8 Awesome Hacks To Cut your Airbnb Laundry Time in Half (Seriously)

Minimizing Your Airbnb Laundry time and expense is one of the biggest wins when looking to minimize the stress around Airbnb. When I first started hosting, my biggest variable cost was laundry. The cleaner would do all of the laundry on-site, and it would take forever. Now it’s a different story.

Airbnb Laundry Tips (the short version)

  • Invest in fast-drying bedding and towels
  • Buy enough sets so that they could all be done once a week
  • Lock all of the cupboards where the laundry is kept
  • Colour-code all of the different sizes of sheets and duvets so they could be found quickly.
  • Use “Vanish” with the laundry to keep everything sparkling white.

And hey-presto, my Laundry time and energy was cut in half – and so can yours!

Diving Deeper – What to do with your washing and why to do it!

But of course, it wasn’t that simple and didn’t all happen overnight, and a lot of these ideas came from other people. Let me explain things in a bit more depth about what I was doing and why it worked. By the way, all of these points apply whether you do your own laundry or you outsource it.

Fast Drying Bedding is a major time saver.

How To Minimize Your Airbnb Laundry time and expense

When most people set up on Airbnb (and by Airbnb I include hotels.com, booking.com, etc) they try and compete with hotels and buy expensive Egyptian Cotton Bedding and thick towels.

Understanding that you are not a hotel and can’t compete with hotels is hugely important to then understand how to deal with masses of laundry that you will most definitely have on a sometimes daily basis.

I discovered something called brushed microfiber bedding. This is brilliant. It literally dries in about 10 minutes. I was a bit hesitant at first thinking guests might think it was cheap, but no! I’ve had excellent feedback, and guests report how comfortable it feels. Massive win!

Towels.

Most towels take a very long time to dry because they’re thick. Well, guess what, as with the microfiber bedding there are many options for towels. Guests want to get dry, they don’t necessarily want the thickest towel on the market. I recommend medium-thickness towels in either cotton or microfiber. Medium thickness compared to very thick will cut the drying time in half.

How you wash is important. Do you follow a process?

Reduce Your Airbnb Laundry time and expense

If you do your own washing here are some useful pointers to get things going quickly:

  • Check your washing first. If there is any sign of soiling by the guest, this needs putting aside and washing on a hot wash with a stain remover or even taking to have the stain professionally removed.
  • Once you have your washing organized, wash on a quick 30-degree wash. It does not need to be on for 2 hours.
  • When considering adding perfumed detergents, consider people with allergies.
  • Once the washing has finished, put it on an extra spin. This will mean it dries much quicker.
  • Once your drying is ready, separate the different items. If you are putting sheets or duvet covers back on beds straight away, put them in the dryer first. If you have brushed microfiber, these will dry in 10-15 minutes.
  • Taking items out of the dryer early and letting them air off with your hands will let the remaining moisture evaporate.
  • The most expensive tumble dryers are not the most efficient. You can pay double the money for a heat-pump dryer than a condenser dryer and they (can be) no better.

If you outsource your Airbnb Laundry remember this:

Outsource your laundry

Remember there is a difference between a dry-cleaner and a launderette. (A launderette for the benefit of those not in the UK is a place you go where there are large DIY washing machines).

Launderettes do service washes very cheaply. This means you can drop off the washing and pick it up later. Ideal if you have enough sets.

Keep firmly in mind that Launderettes’ prices vary dramatically. We found a better one that charges half the price of the one we used initially.

The other benefit of a launderette “service wash” is that you reduce wear and tear on your own washing machine and dryer, and of course, reduce electricity bills.

Get Enough Sets of Bedding and Towels!

Reduce Your Airbnb Laundry time and expense

Having a small number of sets of bedding will mean you are constantly washing and drying. Buy enough to keep you going for a week on the assumption that you will have high occupancy and turnover. This then means you can either outsource or do one set of washing, rather than constantly be washing. For one thing, constant washing and drying is actually pretty soul-destroying!

Airbnb Laundry – Color Coding – Your Magic Weapon!

Reduce Your Airbnb Laundry time and expense

This brings me on to my next point. It is essential that you color-code your washing: Meaning – double duvets have a blue ribbon sewn into them (for example), and King Duvets have another color. I can remember numerous occasions when we first started when I would spend an hour+ per change-over just looking for the right-sized bed linen.

Trust me this is a massive time saver. If you do one thing on this list, do this!

Lock it up! (Otherwise, it WILL be used!)

Reduce Your Airbnb Laundry time and expense

Guests will open every cupboard that you have. I promise. Especially guests staying more than one night. If you have 10 towels in an unlocked cupboard, they will all be used. Lock them away. Remember, you are not a hotel. Guests get a trade-off staying with you. You might not have a bar and restaurant, but for roughly the same price, they have a whole home.

Remember too, that whereas they won’t touch the bedding, they will touch the towels, and towels, of course, take the longest to dry!

Keep it White

Keep your laundry white

If indeed your laundry is white (and this does generally look the nicest), keep it white! I add a scoop of Vanish in every wash I do, if we’re doing the washing, and remember to check for even the smallest stain (guests hate these).

The fact is that if it’s made obvious to a guest that they are sleeping in a bed and with bedding that 100s of people have slept in, the yuck factor creeps in. Don’t let it!

Airbnb Laundry – What to do with stains?

Reduce Your Airbnb Laundry time and expense

Here’s a checklist for dealing with stains:

  • They must go!
  • I charge guests who leave make-up on towels (or at least I threaten to).
  • Use vanish
  • Hot-Wash Stains
  • If expensive take to a professional cleaner for industrial stain removal

Interesting Laundry Articles

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goodhousekeeping.com – 7 Tricks That Make Laundry Day Way Easier

lifehacker.com – Top 10 Ways to Breeze Through Laundry Like a Boss

nytimes.com – How to do Laundry

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