How much should I pay my Airbnb cleaner per turnover?

Why there is no single number

Turnover pay depends on your city, the size of the home, how many beds and bathrooms there are, and what the cleaner actually does. A studio where the cleaner swaps linens from a spare set is a different job from a large home where they wash, dry and fold every sheet on site. Rates you find online are usually old averages from other markets, so treat them as background, not as your price.

Keep two decisions apart: what you pay the cleaner, and what cleaning fee you charge guests. The first is set by your local market and the scope of the job. The second is a pricing choice. Decide the pay first, then decide how much of it the fee covers.

Write the scope before you ask for a price

A quote is only as good as the job description behind it. Before you talk to anyone, write down what a turnover includes in your home:

• •Beds: how many, and whether they are stripped and remade from a spare set.
• •Laundry: washed on site, taken home, or sent to a laundry service, and who pays for it.
• •Kitchen: dishes, inside the microwave and fridge, emptying the dishwasher.
• •Bathrooms, floors, trash and recycling, outdoor areas, a hot tub or grill if you have one.
• •Restocking from your spare stock to fixed quantities.
• •End-of-clean photos and a short report of damage, left items and low supplies.

If you don't have a written scope yet, start from a turnover cleaning checklist. Laundry is usually the biggest swing in price, so be precise about it.

Pick a pay model

• •Per turnover: one flat amount for the written scope. It is simple for both of you, easy to budget, and rewards a cleaner who works efficiently. It is the simplest fit for a rental.
• •Hourly: fair while you are still learning how long your home takes, or for one-off deep cleans. The downside is that the cost of each turnover varies, and you can't easily check the hours from a distance.
• •Tiered by stay: a lower rate after a one-night stay with little to clean and a higher one after a long stay or a large group. Agree the tiers up front so nobody argues job by job.

A practical route: pay hourly for the first two or three cleans, note how long they really take, and agree a flat per-turnover rate from that.

How to find your local going rate

1. 1.Ask three cleaners who already turn over rentals near you to quote your written scope. Same scope, so the quotes compare.
2. 2.Ask other hosts in your area what they pay for a similar home, and what is included.
3. 3.Look at what comparable listings near you charge as a cleaning fee. Airbnb shows it as a separate line in the price breakdown. It hints at local cleaning costs, though hosts set fees for their own reasons.
4. 4.Pay for a test clean and time it. A rate that works out far below what local cleaners earn per hour won't keep a good cleaner for long.

Paying at the bottom of the range is a false saving. The cleaner who takes your lowest rate is the one most likely to drop you for a better-paying job in peak season. Fair, on-time pay is a big part of finding and keeping a reliable cleaner.

Agree the extras in writing

Arguments about pay start with the jobs that aren't a normal turnover. Settle these before they happen:

• •Same-day turnovers with a tight gap, and jobs booked at short notice.
• •The clean after a messy stay: an hourly rate for the extra time, with photos of the mess before they start.
• •Deep cleans on a schedule you agree, priced separately.
• •Mid-stay cleans for long bookings.
• •Cancelled jobs: what you pay if a turnover is cancelled the same day.
• •Supplies: who buys them, and how the cleaner is paid back.
• •Holidays and peak dates, if the cleaner charges more then.

If a guest leaves the home needing far more than a normal clean, keep the photos and the cleaner's invoice. Airbnb's Host damage protection can cover some extra cleaning costs, but you have to file the reimbursement request in the Resolution Center within 14 days of the guest's checkout.

How the cleaning fee and payment fit in

Airbnb's own guidance is that the cleaning fee should cover your cleaning costs, such as housekeeping, laundry and supplies, rather than earn a profit, and that a high fee can put guests off because it raises the total price. You can also set a lower short-stay cleaning fee for one- and two-night bookings. Some hosts charge a fee that covers the cleaner's pay and put the rest of their cleaning costs into the nightly rate.

To pay through Airbnb, you can add your cleaner as a co-host with calendar-only access and set up a co-host payout: a fixed amount per booking, or the listing's cleaning fee. Only the listing owner can set it up, the cleaner has to accept it, and it covers Airbnb stays only, so bookings from other sites need paying separately. However you pay, pay on the schedule you agreed. Ask a tax professional what reporting applies when you pay a cleaner.