By Andrew Wilson,
Holiday Home Management.
Before your holiday home is let for the first time, a lot of work goes into preparing the property and making sure it is clean and welcoming for the first guests. The property should have a fresh feel and should be thoroughly deep cleaned from top to bottom, meaning that your first guests will be staying in a property that feels clean, tidy and generally welcoming.
The challenge is to maintain the appearance and the upkeep of the property over time so that your future guests experience the same feeling. Each set of subsequent guests should feel like they are the first visitors to stay at the property.
If your ‘changeover window’ is between 10am – 3pm you effectively have a maximum of 5 hours to clean and refresh the property in between back-to-back bookings. Whether the changeover can be done by one person or whether more are needed will depend on the size of the property and the quality of the fitout. The goal on changeover is to return the property to the same condition it was in before the previous guests stayed.
Departing guests will leave the property in various states of cleanliness. Some guests may clean and tidy up before they leave, whilst others may depart in a hurry leaving a collection of the morning’s pots and pans drying on the draining board. You, or your letting agent, can provide your guests with guidance as to the standard you require the property to be left in as a condition of the rental.
Regardless of the condition of the property once your guests have left, there are a number of routine tasks which should always be undertaken on each changeover. Your housekeeper should work to a checklist which has details of all internal areas of the property and which helps them to work methodically through the property room by room. By working to a checklist nothing will be missed or left to chance, and a consistent finish can be achieved each time.
Once the housekeeper has entered the property and collected the keys left by the departing guests, a good way to start the changeover is by reading any comments made by the departing guests in the visitor book, in case there is anything to take note of. The next step should be to do a ‘quick sweep’ through the property to check for any damage or general maintenance which may need to be reported and quickly attended to.
The housekeeper can then begin to work their way through the checklist. In general, kitchens and bathrooms require the most time to clean. An oven which has been used for Sunday roasts can take 20 minutes alone to de-grease, clean and buff back to pristine standard. More time will be needed if oven grill pans and utensils have been left with marks or stains after use.
Tiled surfaces, mirrors, bath panels and shower screens will all need cleaning and wiping, followed by buffing to finish. An average sized kitchen can take between ½ hour – 1 hour to fully clean and ‘restore’, depending on how much cooking has taken place. An average sized bathroom with a separate shower can take between ½ hour – ¾ hour to full restore to pristine condition.
If your housekeeper is working alone, an average sized double bedroom will take approximately ½ hour to turnaround. Some of the main duties will include replacing bed sheets and duvet covers, dressing the beds with any throws and scatter cushions, cleaning windows and window sills, dusting furniture, wiping skirting boards, checking light bulbs and vacuuming the floor.
Your housekeeper will need to be equipped for the task at hand including appropriate clothing and cleaning materials. If your property has any specific requirements such as restrictive use of chemicals, or a particular product which needs to be applied to an area of flooring or an item of furniture, this should be specified in the checklist.
Many housekeepers will already be aware of the benefits of using quality materials such as micro fibre cleaning cloths, which require minimal usage of bio-degradable cleaning products to ensure a clean finish. A lot of your property internally can be thoroughly cleaned on changeover using only quality micro fibre cloths together with water and a minimum of cleaning product, providing the right quality cloths are used. Your housekeeper will of course still need to ensure that certain areas such as toilets and showers, kitchen food areas and children’s high chairs are correctly sanitised on every changeover.
Your checklist should provide a reminder that all cupboards, storage areas and drawers in all rooms should be opened and checked for leftover items, which will need to be removed. Each new guest should feel like they are the first ones to enter the property.
Read part 2 here.
Andrew Wilson is Managing Director of Holiday Home Management, offering a comprehensive range of cleaning and maintenance services for second home and holiday let owners across South West England. Find out more at Holiday Home Management or call 0844 3350237.
