and Your Reviews Depend on the Experience
Your guests aren’t just buying a bed for the night. They’re buying comfort, convenience, fresh linen, a clean bathroom, a beautiful bedroom and a property that looks like the photographs. That’s why cleaning isn’t simply an expense. It is part of what you are selling. A guest doesn’t know how much you spent cleaning the property. They only know what they experienced when they walked through the door. If the property is spotless, you want the guest thinking: “Beautiful, clean apartment. Would definitely stay again.” If the property isn’t properly prepared, the opposite can happen. A poor cleaning experience can affect the guest’s overall impression and review.
You should be asking “How do I consistently deliver the experience my guests are paying for?” NOT “How can I clean this property as cheap as possible?”
CleanHaus vs Doing it Yourself
| Doing It Yourself | CleanHaus | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| You organise the cleaning | We manage the cleaning service | ||
| You buy cleaning products | Cleaning requirements are managed | ||
| You manage laundry | Linen management can be included | ||
| You make the beds | We prepare the property for the next guest | ||
| You inspect the property | Quality checks form part of the process | ||
| You find backup cleaners | You have a professional cleaning partner | ||
| You spend your own time | You get your time back | ||
| You manage the entire process | One partner manages the cleaning operation |
The CleanHaus Difference
At CleanHaus, we understand that you’re not paying us simply to make the floor clean.
You’re paying us to help you deliver a guest-ready property without having to personally manage every cleaning detail.
That’s the difference. We clean. We prepare. We help manage the linen. We help protect the presentation of your property. And most importantly, we give you back your time.
Before you decide to clean your Airbnb yourself, calculate the real cost.
- How many hours am I spending?
- How much am I spending on products and laundry?
- What happens when my cleaner doesn’t arrive?
- Who checks the quality?
- What happens when I have multiple properties?
- What could I be doing with that time instead?
