A guest walks in, puts down their suitcase and the first thing they do is look at the bathroom. If they find a hair in the shower tray or limescale on the screen, it doesn’t matter that the rest of the flat is perfect: the impression is made. And a few days later that impression becomes a score.
Here is how cleanliness is rated on Airbnb and Booking.com, the places guests check first and a routine so that every arrival feels five-star.
How cleanliness is scored on Airbnb and Booking.com
It doesn’t work the same way on both platforms, and it’s worth knowing the difference.
On Airbnb, besides the overall rating, guests give 1 to 5 stars to six categories: cleanliness, accuracy, check-in, communication, location and value. According to Airbnb’s Help Centre, cleanliness measures whether the home met standards: free of mould and pests, but also free of dust, pet hair or dirty dishes. The overall rating is its own category, not an average of the others.
On Booking.com, the overall score runs from 1 to 10 and is the only mandatory question. Cleanliness is one of six optional subcategories, alongside comfort, value for money, facilities, location and staff. Those subcategories are independent of the overall score, and the score gives more weight to recent reviews, as Holidu explains.
What does this mean for you? That your cleanliness rating is shown separately on your listing and the next person who books will read it. And that, even if it doesn’t technically add to the overall score, a guest who finds the flat dirty rarely gives a ten.
The 7 places guests check first
Since 2023 we have been cleaning holiday lets in Jerez, El Puerto, Cádiz and Rota, and complaints almost always come from the same places:
- The bathroom. Hair in the shower and basin, limescale on the screen and taps, dark grout. It’s the first thing guests look at and it carries the most weight.
- The bed. Creased sheets, a mark on a pillowcase or a hair on the pillow. The bed is in every photo a guest takes.
- The kitchen. Leftovers in the fridge, grease on the hob, a used scourer in plain sight. Any trace of the previous guest shows.
- Floors and corners. Sand under the bed, dust behind the door, crumbs under the sofa. On the coast, beach sand gets everywhere.
- Remotes, switches and handles. The things everyone touches and almost nobody cleans.
- The smell. Damp, smoke or food. A flat that smells stale looks dirty even when it’s clean.
- Bins. A forgotten bag in the bathroom or a kitchen bin that hasn’t been cleaned.
If you’re short of time on a turnover, start here. The rest matters, but this is what gets scored.
Basic or five-star: the difference is in the details
A flat can be “clean” and still get a four. The difference between a basic clean and a five-star one isn’t mopping more times. It’s what the guest sees in the first ten minutes.
→ Bathroom. Basic: a screen with dried water marks and thin towels hung any old way. Five-star: glass without a single drop, shining taps and towels folded like a hotel’s.
→ Bedroom. Basic: the bed is made, but creased, with two pillows thrown on. Five-star: taut sheets, neatly placed pillows and a throw or bed runner folded at the foot.
→ Kitchen. Basic: a clean worktop, but with the cloth and scourer in plain sight. Five-star: a clear worktop, a clean coffee machine and, if you offer one, the welcome kit ready.
→ Details. Basic: dust on the TV remote and marks around the light switch. Five-star: remotes, handles and switches disinfected and dust-free.
A turnover cleaning routine, step by step
In the right order, it takes less time and less gets forgotten. This is the sequence we follow on every changeover:
- Photos on arrival. Before touching anything, photograph the state the flat was left in. They help if there’s damage or something left behind.
- Air and clear. Open the windows, take out the rubbish and strip all the used bed linen and towels.
- Top to bottom. Dust lights, shelves and furniture first; the floor goes last.
- Bathroom and kitchen in depth. Apply the product, let it work and move on to another room in the meantime. Fridge empty and clean, hob and sink spotless.
- Beds and textiles. Clean bed linen pulled taut, and towels always folded the same way.
- Restocking. Toilet roll, soap, shower gel, coffee or whatever your listing includes. A fixed list helps.
- Floors. Vacuum and mop towards the door, including under beds and the sofa.
- A final check through a guest’s eyes. Walk in as if it were the first time: lights, smell, remotes, bins. Then photos of every finished room.
If you want the full list, room by room, it’s in our turnover cleaning checklist for holiday lets.
What to do after a bad cleanliness review
It happens even to the best hosts. What makes the difference is how you respond.
- Reply calmly and without excuses. The next guest will read your reply. Thank them for the feedback and explain what you’ve changed.
- Find the real cause. Was it a hair, limescale, a smell? The same slip usually repeats; once you find it, it stops appearing.
- Review your routine and your timings. Often the problem isn’t the person cleaning, but a check-out to check-in window that’s too short.
- Document every clean with photos. If a guest complains about something that isn’t true, you’ll have evidence of the state the flat was handed over in.
- Look after the next stays. On Booking.com recent reviews weigh more, and on Airbnb Superhost status is reviewed every quarter: several spotless stays in a row help a bad score matter less.
To be a Superhost, Airbnb asks for an overall rating of 4.8 or above, among other requirements. With that little margin, every stay counts.
What to do next
If you manage one or several holiday lets and can’t be there for every changeover, that’s exactly what we do. At Hola Limpio we provide holiday-let cleaning between check-out and check-in in Jerez, El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Puerto Real and Rota: kitchen, bathrooms and every room, bed linen and towel changes, amenities restocked and photos of the finished flat, so you don’t have to go and check.
If you run a small hotel or an aparthotel, we also offer hotel and aparthotel cleaning, with bed linen included if you need it.
Tell us how many flats you have and your booking calendar on WhatsApp on +34 604 82 90 44, or work out a guide price with our quote calculator. We reply within 2 hours.
Frequently asked questions
How is cleanliness rated on Airbnb?
Besides the overall rating, guests give 1 to 5 stars to several separate categories: cleanliness, accuracy, check-in, communication, location and value. The cleanliness rating appears on your listing and future guests can see it. The overall rating is its own category, not an average of the others.
Does the Booking.com cleanliness score count towards the overall score?
Not directly. On Booking.com the overall score, from 1 to 10, is the only mandatory question and it is not an average of the subcategories. Cleanliness is one of six optional subcategories, alongside comfort, value for money, facilities, location and staff. Even so, a guest who finds the flat dirty rarely gives a good overall score.
What rating do you need to become an Airbnb Superhost?
Airbnb asks for an average overall rating of 4.8 or above, at least 10 stays in the last 12 months (or 3 bookings totalling 100 nights), a cancellation rate below 1% and a response rate above 90%. It is reviewed every quarter, so the cleaning of every stay counts.
How much time should you allow to clean a holiday let between guests?
It depends on the size of the flat, the state the guest leaves it in and whether bed linen needs changing and amenities restocking. What matters is setting check-out and check-in times with enough margin and having the spare linen ready before you start.