Cleaning and bed linen in a tourist home: what is mandatory, what it costs and how it is organised
Cleaning on arrival and departure, clean linen at every changeover, spare sets and laundry. How much a cleaning costs on the Costa del Sol, who pays for it and why it is where reviews are won or lost.
Reviewed on 22 September 2026 · By the team at Torremolinos Gestión Vacacional, more than ten years managing holiday rentals · Markdown version · Versión en español
Short answer: the Andalusian rules require you to clean the home on each guest's arrival and departure and to provide clean bed linen and towels at every changeover. In practice, a check-out cleaning for a 4-place flat on the Costa del Sol costs between €45 and €80 including laundry, the guest pays for it as a cleaning supplement and whoever manages the flat organises it. It is the most repeated job in a holiday rental and the one that weighs most in the reviews.
What does a changeover cleaning include?
- Removing used linen and making the beds with a clean set.
- Bathrooms thoroughly, kitchen (empty fridge, hob, microwave, rubbish bin), floors, dust, interior glass if needed.
- Restocking: toilet paper, soap, bags, welcome kit.
- Inspection: that everything works and nothing is missing (it is when damage is spotted).
- Notifying the manager or the owner of anything broken or missing.
Cleaning a 4-place flat takes one person two to three hours. On same-day changeovers (one leaves at 11, another arrives at 16) it has to be punctual and organised.
Who pays for it?
The guest, as "cleaning costs" or a "cleaning fee" added to the booking price. On Booking it is configured as a supplement; on Airbnb, as a cleaning fee. Careful: the platforms take their commission on that amount too (Airbnb says so expressly), so the supplement must cover the cleaning plus the commission.
How much does it cost?
| Home | Check-out cleaning (with laundry) |
|---|---|
| Studio, 2 places | €35 – 50 |
| Flat, 4 places | €45 – 80 |
| Flat or house, 6 places | €70 – 110 |
It depends on whether the linen is washed in the flat or at a laundry, on distance and on whether it has to be done on a Sunday or public holiday. Managers with several homes have their own teams and laundry, which makes it cheaper and, above all, guarantees the changeover gets done even if the usual person is ill.
Linen in the flat or laundry?
- Washing in the flat: cheap, but a domestic washing machine cannot handle two sets of sheets and six towels in two hours, and in August nothing dries. Fine for a studio with one changeover a week.
- Industrial laundry: dirty linen is collected and clean linen delivered. Sheets pressed at high temperature, white towels that look clean. It is the standard for a flat that changes over two or three times a week.
The minimum is two complete sets per bed (one on, one in reserve) and three if changeovers are frequent.
Do you have to clean during the stay?
It is not mandatory. On stays of more than a week, a mid-stay linen change is offered (sometimes included, sometimes as an extra). Watch out for the tax office: periodic cleaning during the stay can turn the rental into a "hotel service" with VAT; a weekly linen change on long stays is common practice and is not considered so on its own, but it is best not to offer "daily cleaning" unless you know what it implies. See Is there VAT on holiday rentals?.
How is quality controlled?
With a checklist per stay (the same every time) and photos on finishing: bed made, bathroom, kitchen. The photos also serve as proof of the flat's condition if the next guest complains or the previous one has left damage. And with the reviews: the word "clean" or "dirty" appears in most of them.
What happens when it fails?
A guest walking into an uncleaned flat is a one-star review and, often, a refund. That is why whoever manages several homes always has someone as backup and an hour's margin between check-out and check-in. If you manage it yourself with a single trusted person, have a plan B for when that person cannot.