A changeover that only fits the gap on a perfect day will run late on an ordinary one. Put in your checkout and check-in times and how long each job takes, and the holiday let changeover planner shows when you'd finish, how much time you'd have spare and the latest each job can start. Copy the finished plan and send it to whoever does the changeover.
How to use the changeover planner
- Enter the checkout and check-in times, and when work can start. If you or whoever does the changeover can't be there at checkout, put the time you'll arrive.
- Choose how much spare time you want before check-in, and how many people are working.
- Add the minutes for each job. The list starts with jobs most changeovers include: rename, reorder or remove them, tap a suggestion to add it, or type your own. Use times from a real changeover rather than your best guess, because most hosts underestimate how long a changeover takes.
- Set machine jobs, such as the washing machine, to "Machine runs on its own" so they run alongside the hands-on work. Your plan updates as you type.
See whether your changeover fits and when each job has to start
Add minutes to your jobs to see your plan.
A worked example
Say checkout is at 10:00, you arrive at 10:30 and the next guests check in at 16:00. You want 30 minutes spare, so you need to be done by 15:30, which gives you five hours. These are example figures; time your own jobs.
Working alone, the hands-on jobs come to 3 hours 50 minutes: 18 minutes of checks first, then stripping the beds and loading the washing machine, beds made from a clean set, then the bathrooms, kitchen, living areas and floors, and finally restocking, photos and the all-clear message. The washing machine runs for 90 minutes alongside the cleaning. You'd finish at 14:20, 70 minutes before your finish-by time, so each job can start up to 70 minutes later than planned and still finish in time.
Now say the house has only two sets of linen, so the beds have to wait for the wash and 60 minutes in the tumble dryer. If "Make beds" stays straight after the washing machine and is set to wait for the machines, every job behind it waits too: the beds can't start until 13:43 and the plan finishes at 16:50, 80 minutes over. Move "Make beds" to just before the photos and the cleaning carries on while the machines run, so you finish at 14:25 with 65 minutes to spare. A third set of linen in the cupboard means the beds don't wait at all.
Hands-on jobs and machine jobs
Each job has a type, and the type decides how it fits into the day.
- Hands-on: someone is busy for the whole time, so the next hands-on job waits for it.
- Hands-on, once machines finish: a job that can't start until the machines before it are done, such as making beds with linen from the wash.
- Machine runs on its own: a washing machine or dishwasher cycle that runs while the hands-on work carries on. Add a short hands-on job before it for loading, if loading takes more than a minute or two.
- Machine, after the one before: a machine that can't start until the previous machine has finished, such as the tumble dryer after the wash.
With more than one person working, each hands-on job goes to whoever is free first, in the order of your list. Put the jobs one person has to do in order, such as stripping the beds before making them, in that order on the list.
What to do when the plan doesn't fit
Start with the jobs that don't need doing at every changeover. Oven cleaning, descaling, washing cushion covers and anything else you do every few weeks belongs on a separate list for the longer gaps between bookings. Holiday let deep clean: a room-by-room checklist and when to do it covers which jobs to move and how often to do them.
Next, look at anything that waits for a machine. If beds can only be made once the wash is dry, the whole afternoon depends on the washing machine. Keeping enough sets that a clean one is always in the cupboard takes the wash out of the timetable; how many sets of linen to keep for each bed works out the number.
If the plan still runs over, the options are more hands or a longer gap. Try the planner with a second person to see what it changes. A later check-in or earlier checkout on your listing gives you more time at every same-day changeover, and a minimum stay cuts how many same-day changeovers you do; the holiday let short stay calculator shows what a minimum stay leaves you per booking.
Sending the plan to whoever does the changeover
Copy plan puts the timetable on your clipboard as plain text, ready to paste into a message, so the person doing the changeover knows the order and the latest time each job can start. Print plan gives you the same timetable on paper to leave at the property.
The plan works best alongside a checklist they already use, rather than as a second list. Coordinating a holiday let cleaner or co-host without duplicating your checklist covers how to keep one list both of you work from.
What the planner leaves out
The planner only knows the times you give it. It can't allow for a guest who leaves late, a delivery that doesn't turn up or a job that takes longer than usual, which is what the spare time is for. It also plans one property at a time, so travel between properties goes into the time work can start. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere, so copy or print your plan before you close the page.
Next steps once your plan fits
Time your next real changeover against the plan and update any job that ran long. If your checklist doesn't yet list jobs in the order you do them, building a changeover checklist from scratch for a new holiday let shows how to build one from your property's weak points, including checking the routine fits between checkout and check-in.