Coordinating cleaning and maintenance for your vacation rental is a constant headache. Juggling calendars, texting cleaners, and handling last-minute issues feels like a full-time job. The solution isn’t working harder; it’s using the right vacation rental cleaning automation and vacation rental maintenance tools to put your turnovers on autopilot.
Our article gets straight to the point, showing you the best software for the job and what makes each one different.
Top vacation rental cleaning automation tools
Short-term rental cleaning software eliminates the back-and-forth of scheduling. When a guest checks out, a cleaning job is automatically created and assigned. Here are the top platforms that integrate directly with property management systems like Hostfully.
Turno: Best for finding and managing cleaners
Turno (formerly TurnoverBnB) is a favorite for many hosts, and for good reason. It’s a close partner and free for Hostfully users. Turno excels at coordinating your existing cleaners with automatic scheduling, checklists, and payment processing.
What makes Turno unique is its cleaner marketplace. If you’re expanding or need a backup cleaner, you can use the platform to find new, local, and vetted cleaning professionals in your area. This feature is a lifesaver for hosts in markets where reliable help is hard to find.
- Best for: Hosts who need to build or expand their cleaning team.
- Key feature: Cleaner marketplace for finding vetted professionals.
- Integration: Syncs automatically with your Hostfully calendar to schedule cleanings.
Breezeway: Best for mid-to-large companies
Breezeway is a market leader for established property management companies. Its software is robust, designed to handle complex operations across dozens or hundreds of properties. Beyond scheduling, Breezeway offers detailed task management, quality assurance workflows, and powerful reporting.
A standout feature is its ability to communicate directly with guests. For example, you can set up an automated alert that messages a guest the moment a cleaning is complete, letting them know they can check in early. This small touch creates a five-star arrival experience and can significantly boost reviews.
- Best for: Property managers with 10+ properties needing advanced operational control.
- Key feature: Automated guest messaging for things like early check-in readiness.
- Integration: Integrates with Hostfully to sync booking data and automate task scheduling.
Properly: Best for quality control
If your top priority is ensuring every clean meets your exact standards, Properly is the tool for you. Its main differentiator is its use of visual checklists. Instead of just a text list, you can create instructions with photos showing exactly how a room should be staged, how towels should be folded, or how the welcome basket should be arranged.
Cleaners can then send back verification photos of their work, giving you peace of mind without needing to visit the property yourself. This “augmented reality” approach is perfect for detail-oriented hosts or managers of high-end properties where presentation is everything.
- Best for: Hosts who need to enforce very specific cleaning and staging standards.
- Key feature: Visual checklists with photo verification.
- Integration: Connects with Hostfully to automatically schedule cleanings based on checkouts.
EZCare: Best for inventory management
While EZCare also handles automated cleaning scheduling for vacation rentals, its real strength is inventory management. If you constantly struggle with running out of supplies like toilet paper, coffee, or shampoo, EZCare can solve that problem.
The platform has a much stronger emphasis on tracking supply levels and managing linens. You can create par levels for each item in your properties and receive alerts when stock is low. This ensures your cleaners always have what they need and your guests never face the frustration of a missing amenity.
- Best for: Hosts who want to automate supply tracking and linen management.
- Key feature: Advanced inventory management and supply-level tracking.
- Integration: Works with Hostfully to coordinate cleaning and restocking tasks based on reservation data.
Top vacation rental maintenance automation tools
Rental host maintenance automation is about preventing problems, not just reacting to them. Smart home technology can automate access, save energy, and protect your property from parties and damage.
Hostfully devices: The integrated solution
Before looking at third-party tools, start with what’s built in. Hostfully Devices is our own smart device management tool, integrated directly into the Hostfully PMS. Because it’s a native feature, the connection is seamless. It supports over 200 devices, including the most popular smart locks, thermostats, and even smart garage door openers. You can set rules to automatically create a guest’s door code upon booking and program the thermostat to an energy-saving temperature upon checkout.
- Best for: Hosts who want a deeply integrated, all-in-one solution for device management.
- Key Feature: Native integration within the Hostfully PMS for maximum reliability.
- Compatibility: Supports over 200 smart home devices.
Smart locks: Automating guest and staff access
Smart locks are the cornerstone of vacation rental task automation. Manually coordinating key handoffs is a waste of time and a security risk. With a smart lock, you can generate a unique, time-sensitive code for every guest, cleaner, and maintenance worker.
- Top providers: Jervis is a market leader, with RemoteLock a close second. Both offer a wide range of compatible lock brands and integrate smoothly with Hostfully.
- How it works: When a booking is confirmed in Hostfully, the system automatically communicates with your lock provider to create a new code. The code is then sent to the guest in your pre-arrival message. The code only works for the duration of the stay, providing enhanced security.
Noise monitors: Preventing problems proactively
Preventive maintenance is the best kind. Noise monitoring devices from partners like NoiseAware and Minut help you stop parties and neighbor complaints before they start. These small sensors plug into a wall and monitor decibel levels.
Crucially, they do not record audio, so they respect guest privacy. If noise levels exceed a custom threshold for a set period (e.g., 10 minutes), you receive an alert on your phone. You can then message the guest to remind them of the house rules. This proactive approach has saved countless hosts from fines, damage, and angry neighbors.
- Top providers: NoiseAware and Minut are the two leading partners in this space.
- How it works: The device measures sound levels and sends an alert to your phone via its app if a pre-set threshold is breached. You can then intervene before the situation escalates.
How to connect and automate your tools
The real power of property management, cleaning automation, and maintenance tools is unlocked when they work together. A Property Management System (PMS) like Hostfully acts as the central brain for your entire operation.
Your PMS holds all the booking information. When you connect your other software to your PMS, you create a chain of automated actions:
- A guest books your property on Airbnb.
- The booking appears in your Hostfully calendar instantly.
- Hostfully automatically tells your smart lock software to create a unique door code for the guest’s stay.
- Hostfully automatically tells your cleaning software (like Turno) to schedule a cleaning for the checkout date.
- The door code and check-in instructions are automatically sent to the guest a day before arrival.
- When the guest checks out, your cleaner is automatically notified and receives their own temporary door code.
This vacation rental turnover automation means a property can be booked, accessed, cleaned, and prepared for the next guest with almost zero manual input from you. This is how hosts scale from 2 properties to 20 without hiring a large team.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best automation tools for vacation rental cleaning and maintenance?
For cleaning, Turno and Breezeway are top choices. For maintenance, start with an integrated solution like Hostfully Devices for smart locks and thermostats, and add noise monitors from NoiseAware or Minut.
How can I automate cleaning schedules for my vacation rental properties?
Connect a PMS like Hostfully to a cleaning tool like Turno. Set a rule to automatically create and assign a cleaning job to your preferred cleaner every time a reservation is marked as checked out.
What features should I look for in vacation rental cleaning software?
Look for automated scheduling, a mobile app for cleaners, digital checklists with photo verification, inventory tracking, and direct integration with your PMS.
How does cleaning automation improve guest satisfaction?
Automation ensures properties are perfectly clean and ready on time. It also enables faster turnovers, making early check-ins possible, which is a common reason for five-star reviews.
Can automation help reduce missed cleanings?
Yes, this is one of its primary benefits. Automated scheduling eliminates human error like forgetting to text a cleaner or providing the wrong date, which are the main causes of missed turnovers.
Ready to stop coordinating and start automating? Request a demo to see how Hostfully’s platform can streamline your entire cleaning and maintenance workflow. Or, take our free Business Health Quiz to see where you can make the biggest impact with automation.
