Cleaning is probably the most underestimated cost in short-term rental math — and I say that having watched it surprise people who thought they'd done their homework. It's easy to plug $80 or $100 into a spreadsheet and move on. Then your listing goes live, your cleaner quotes $130, you find out guests are leaving the place a disaster after long weekends, and you're suddenly paying $165 per turn on a 1-bedroom that you budgeted $90 for.
The numbers below come from actual host reporting across different market types. Not theoretical minimums — what people are actually paying when they text me to complain about it. Use these as your baseline.
One thing to know upfront: Prices vary significantly by city, cleaner availability, and how guests treat your place. A beach market in peak season will run 20–40% higher than these ranges. Rural markets may come in lower. Treat these as the middle, not the floor.
These numbers reflect what hosts in mid-tier markets (not NYC or San Francisco, but not rural either) tend to pay for a standard turnover clean. A turnover clean means the whole place — kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, linens changed, trash out, everything reset for the next guest.
| Property Size | Low End | Typical Range | High End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio / 1BR | $65 | $80–$110 | $140 |
| 2BR apartment | $90 | $110–$150 | $180 |
| 3BR house | $120 | $150–$200 | $250 |
| 4BR house | $160 | $200–$280 | $350 |
| 5BR+ / large cabin | $220 | $300–$450 | $600+ |
The 3BR house is highlighted because that's the most common STR property type, and the $150–$200 range is what most hosts in that bucket actually report paying when they're using a professional cleaner with their own supplies.
Not all turnover cleans cost the same even for the same property. A few things push the price around:
Some cleaners charge a base rate plus extra for heavy messes — dishes in the sink, food left out, stained towels. If you attract a lot of weekend party groups, expect to pay on the high end consistently. Families with kids also tend to leave more mess than couples or solo travelers.
Labor costs are local. A 3BR in rural Tennessee might cost $120 to clean. The same size place in Austin or Denver will run $200+. In beach markets like the Outer Banks or Lake Tahoe, professional STR cleaners know they're in demand during peak season and price accordingly.
If you're using a cleaning service that also does linens (wash, dry, fold, replace), that typically adds $30–$60 to the bill depending on how many beds and towels you have. Some hosts outsource laundry to a separate linen service at around $8–$15 per pound. Others buy two sets of everything and handle laundry between turns themselves.
Same-day turns — where a guest checks out at 11am and a new one checks in at 3pm — are hard to fill. If you only have 4 hours and need a cleaner who can drop everything, you'll often pay a premium or struggle to find anyone at all. Building in a buffer day between bookings gives you flexibility and might actually save you money.
Yes, until it doesn't.
If you have a studio or 1BR apartment near your house and you enjoy cleaning (or at least don't mind it), doing it yourself can save you $80–$110 per turn, which adds up fast. At 15 turns a year, that's $1,200–$1,650 back in your pocket.
But here's what the math misses: your time. A 1BR turnover typically takes 2–3 hours if you're doing it properly — laundry, kitchen, bathroom, restocking supplies, checking for damage. A 3BR house can easily take 4–6 hours. If you have a day job or other properties, that's not realistic to sustain.
Most hosts who start DIY end up hiring out within the first year, either because they're burned out, they got a second property, or they had a bad experience trying to clean between guests on a tight same-day turn.
The hybrid approach works well for some: clean it yourself during the slow season when bookings are sparse, hire a pro when things get busy. Just make sure you have a cleaner you trust lined up before peak season — reliable STR cleaners book up fast in tourist markets.
Here's what cleaning costs actually look like across a full year of bookings for a typical 3BR property:
| Scenario | Turns / Year | Cost Per Turn | Annual Cleaning Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low occupancy (40%) | ~24 | $175 | $4,200 |
| Moderate occupancy (60%) | ~36 | $175 | $6,300 |
| High occupancy (75%) | ~45 | $175 | $7,875 |
| High occ. + premium clean | ~45 | $220 | $9,900 |
A 3BR at 60% occupancy is doing roughly 36 guest turns per year (assuming average stays of about 3 nights). At $175 per clean, that's $6,300 going straight out the door — before mortgage, taxes, utilities, or anything else. That's not a number most people account for when they're running pre-purchase projections on a spreadsheet.
Plug your property details into the HostCalc calculator to see net income after cleaning, Airbnb fees, and all your other expenses.
Open the Calculator →Most hosts charge guests a cleaning fee to offset this cost. On Airbnb, this shows up as a separate line item when guests book. The question is: how much should you charge?
There are two schools of thought:
Full cost recovery: Charge what your cleaner actually charges. If it costs you $175, charge guests $175. Your nightly rate stays cleaner, and you're not subsidizing the turnover. The downside is that a high cleaning fee can scare off shorter stays — nobody wants to pay $175 to stay one night.
Partial offset: Charge something lower (say $100–$125 on a $175 clean) and build the rest into your nightly rate. This makes the listing look more attractive for one-night stays but means you're effectively losing money on short bookings. Some hosts set a minimum stay of 2–3 nights to avoid this.
For most hosts, a minimum 2-night stay plus a cleaning fee that covers 80–100% of actual cleaning costs is the most sensible middle ground.
On top of the cleaning fee, you're also paying for supplies. This includes the stuff guests use up — toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, dish soap, trash bags, coffee pods, shampoo, conditioner — plus cleaning products your cleaner uses or that you keep stocked.
A rough budget for a 3BR property running at moderate occupancy:
| Category | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Toiletries (TP, soap, etc.) | $30–$50 | $360–$600 |
| Kitchen consumables | $20–$35 | $240–$420 |
| Cleaning products | $15–$25 | $180–$300 |
| Paper products (bags, wraps) | $10–$20 | $120–$240 |
| Total supplies | $75–$130 | $900–$1,560 |
Buying in bulk from Costco or Amazon for things like toilet paper, paper towels, and soap drops this number meaningfully. Some hosts keep a small locked closet or storage area stocked with backup supplies so the cleaner can restock without you having to coordinate a delivery.
This is genuinely one of the hardest parts of running an STR. A reliable, thorough cleaner who shows up on time and communicates well is worth paying above market for — because losing one mid-season is a serious problem.
A few things that work:
Cleaning is typically the second or third largest expense for STR hosts after mortgage and Airbnb fees. For a 3BR at moderate occupancy, you're looking at $6,000–$8,000 a year before supplies. That's real money, and it needs to be in your projections from day one.
The hosts who get blindsided by cleaning costs are usually the ones who only factored in the direct cleaner fee and forgot about supplies, turnover frequency, and the occasional deep clean after a rough stay. Build a buffer of 10–15% above your expected cleaning budget, and you'll be in better shape than most.
See what's left after cleaning, Airbnb's cut, and all your other costs with the free HostCalc income calculator.
Try the Calculator →