Cleaning is the single largest recurring operational cost in a short let, and the one that most affects your reviews. Here's what UK holiday let cleaning actually costs in 2026 and how to structure it so it doesn't eat your margin.
Typical UK turnover rates
Most professional short let cleaners charge per turnover rather than hourly, because guests need a fixed changeover window:
- Studio / 1-bed: £35–£55 per turnover
- 2-bed: £50–£75
- 3-bed: £70–£100
- 4-bed+ / large houses: £100–£180
Hourly rates typically sit at £15–£25 depending on the city. Expect a premium for same-day back-to-back turnovers, late checkouts and bank holidays.
Linen is a separate cost
Hotel-standard linen hire generally runs £12–£25 per changeover for a two-bed, covering bed linen and towels laundered commercially. It costs more than washing in-house, but it removes the biggest single cause of poor cleanliness reviews and lets you turn a property around in a couple of hours.
Consumables — toilet roll, tea, coffee, soap, dishwasher tablets, bin bags — typically add £5–£12 per stay.
What a proper turnover includes
- Full strip and remake of all beds with fresh linen
- Bathroom deep clean and restock
- Kitchen clean, fridge check and crockery inspection
- Floors, surfaces, mirrors and glass
- Restocking consumables and welcome items
- Photo report and damage/inventory check
- Flagging maintenance issues before the next guest arrives
That last group matters most. A cleaner who only cleans is half a service. A cleaner who reports a leaking tap or a missing remote saves you a one-star review.
Setting the guest cleaning fee
Most UK owners pass on most or all of the cost through the guest cleaning fee. Two things to keep in mind:
- Very high cleaning fees suppress short bookings. A £70 fee on a two-night stay inflates the total price and hurts conversion in search.
- Many operators charge slightly under cost and recover the rest in the nightly rate, because search rankings and total-price filters reward a lower headline fee.
A common approach for a two-bed is a £45–£55 guest fee against a £60–£70 all-in turnover cost, with a two-night minimum stay to keep the maths working.
Annual cost in context
A two-bed running 80% occupancy with an average four-night stay does roughly 70–75 turnovers a year. At £65 all-in that's around £4,700 of cleaning — largely recovered from guest fees, but worth budgeting properly rather than treating as an afterthought.
Where owners lose money
- Using domestic cleaners who can't do same-day turnarounds
- No backup cleaner, so one illness cancels a booking
- Washing linen in the property (slow, inconsistent, and it wears out fast)
- No photo reporting, so damage is discovered too late to claim
- Skipping deep cleans, so standards drift and reviews slide
How we handle it
Propel runs vetted cleaning teams with backup cover across Manchester, Liverpool and Chester, hotel-standard linen on rotation, photo-verified turnovers and maintenance flagged the same day. It's included in the flat 15% management fee — no cleaning mark-up.