A changeover goes wrong when the person doing it does not know what is different this time. A guest mentioned a slow drain, the next group needs two extra sets of towels and the coffee pods have run out. A holiday let changeover handover sheet puts those details on one page, sent the day before, so the job never depends on a text thread from last week. Below you'll find the sheet to copy or print, a filled-in example and the habits that keep it quick enough to send every time.
What you get from the holiday let changeover handover sheet
- A changeover that matches the booking, because the person doing it knows about the slow drain, the extra towels and the sofa bed before they arrive.
- Fewer calls and texts on changeover day, since the answers are on one page.
- Proof that the job is finished: photos you can check in seconds, not a promise you have to trust.
The holiday let changeover handover sheet
- Beds made, side tables clear
- Bathroom: towels folded, toiletries set, floor dry
- Kitchen: surfaces clear, dishwasher empty, bins fresh
- Welcome tray set
- Front door and key access working
A filled-in example EXAMPLE ONLY
Every detail below is invented to show how much detail works. Use your own property, times and guests.
- Beds made, side tables clear
- Bathroom: towels folded, toiletries set, floor dry
- Kitchen: surfaces clear, dishwasher empty, bins fresh
- Welcome tray set
- Front door and key access working
What belongs on the sheet and what stays on your checklist
The sheet covers what is different about this changeover. Your checklist covers what is the same every time: stripping the beds, cleaning the bathroom, resetting the kitchen. When the sheet starts repeating the checklist, people stop reading it, so keep three kinds of detail on it. First, what the last guests reported or left behind. Second, anything the next guests need that is out of the ordinary. Third, how you will know the job is finished. Everything else belongs in the standing checklist, which you can build from scratch with building a changeover checklist for a new holiday let.
How to fill it in in five minutes
Fill the sheet in the day before, when you know who is arriving next. Start with the issues. Read the last guests' messages and any reports from the stay, then write the problem and the room, not the story: "slow drain, upstairs bathroom" is enough. Move on to the next booking's details, such as group size, pets and anything they asked for, like a cot.
Add restocking only for what you know is short. That is much quicker if you keep a stock list, and keeping a holiday let inventory that shows what has gone missing explains how to set one up. Never leave a section empty. Write "None reported" once you have checked, so a blank line can never be mistaken for a missed one.
Choosing photo checkpoints
A photo checkpoint works when it matches something a guest would notice: beds made with the pillows set, a dry bathroom floor, clear worktops, the tray laid out. Pick four to six and keep them the same every time. The person doing the changeover learns what "done" looks like, and you can scan the photos in seconds.
Add a one-off checkpoint when a guest has complained about something specific, such as the inside of the oven. Ask for the photos before the person leaves the property, not in the evening, so a miss can be fixed while they are still there. Photos do not replace your own look round when the next guests arrive within a few hours. For ordering the jobs when time is short, see fitting a same-day changeover between checkout and check-in.
Who receives the sheet
Send it to whoever does the changeover, whether that is a cleaner, a co-host, a family member or you. When two people are involved, send both the same sheet so neither has to guess what the other was told. If you are bringing someone new in, go through their first sheet together, and use bringing in help without losing control to decide how much to hand over at first.
Mistakes that make the sheet useless
Sending it too late is the most common one. A sheet that arrives an hour before checkout gets skimmed, not read. The second is copying the whole checklist onto it, which buries the three details that matter. The third is asking for photos with no standard, so every photo means something different. The fourth is retyping the sheet from memory each time instead of saving a blank copy. When a changeover goes wrong despite the sheet, look at the sheet first: was the detail on it, and was it clear?
Send your first sheet before the next changeover
Copy the sheet into whatever you already use, fill it in for your next changeover and send it the day before. After three changeovers, delete the lines that never got used and add the one you kept wishing you had written down. To plan the order of jobs on the day itself, the free holiday let changeover planner turns your job list into a timed running order.