How Often Should an Airbnb Get a Deep Clean?
A short-term rental should get a full deep clean about every 10 to 15 turnovers, or once per season if bookings are slower than that, whichever comes first. A turnover resets the property for the next guest in a few hours; a deep clean goes after the buildup a turnover never has time for: the oven, the fridge coils, baseboards, mattress protectors, grout, vents, behind and under furniture. Hosts who skip it usually find out through a review that mentions a smell or a sticky surface the cleaner swears was not there.
Why turnovers alone are not enough
A turnover is built around the gap between an 11am checkout and a 3pm check-in. In that window the cleaner strips and remakes the beds, cleans the bathroom and kitchen surfaces, vacuums and mops, restocks supplies, checks for damage and shoots the photo set. That is a full job for one or two people in a two-bedroom unit.
What never fits in that window: the inside of the oven and fridge, the space behind and under furniture, mattress and pillow protectors, baseboards and window tracks, the dishwasher filter and dryer lint trap, grout and the shower drain, vents and fan blades, and the patio furniture or grill outside.
Guest number 12 sees the oven that guests one through eleven used, and eventually one of them writes it down.
The 10 to 15 turnover rule
Count turnovers, not weeks. A unit that turns twice a week needs a deep clean roughly every five to eight weeks. A unit with one weekly booking can stretch to three or four months, but the seasonal cap still applies because dust, pollen and humidity build up whether or not anyone sleeps there.
Reasons to move toward the shorter end of the range:
- Pet-friendly listings. Hair works into upholstery and under furniture faster than any vacuum pass catches it. Every 8 to 10 turnovers is realistic.
- Full kitchens that guests actually cook in. Family listings and longer stays mean the oven, hood filter and fridge get real use.
- Carpet instead of hard floors. Carpet holds odours and fine grit that mopping would remove from tile or wood.
- Beach, lake or ski access. Sand, mud and road salt arrive on every pair of boots.
- Large groups. A six-bedroom house with eight to twelve guests per stay accumulates in one weekend what a studio takes a month to collect.
You can stretch toward 15 with one or two guests per stay, hard floors throughout, a no-pets policy and stays of a week or longer.
The seasonal cap
Even a slow listing should be deep cleaned at the turn of each season. In most of Canada and the northern US that means four times a year, with two of them carrying extra work:
Late fall (October to November). Before the heating season starts, clean or replace furnace filters, vacuum baseboard heaters and vents, wash windows inside, bring in or cover patio furniture, and clean the grill before it sits for five months. Check weather stripping on the entry door, since cold drafts show up in reviews as "the place was freezing."
Early spring (March to April). Salt and grit from winter boots end up in the entry mat, the hallway and the first metre of every rug. Shampoo entry rugs, wash the storm doors and window exteriors, and clear the baseboard heaters of a winter of dust.
What the deep clean should include
If you book a deep clean, the written scope should list at minimum:
Kitchen. Oven interior and racks, hood filter degreased or replaced, fridge and freezer emptied and wiped including seals and drawers, dishwasher filter, small appliances descaled and cleaned, cabinet fronts, the space under the sink.
Bathrooms. Grout scrubbed, caulking checked for mould, shower head descaled, drain cleared of hair, fan cover washed, the toilet base and the floor behind it, bath mats laundered or replaced.
Bedrooms. Mattresses vacuumed and rotated, mattress and pillow protectors laundered, duvet inserts laundered or dry cleaned per label, under-bed vacuumed, closet shelves wiped, headboards dusted.
Living areas. Sofa cushions removed and the frame vacuumed, upholstery spot-cleaned, rugs lifted and the floor beneath cleaned, remotes wiped, decor dusted individually, blinds and curtains vacuumed or laundered.
Whole property. Baseboards, door frames, switch plates, window tracks, vents, ceiling fan blades, light fixtures, smoke and CO detector test, lint trap and dryer vent, washing machine drum cycle. Outdoors: patio furniture, grill grates and entry mats.
Anything not on the list is a turnover task that is being billed as a deep clean.
How long it takes and what it typically costs
A deep clean usually runs two to four times the length of a standard turnover for the same property. A one-bedroom that turns in two hours takes five to seven hours to deep clean; a four-bedroom house can take a full day for a two-person crew.
Typical pricing in Canadian and US markets lands between 2 and 3.5 times the regular turnover fee, labelled here as a range only. The number of bathrooms, whether insert and protector laundry is included, the state of the oven and fridge, and pet-friendly status move it most.
Most hosts fold the cost into their nightly rate rather than the cleaning fee guests see, since a higher cleaning fee tends to hurt conversion on the listing page while a slightly higher nightly rate does not.
Signs you are already overdue
- a review that mentions a smell you cannot find on the next walk-through
- a greasy film on the cabinet doors next to the stove
- the shower drains slowly, or the dryer takes two cycles for one set of towels
- grey edges on the mattress protector or yellowing pillows
- an oven that smokes when a guest preheats it
Any one of those is a reason to schedule the deep clean this week rather than at the next turnover count.
Scheduling it without losing a booking night
Deep cleans need the property empty for most of a day. The practical options:
- Block a gap. Pick a weekday between two bookings and block one night, usually your cheapest.
- Use an existing gap. If the calendar already has two empty nights, book the deep clean for the first one.
- Pair it with maintenance. Schedule the plumber or the HVAC check for the same blocked day so the property is only offline once.
- Shoulder season. In seasonal markets, do the heavy fall and spring cleans in the slow weeks.
If you share your booking calendar with your cleaning provider, they can propose the gap themselves rather than waiting for you to spot one. That is how Stayready plans deep cleans for hosts in Toronto, Montréal and the other cities on the locations list: the turnover count is tracked per property, and the deep clean is proposed when the count or the season says it is due.
Frequently asked questions
Does a deep clean replace the turnover before a guest arrives?
Yes, if it is done in the gap directly before the check-in. The deep clean includes everything a turnover does plus the extended list, so you do not need both. If the deep clean happens several days before the next arrival, a light turnover (beds, bathrooms, dust, supply check) is still worth doing because the unit will have sat empty.
Should the first clean before listing count as a deep clean?
It should, and it should be more thorough than a routine one. The initial clean removes construction dust, packaging residue and previous-owner buildup. Treat it as the baseline your turnover photos will be compared to from then on.
How often should mattress and pillow protectors be washed?
Protectors should be laundered at every deep clean at minimum, so every 10 to 15 stays, and immediately after any reported spill or illness. Pillows themselves are usually replaced every 12 to 24 months in a rental because they flatten and yellow faster than in a home with one user.
Can the regular turnover cleaner do the deep clean?
Usually yes, if they are given the time, the longer checklist and the right supplies. The risk is that a crew asked to "do a bit extra" delivers a longer turnover, not a deep clean. Ask for the written deep-clean checklist and the photo set that proves each item was done.
Get a deep clean on the calendar
Tell us about your property, how often it turns and when the last deep clean happened. We come back with a written scope for the turnovers and a deep-clean interval that fits the booking pattern, including the fall and spring resets. Hosts with several units can put the whole portfolio through the same quote form and get one schedule back. If you are in the Greater Toronto Area, the Toronto turnover page covers how the local calendar is handled.