As the lockdown starts to ease around the globe more hosts are starting to open their doors to guests again. Now is the time to get up to date on Airbnb’s COVID-19 response. One of these is the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol that was released in early June.
The Enhanced Cleaning Protocol is a five-step process to ensuring your place is virus free. This corona virus cleaning guideline has been developed with the help of several experts. I looked at it to see what impact it would have on our Cosy Garden Cottage listing.
Here is what you need to know about the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol
Highlights. The Airbnb COVID cleaning guidelines is a step by step approach and these are the highlights:
- What equipment you need to buy to keep yourself safe while cleaning.
- What products to use to clean and sanitize your space.
- The order in which to approach your cleaning tasks.
- A detailed check list by room of what to sanitize.
- How to keep your place sanitized until your guest arrives.
How to sign up. The Enhanced Cleaning Protocol is being rolled out across the globe. Hosts can opt in to commit to the new cleaning protocol by taking a quiz. Those hosts who have opted in will get a banner on their listings. It is not available in all countries yet. Be sure to keep an eye out for when it becomes available in yours.
Alternative 72-hour booking buffer. Should you decide that the Airbnb COVID-19 cleaning policy is not for you the alternative is to opt-in for the 72-hour booking buffer program. The buffer will kick-in once your current bookings have been completed.
Not available to everyone. Not all listings are eligible for the Airbnb COVID cleaning protocol and booking buffer program. Only those listings where the required social distancing between hosts and guests can be maintained will have the option to sign-up. This means private and shared room hosts will not be able to opt in for the cleaning protocol.
What you can do now to prepare your listing
Familiarize yourself with the details. Download the pdf cleaning handbook and get to know the details. The handbooks are country specific and are not available for all countries yet. The South African handbook is not available yet. I was curious and had a look at the guidelines for one of the available countries to get an idea of the details.
Room by room checklists. These checklists are included in the enhanced cleaning protocol. They are very extensive, but it is worthwhile comparing them to what you have in your space. Look for any gaps. Some thoughts I had included the cleaning and sanitisation of child play areas and toys, baby equipment, board games, sporting equipment like beach boards, golf clubs and tennis rackets.
Calculate your additional cleaning costs. There is no doubt that the new cleaning protocol is going to cost more in equipment and time. But how much more? Are you going to absorb the costs or recoup them by increasing your cleaning fee? Increasing your price could have a negative impact on your competitive position. On the other hand, giving your guests the comfort of knowing your are following the Airbnb cleanliness standards could have a positive impact on your competitive position. Time will tell.
Engage with your cleaning company. If you outsource your cleaning process it would be advisable to review the new cleaning guidelines with them. You may want to update your contract with them to include the requirements of the enhanced cleaning protocol. Having your cleaning company by your side will be important to maintain compliance with the requirements.
Where to find more information on Airbnb’s Enhanced Cleaning Protocol
It will be important to keep track of changes as the reality of living in this pandemic evolves. Here is how to find the resource centre.
Find the Resource Centre under your profile. Login to Airbnb and navigate to your ‘Profile menu’.
Find the resource centre menu. Click on the menu to get to the full menu in the Resource Centre.
Exploring the enhanced cleaning protocol. You will find this as one of the options in the resource centre menu.
Articles and Guides. Several articles and guides can be found in the resource centre about the new corona virus cleaning initiative.
What are your thoughts?
What are your thoughts on the new enhanced cleaning protocol? Are you a host that has signed up for the protocol already? How do you think it has helped you as a host?
All opinions expressed are my own.
Other posts you may be interested in
I hope you found this post useful. You may find some of my other posts useful too. Here are the links.
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