Start with the water
It is not glamorous, and it is the one job here that protects people’s health. Legionella is kept down by holding cold water below 20 °C and hot water above 50 °C,2 and a house empty between bookings has plenty of still, lukewarm water in its pipes. The ECDC, the EU’s centre for disease control, has a 15-point plan for managers of tourist accommodation.1 Most of it is written with hotels in mind, but a few points apply directly to a villa or a flat.1
- Run all taps and showers for several minutes: at least once a week if the rooms are empty, and always before anyone moves in.1
- Keep shower heads and taps clean and free of scale. In Mallorca’s hard water, that is a real job, not a formality.13
- Keep hot water hot, at 50 to 60 °C, and cold water below 20 °C.1
- Clean and disinfect water filters as the maker directs, at least every one to three months.1
- A hot tub or a spa pool has rules of its own and is far more demanding than a swimming pool. Read the leaflet before you offer one.1
Do it first, with the windows open, and then get on with the rest. Run the showers gently, without standing in the spray and breathing in the mist, because people catch it by breathing in those tiny droplets.2 The rules for your own property are for you and your licence holder to check: this is the good-practice minimum, not legal advice.
A changeover, in order
- Walk through first with your phone. Photograph anything broken, stained or missing while the previous guest’s deposit can still deal with it.
- Open up, run the water, take out the rubbish and empty the fridge.
- Strip the beds and start the washing. Look at the mattress protector and the mattress while they are bare.
- Work top to bottom in each room: shelves and lamps, then surfaces, then floors. Dust comes down, so floors go last.
- Bathrooms: descale the shower head and the glass, then the taps, and dry everything, because hard water that dries on chrome and glass leaves the marks that make a clean bathroom look dirty.3
- Kitchen: inside the fridge, the oven, the microwave, the dishwasher filter, and whatever is under the sink.
- Make the beds, set out towels, restock.
- Finish outside: terrace, furniture, pool edge. Then glance at the glass by the terrace door, because it is the first thing anyone looks through.
- Walk through once more as if you had just arrived, starting at the front door. Close up, and leave the air moving if you safely can.
What goes on which calendar
| Job | How often | Why it does not fit a changeover |
|---|---|---|
| Every tap and shower run | Every changeover | It fits: do it first |
| Terrace glass and door tracks | Every changeover near the sea, if they show | It fits, at ground level |
| All windows | See our timetable | Upper floors need more time and care |
| Sofas and armchairs | When they need it, and between seasons | They need 4 to 6 hours to dry |
| Mattresses | Between seasons, or after an accident | They need 3 to 5 hours to dry |
| Rugs | Between seasons | They need 4 to 8 hours to dry |
| Terrace and pool surround | Before the season | Water and furniture need a free day, and the stone needs the right treatment |
The frequencies here are our suggestions rather than anybody’s rule. A family with small children and a labrador can change the sofa’s schedule on its own.
Fitting a sofa or a mattress into a tight turnover
A same-day changeover usually gives you a few hours, and a sofa that was soaked at eleven will not be ready for guests at four unless the weather is on your side. If it can wait, leave it for an empty night in the calendar. If it cannot, book it early, keep the air moving, and put the room together at the end. How long a sofa takes to dry has the details. A mattress cleaned in the morning or early afternoon is dry by bedtime with normal ventilation. If the booking is back-to-back and a mattress has had an accident, a clean protector and a spare mattress will buy you the time you need.
What guests notice
- Hair and limescale in the shower. Nothing says “not cleaned” more loudly.
- The first pane of glass they look through, with the sea behind it. Salt and dog-nose smears are very visible in low evening sun.
- Musty air in a house that has been shut. Open up early, and if the place stayed damp, run the air conditioning on dry mode for a while before anyone arrives.
- A sticky terrace table, and dead insects in light fittings and on window sills.
Between seasons
Winter is when a let earns its summer. Before you close up, clean the frames, because salt left on them for six months does no favours, and leave the fridge door open and the water treated as your plumber advises. Before you open, run the water through properly, have the glass cleaned after the last dust of spring, and wash the terrace. AEMET’s data shows May as the most frequent month for mud rain across the peninsula, the Balearics and Melilla, so a window clean booked for the end of April may need repeating.4
If you look after several houses, our page for holiday rentals and property managers takes one request for all of them and answers with one written quote. If it is your own one house, you can price the windows, the sofa and the mattress online, from €75 for a single mattress and with a window visit from €49.