Vacation rental laundry takes forever. Why? Guests use absolutely everything you leave out and you probably have only 1 washer and dryer. Vacation rental cleaning doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Here is how to make laundry easier between checkouts.
Ask your housekeeper how long laundry takes.
Face it, you are busy. Therefore, you cannot clean your rental between guests all the time and probably use a housekeeper or airbnb cleaning service. Generally, your cleaner will have an idea of how long laundry takes for your vacation rental. No one knows your house better than your housekeeper. Laundry can take a long time if you don’t have an efficient dryer or ventilation system. Your housekeeper can probably clean your whole place in under 2 hours, but spends the next 3-4 hours waiting for laundry.
Remove extra linens and towels
First, you may be thinking, “Wait, what? You want me to remove my extra towels and linens? Won’t the guest be upset or inconvenienced?”
Definitely not. As a matter of fact, you are making turnover cleans much more difficult by leaving extra linens and towels out. Only leave out what is needed and no more. This saves you money from always replacing linens and towels when guests go wild and stain things. This saves the housekeeper shouting at you because they had to stay overtime to do your laundry.
How many towels to supply guests in a vacation rental
Leave 2 of each size towel (hand, wash cloth, bath towel) for guests. If you have a pool, only supply 1 pool towel per guest. Do not supply any more than this because guest will use absolutely everything you leave out and make completing laundry a nightmare.
Set up a linen closet in your vacation rental
Surprisingly, most vacation rentals on AirBnB do not have a linen closet. Undeniably, having a linen closet saves you cleaning time and keeps you organized. In the event linens or towels are stained beyond repair, your housekeeper can still keep your rental clean by supplying fresh ones from the linen closet. Linen closets have several other reasons that make them awesome.
Clean your dryer vents often
The biggest mistake you are probably making is not cleaning your dryer vent. You are slowing down your dryer. Lint and debris build up in the dryer hose and vent duct. As a consequence, air flow is reduced. This is a fire hazard and a huge safety concern. Not only a fire hazard, but you are wasting energy, time, and efficiency. Not to mention, its gross and unhealthy to dry linens and towels with a dirty dryer vent. This service costs $90-160 in most areas and some HOAs require the service to be logged and documented.
How many linens should I buy for my vacation rental?
Buy 3 sets per bed. If you skimp on linens, you will be ordering them soon. Guests do the darnedest things and you will need the extras eventually. Keep an extra comforter and plenty of extra pillow cases on hand as well.
My guest stained my sheets and towels. What do I do?
Make laundry easier, keep stain removal chemicals like Oxy and bleach handy. Don’t forget to keep dryer sheets and detergent in the home. If your housekeeper is not prepared and does not bring them, you can’t be certain the linens and towels will be clean unless you have backup.
Supplies
Make laundry easier with this supply list for your vacation rental:
- Laundry detergent
- Bleach
- Spot treatment
- Dryer Sheets
Leave enough detergent stocked for guests to do laundry during their stay if they have clothing or towels to wash. A good rule of thumb is to leave 4 detergent pods in a ziplock bag with a few dryer sheets. Do not forget bleach and spot treatment, these are needed for your housekeeper. Bleach to make your towels and linens look glowingly white again. Spot treatment in case of emergency stain removal.
I like how you recommended that having a lines closet saves you cleaning time and keeps you organized. My husband and I are wanting to rent our home out as an Airbnb when we go on our trip and wanted to know about linen rentals. We’ll make sure to keep this in mind for when we rent out our home.
Thanks Kate! Usually with linen service the cleaning company rents you the linens so when they are dirty they get switched out with fresh new linens – you would stock your personal linens in an “owner’s closet” and only the rentals would be used for rentals. What market are you planning on renting in? Happy to answer any questions you have! Thanks for the kind words – linen closets are everything.