Finding a Cleaner Archives - Turno

How to Find Reliable Cleaners for Corporate Housing

Mia Pimentel — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 15:34:25 +0000

What Is Corporate Housing?

Corporate housing consists of fully furnished rentals designed for long-term stays. It is typically used by business travelers for corporate trips, interim housing during relocations, emergencies, and even vacations.

Corporate housing often provides all-inclusive accommodations, including fitness centers, pools, laundry rooms, and business centers with fax machines, fast Wi-Fi, printers, and more. For this reason, the monthly cost for corporate housing tends to be slightly higher than the average rate for a vacation rental.

In this article, we discuss the similarities and differences between corporate housing and vacation rentals, as well as tips for finding high-quality and reliable cleaning services.

Corporate Housing vs Vacation Rentals

There are several ways in which corporate housing and vacation rentals are different and similar. We compare and contrast the two below.

Type of Clients

Corporate housing caters to those who are traveling for business or newly relocated professionals in need of a lodging space for longer than a month. These business travelers may also bring partners or children along with them.

On the other hand, vacation rental clients are typically guests that are looking for more personal experiences, such as holiday visits or simply relaxing away from home.

Length of Occupancy

According to iProperty Management, the average short-term rental stay is 4.3 nights, whereas corporate housing is designed for stays that are at least a month long.

Pricing

Vacation rentals can cost as low as $47 per night. On the other hand, corporate housing guests are expected to pay from $70 to $200 a night. According to Taylor Made, companies will reimburse their employees for corporate housing expenses in many cases.

Location

Many vacation rental properties are conveniently located near the beach, in the mountains, or in other leisure areas, while corporate housing is typically located near city centers or in suburban locations.

Amenities

Corporate housing is fully furnished to provide business travelers with everything they need for a comfortable long stay. This typically includes a full-size kitchen, laundry, and bonus amenities, such as fitness and business centers, a pool and spa, and premium cable.

On the other hand, short-term vacation rentals tend to provide more family-friendly amenities, such as game consoles, a fireplace, a grilling area, and more.

Cleaning Requirement

Corporate housing cleaning services may vary. Some corporate housing providers require cleaning daily, weekly, or once every 2 weeks. On the other hand, since vacation rental guests typically stay for a shorter amount of time, a cleaning service is usually only provided in between guests.

For both corporate housing and vacation rentals, cleanliness is a key ingredient to high-quality comfort and accommodation. Keep reading to find out more about corporate housing cleaning and how property managers can find professional cleaners.

What Is Corporate Housing Cleaning?

Corporate housing cleaning is a top-to-bottom housekeeping service intended to achieve comprehensive cleaning and disinfecting.

Professional corporate housing cleaning services include:

Disinfecting sinks, bathtubs, showers, and toilets
Dusting surfaces, furniture, windows, etc.
Laundering bedding and making beds
Sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping floors
Emptying trash
Replacing inventory

A corporate housing cleaning service is similar to short-term rental cleaning. Both are done efficiently but with full attention to detail.

Unlike vacation rentals, however, corporate housing is generally occupied by working professionals on business trips who don’t have a lot of time for cleaning during their long stays. For this reason, hiring a professional cleaning service is crucial for corporate housing providers.

Finding High-Quality Cleaners for Corporate Apartments

To find high-quality cleaners for corporate housing, Turno has a growing network of tens of thousands of reliable cleaners available to both corporate housing providers and short-term vacation rental hosts.

Using our app, you can link your digital calendar for your corporate housing property and efficiently assign cleaning projects, manage your inventory, organize your cleaning schedule, and more — all to automate your corporate housing business.

Find a Corporate Housing Cleaner Near You

Corporate housing is very similar to vacation rentals, meaning Turno is the perfect tool to find reliable professional cleaners and manage your properties all in one centralized location.

Learn more about automating your corporate housing cleaning with Turno.

The post How to Find Reliable Cleaners for Corporate Housing appeared first on Turno.

Finding the Right Airbnb Cleaning Service

Nicolette Borlaug Masiya — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 06:58:30 +0000

Like many other property managers, you’ve decided you want to begin working with an Airbnb cleaning service – great! But where do you begin? Follow this guide to better understand the items that matter most when selecting a cleaning service for your Airbnb or other vacation rental property.

Or if you’re ready to jump right in, you can go ahead and find a cleaner in your area.

What to look for (and avoid) in an Airbnb cleaning service

Selecting the right Airbnb cleaning service doesn’t have to be an exhausting process. If you are aware of these key things to look for – and the things to avoid – you will lay the foundation for a strong relationship with your cleaning service.

Experience
The best cleaning services have a team with experience. While this is not shocking, it needs to be added toward the top of your list.

To start, you will want to be aware of how many turnovers the cleaner has performed and since what date. Does your rental involve special projects, such as cleaning an outdoor area or window cleaning? Make sure the cleaner has experience in all of the project areas on your list.

Requesting and following up with references from some of their current customers will help you determine if they may be the right fit for your property.

Turno removes the guesswork from finding an experienced cleaning service and thoroughly screens all applicants to its cleaner marketplace with mandatory reference and background checks.

The marketplace allows vacation rental hosts to create cleaning projects and receive competitive bids from cleaners in their area. On average, a host can receive between 3 to 10 bids in an hour.

Hosts have the opportunity to review and either accept or reject bids within 48 hours.

Excellent communication
Communication goes beyond simply making sure your cleaner promptly returns your calls and text messages.

Other criteria for excellent host-cleaner communication includes:

— Confirming receipt of schedule and promptly confirming each appointment

— Able to adjust to any necessary changes to the schedule

— Report any damage to the property or other potential issues

To streamline the communication process and eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth correspondence, an all-in-one scheduling tool may be the best fit for you.

Selecting a cleaning service that is already tech-savvy and uses web and app-based tools will save you time (and a potential headache later). This will allow for more streamlined communication, scheduling, assigning tasks, processing auto-payments, and more.

Reliability
Time management and reliability go hand in hand. Knowing you can count on your cleaner to show up (and not be late) will give you more time to focus on more important things, like growing your business.

Hosts who search for a new cleaner on Turno’s marketplace are quickly connected to local trusted cleaners in their area. Once connected, you are now able to build an ongoing relationship and take one step closer to putting your Airbnb on autopilot.

Cost
Like searching for any new service, it can become quite daunting when searching and comparing price quotes from various cleaners and cleaning services.

It is important to maintain your bottom line by selecting a cleaning service that is proportional to the income of your property and your cleaning fee.

Next, let’s take a look at what to avoid.

The top two things to avoid when selecting a cleaning service
Mistakes happen, but you do not want to turn a beneficial service to your growing business into a nightmare. Avoid these common mistakes when reviewing your cleaning service options:

— Franchise cleaning businesses – The cost is one of the biggest deterrents when reviewing a franchised cleaning business. Very high overhead = higher costs to you. Another is the lack of flexibility. The often tight scheduling demands with vacation rentals typically do not work well with these types of cleaning services.

— Choosing the lowest option – as the old adage suggests: cheaper isn’t always better. Ultimately, the cost of a no-show cleaner is just too high for the sake of choosing the cleaner offering the lowest bid.

Things that make an Airbnb cleaning service great

Things that make a cleaning service stand out include:

Excellent time management
Timing is especially crucial in turning over a rental property. Whether you opt to have your property cleaned upon guest checkout or prior to guest check-in, it is critical to have the cleaning project completed in the time allotted. A great cleaning service holds time management to a high standard.

Damage reporting
Your cleaning service will be able to report any issues that may arise during or after a guest’s stay. A detailed cleaning checklist with photo documentation capabilities will allow cleaners to properly document any before and after photos showing damage to your property.

Photo documentation will prove to be a huge aid in helping to fight possible disputes with Airbnb or your other listing source.

Reputation management
Simply put, a clean property means the potential for a great review. On the flip side, a less-than-pristine Airbnb is an easy target for a negative review. Whether online or offline, it’s no secret that reputation management can make or break your business.

Your Airbnb’s cleanliness, amenities or extra touches, and overall guest experience are all key factors that go into a potential review. By choosing a reliable, experienced cleaning service you won’t need to think twice about the cleanliness of your rental property. However, this doesn’t give you a pass to neglect other areas that are equally as important to your reputation management.

Meeting guest demands and expectations
Sure, you may be able to clean your Airbnb yourself, but hiring a professional cleaning service can have many perks. When it comes to meeting and exceeding your guests’ needs you want to be certain you are anticipating every possible situation that may arise.

You already have plenty on your plate. In addition to ensuring your rental maintains pristine cleanliness, professional cleaners can also help take on those additional tasks you may not have had time to do yourself (e.g. finally getting around to organizing the kitchen cabinets, pantry, or linens closet). A cleaning service can also stay on top of any special requests your guests need during their stay, freeing you up to focus on other parts of your rental business.

Customized cleaning packages
There are often customizations available with your Airbnb cleaning service. Don’t be afraid to ask a cleaner if they offer additional services outside of their standard cleaning procedures.

Additional services can include laundry service (laundering on-site or at another location), restocking toiletries, sanitizing or other deep cleanings, organizing, staging, and even creating guest welcome packets and gift baskets. These extra touches are guaranteed to go a long way with your guests.

How to find an Airbnb cleaning service

Here are a few of the most popular ways to go about your search:

Cold Calling
First, you may do some research online and call a list of services one by one. Unfortunately, this may not always be the most effective route. It may instead lead to a trail of missed calls and voicemails, hoping you will eventually get a call back and finally be able to connect.

Online Advertising
Advertising can be very effective, but also quite costly. Whether it is a Craigslist ad or social media listing, you may decide it is just not worth the risk of finding yourself in a potentially awkward or even dangerous situation trying to find the right cleaning service.

Cleaner Marketplace
You don’t have to settle or commit to only one cleaner when you can choose from a full network of available cleaners in your area. With over 25,000 cleaners globally in the Turno Marketplace, you can find a professional cleaner in your area in a matter of hours – or even less.

We previously examined the standards of what to look for in an Airbnb cleaning service: experience, excellent communication, reliability, and cost. Choosing to utilize our cleaner marketplace will check all of these boxes and more.

Single Cleaner vs. Cleaning Company

Is it better to work with a single cleaner or a cleaning company? If you have multiple rental properties you may think working with a larger cleaning company is the way to go.

By selecting an automated cleaning system you can get all of the advantages of a cleaning company while not sacrificing on cost.

A marketplace of trusted cleaners means you can add new cleaners at any time when you decide to grow your team.

Turno makes working with multiple cleaners simple with an easy-to-use automated scheduling app for desktop and mobile. Hosts have the ability to organize their cleaners and designate primary cleaners and backup cleaners for each property listing.

Hire an Airbnb Cleaning Service

Turno can pull reservations from all booking sources including Airbnb, VRBO, booking.com, and any property management software you are already using.

Having all of your reservations in one place makes finding and scheduling cleaners for each turnover a streamlined system.

Let Turno help you check all the boxes when searching for the right cleaning service for your Airbnb.

Get started by finding a cleaner today.

The post Finding the Right Airbnb Cleaning Service appeared first on Turno.

Finding the Right Vacation Rental Cleaner

The Turno Team — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:54:24 +0000

Finding people to help you maintain and turnover your vacation rental can be an intimidating task. When starting out, it’s difficult for many who are new to the vacation rental world to know what to ask, and what to look for in a reliable vacation rental cleaner. Read on to find out what seasoned owners look for, and what they avoid.

Assess the Situation

Walk through your vacation rental and take notes on what you clean during a normal routine clean. Keep in mind, that you will be turning over your vacation rental (hopefully) quite often. You need to have some idea of what your vacation rental cleaner will need to do routinely. If you require something that is a little above and beyond, then make sure you are compensating for that, or you understand, that it will take your cleaner a little longer, costing you more money.

Determine Payment

Think about what you are expecting to pay out of pocket to have someone clean your vacation rental. Here are three very important tips when thinking about pricing:

Being realistic about costs is the first step in the right direction.

Don’t lowball cleaners. The last thing you want is someone who keeps you last on the priority list because you don’t pay well.

Be fair with your vacation rental cleaner when taking bids on your place, and you will likely end up with a reliable, efficient, and skilled cleaner that you trust implicitly to clean your home.

Conduct Interviews and Acquire References

Remember that you are giving someone access to one of your most prized possessions – your home! Make sure you are getting references, interviewing and hopefully having some kind of pre-clean meeting with the person that you designate to clean your vacation rental. This is one of the benefits of using a site like Turno, they do all of this for you, in addition to offering an awesome streamlined product that is a huge asset to owners and cleaners alike.

While using a friend might seem like a good cost-effective alternative to using a professional vacation rental cleaner, remember, that there is a lot more to professional vacation rental cleaning than meets the eye. When working with pro vacation rental cleaners, you have the benefit of working with people that understand the industry. Be ready to spend a lot of extra time learning the ropes with a friend if that is the route you want to go.

How Turno Helps

Turno will also have cleaners bid on your cleaning job. This can make the process a little less daunting when you have an idea of what the going rate is. Here are some tips when utilizing this tool:

Resist the urge to just go with the lowest-priced person.
Take the time to get to know if you are a good match with a potential vacation rental cleaner.
Ask them for any references or a resumé.
Have a conversation about expectations, and gauging whether or not you are on the same page with what you looking for. It will also help you in finding a good person (or people) the first time, rather than through trial and error.

Discuss Availability and Supplies Needed

Make sure that any vacation rental cleaner you are considering has availability when you need it. If not, you could find yourself high and dry when you need help the most.

Have a discussion about whether or not your vacation rental cleaner, or the vacation rental owner (you!) are providing cleaning supplies. Most professional cleaners carry a huge cache of cleaning supplies. However, some owners like using specific products to clean their home. If this is the case, make sure that you establish this with your person.

It is imperative that you understand the importance of cleanliness in the vacation rental industry. Sites like Airbnb and VRBO place huge emphasis on the cleanliness of a home. This is never an area where you should skimp. Not only does it play a major role in great reviews, people go to vacation rentals expecting perfection! Getting a great vacation rental cleaner working for you will not only make your life a heck of a lot easier, it yields huge rewards in the end.

The post Finding the Right Vacation Rental Cleaner appeared first on Turno.

4 Tips to Help You Hold Onto Great Cleaners

Lauren Meeks — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 21:08:46 +0000

How do you help your cleaners avoid getting to that place of overcommitment and burnout? Let me share some tips on how you can hold onto your great cleaner.

I recently had a bit of a blow-up with one of my cleaners. She was chronically late and unreliable, so when I finally made the hard decision to stop working with her, she did not take it well at all. Lots of ugly and unprofessional name-calling ensued, leaving me rattled but also more confident than ever that I had made the right choice.

But something about this experience really got me thinking. When I started working with her she wasn’t like this at all. She was friendly and professional, and always got the work done in a timely manner. What had changed to sour our relationship so drastically?

She would say I didn’t appreciate her. I would say she had gotten complacent and overcommitted. Perhaps the best answer lies somewhere in the middle.

Here are 4 tips to help you keep a long-term, healthy relationship with your short-term rental cleaner.

Set Clear Expectations

Have a checklist (preferably with photos of how you want certain things to look if you’re picky). The integrated checklist on Turno is a fantastic tool for this. Walk her through the checklist and make sure she understands. If you see her slipping on quality, say something. Don’t let her believe that she can get away with a half-done job.

Be Kind and Understanding

Speak to her kindly and respectfully, with plenty of “please” and “thank you’s.” Give her as much notice as possible for the cleanings you’ll need. And be understanding if she goofs up once or twice – she is, after all, human just like you are.

Be understanding of her situation. Your cleaner probably has a family and other clients to juggle. She may be trying to get to your cleanings without reliable transportation or may be facing other similar challenges. Don’t assume that her world revolves around you.

Express your Gratefulness Often

Express your gratefulness often. If your cleaner is doing a good job – tell her! Bring it up if you’re communicating about work. Text her out of the blue just to say you appreciate her work.

Give her a bonus at the end of the year, or even mid-year if she’s done a really bang-up job. It’s worth it to invest in a good relationship with a cleaner who will be with you for a long time. I find it most convenient to send one-off payments through the Turno app.

Pay Her Fairly

Don’t jump on the cheapest cleaner you can find. In fact, when I find a cleaner who’s good at what she does AND cheap, I insist she raises her rates with me. Cheap cleaners are forced to overcommit themselves to pay their bills, which will eventually lead to poor work and cleaner burnout.

Plus, insisting on paying more than what the cleaner is asking will go a long way towards making them feel like a valued and important member of your team (which they are).

The post 4 Tips to Help You Hold Onto Great Cleaners appeared first on Turno.

The “Abilities” of an Ideal Airbnb Cleaner

Ashley — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 20:12:10 +0000

Finding the ideal Airbnb cleaner is an important step for your vacation rental business as they provide a necessary service. Whether you are hiring a member for your own cleaning crew or a rental owner looking for a new hire, it can be difficult to know how to begin! While someone with previous housekeeping experience may be preferable, there are other sources on Turno that an ideal Airbnb cleaner should possess.

Here is my list of the top abilities you should look for when hiring a cleaner:

Availability

Being an Airbnb cleaner means you have to make yourself extremely available between the hours of guest check in and check out. Holidays and weekends are often the busiest times so it’s very unlikely that all time off requests could be honored. While it is a wonderful job where you will rarely be required to work past the afternoon hours, it is a job where availability is crucial to a good hire. When last minute bookings pop up it is a great asset to have someone who is very available in your corner. One or two people who have the time to work many shifts in a week can prove to be more convenient and efficient than having to work around many different cleaners’ schedules.

Reliability

This is a quality that my team values over most others. A cleaner who you can trust to show up when they are scheduled is worth their weight in gold! It sounds very simple but in an industry where few people are full time workers it can be difficult to find people who are fully dedicated. If you can’t count on someone to do the job you hire them to do then you may as well be cleaning yourself! All of our team members are reliable and we appreciate them very much!

Accountability

You want your cleaner to take pride in their work and treat your rentals as if they were their own. Going the extra mile and showing that they care takes someone from being simply a cleaner to a team asset. Often times cleaners are the first to see a problem. If you can count on them to properly pass along any maintenance issues, or for example if a guest took a key or parking pass, they are saving you from having to do the guesswork. Time is of the essence when you only have a 4-5 hour window between guests! If you have cleaners who hold themselves accountable to the overall process, not just dusting and making beds, they will simplify your life!

Problem solving abilities

If you hire cleaners or team members who know how to think pragmatically and efficiently they will save you many headaches down the line! These are the people who test lamps and if they don’t work and either replace the bulb or try them in an alternate outlet to decipher if that may be the problem. And they don’t contact you about it unless it becomes a problem they can’t solve! Letting owners and property managers know about issues is important and appreciated but if simple problems can be solved on their own it saves everyone time. If towel inventory is low and there’s no time to send it out but your cleaner pops them in the washer while working (even if that’s beyond their normal scope of work), they are someone who has good problem solving abilities!

These are just a few of the most important “Abilities” the best Airbnb cleaners possess. With any luck you will find someone with these coveted qualities and make them a part of your team. I assure you they are out there!

Ashley Medeiros is Co-owner of Perfect Ten Concierge who is very proud of her teams’ many wonderful abilities!

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