CleanClac: automating the cleaning of your rental

In short. CleanClac is a cleaning management app for short-term rentals, usable in a browser, on iPhone and on Android, in six languages. You plug in your Airbnb, Booking.com, Abritel, Vrbo or Google Calendar feeds via iCal link, or your management software from among Beds24, Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify, Smoobu and SuperHote: every guest departure creates the clean that goes with it, the cleaner is notified, works through an illustrated checklist and uploads a photo or video timestamped by the server. The first property is free with no time limit and no card details, the subscription starts with the second property, at 9.99 € a month for two. It is not a PMS, and it is not connected to your welcome book either.

Why cleaning remains the hand-made link in the chain

Ask a host what takes up the most time in their short-term rental. Rarely the guests. Rarely the listing. Almost always the same answer: the cleaning. Not the cleaning itself, in fact, but everything around it: watching the calendars, notifying the right person, passing on the codes, checking it has been done, handling the Saturday morning surprise.

Short-term rental has become largely professionalised: optimised listings, dynamic pricing, automated messages, digital welcome book. Cleaning, though, is still often run the way it was ten years ago, with a notebook, text messages and trust.

Yet it is an area that forgives nothing. A badly prepared property shows within the hour, ends up in the review, and drags down the cleanliness rating, one of the criteria guests scrutinise most closely before booking. On Airbnb, cleanliness is one of the categories the guest rates in stars at the end of the stay, and the average appears next to the listing as soon as three people have rated the property.

Between two stays, an invisible race against the clock plays out, and yet it is what decides the first impression of the guest who walks through the door.

How your bookings schedule the cleans on their own

It all starts from a simple observation: your booking calendar already knows when a clean is needed. Every guest departure calls for one. Rather than copying that information out by hand, CleanClac plugs straight into it.

There are two routes. The iCal link, copied from the platform, works with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Abritel, Google Calendar and any platform that publishes a calendar, even one that is not on the list. The direct connection is for hosts running management software: Beds24, Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify, Smoobu and SuperHote are supported, and depending on the software, the number of bedrooms, beds and bathrooms, the floor area or the property photo come across with the stays.

If you are still weighing up that part of the setup, our comparison on choosing rental management software is still the place to start.

Once the link is in place, the machinery runs itself. On every departure, a clean is created, the cleaner is notified straight away, and they either accept or suggest another date. You no longer monitor anything: you only deal with the exceptions.

The situation	Handled by hand	Handled by the app	The message it saves you
Departure Saturday at 10am, check-in at 4pm	You send a reminder the evening before	The clean is scheduled in the property's window	"You are still coming tomorrow, right?"
Booking made at 11pm for the next day	You discover it when you wake up	The clean is created with the booking	"I hadn't seen that booking"
The gate code has changed	You resend it to everyone	It sits in the property's vault, opened on the day of the clean	"What's the new code?"
No toilet roll left	The guest messages you	The stock count triggers the alert	"There's nothing left in the bathroom"
"It was dirty when we arrived"	Your word against theirs	The clean's record, timestamped	A refund request with no answer

The right-hand column is the right way to judge a tool of this kind. A feature that saves you no messages is of no use. And the booking made at 11pm creates its clean like any other, without waking you up.

What an illustrated checklist per property changes

Creating the clean at the right moment is not enough, it also has to be done to the right standard. That is CleanClac's second pillar: each property has its own checklist, built from a library of ready-written tasks, each with its own image and default frequency. The cleaner does not have to decipher an instruction, they see the item and the expected result.

Tasks are grouped by theme:

• Cleaning

• Finishing touches

• Linen

• Restocking

• Comfort

• Gifts

The detail that interested us most lies elsewhere: every task comes with its frequency. Airing the rooms and emptying the bin come round with every clean, dusting the light fittings once a month, cleaning the fridge every four cleans, the oven every six, the ventilation every three months. That is exactly what a home-made checklist forgets, because you write down what you do at every changeover and never what you do twice a year.

You keep what makes sense to you, rename the rest, and on the day of the clean the cleaner works through the list on their phone. The same standard of preparation for every stay, whoever turns up.

Proof that the clean was done, and what it is worth on the day of a dispute

"The property was dirty when we arrived." Faced with that complaint, most hosts have nothing but their word. CleanClac answers it with a record: actual duration of the visit, condition of the property rated out of 5 by the cleaner on arrival, photos or video timestamped by the server, on-site check-in. It is there before you ask for it.

The difference with photos sent by text message comes down to one detail: the timestamp comes from the server, not from the phone. A photo sent in a WhatsApp conversation proves that a property was clean on some day; it does not prove which day. The day a dispute arises, over a deposit, a refund or a contested review, you open the clean concerned and it is all there: dated, untouched, filed.

That traceability protects both sides, as it happens. A stay that leaves the property in a poor state is documented just as easily as a clean that was done well, and the cleaner finally has something to set against an unfair accusation. The same reasoning applies to the condition report in a holiday rental, which happens at the same hours and rests on the same photos.

Stocks, access codes, incidents: the details that end up in the reviews

Around that core, the app deals with three irritations every host knows.

Consumables first. Every clean deducts what has been replaced, quantities follow the number of guests expected, and an alert lands when the level drops below the threshold. You are warned before you run out, not by a guest's message at 9pm.

Access next. Key box codes and entry instructions live in a vault specific to each property, which only opens for the cleaner on the day of the clean, and every viewing is logged. No more codes lingering indefinitely in WhatsApp conversations. It is the same logic as our wifi and access code modules on the guest side: sensitive information is given at the right moment, not once and for all.

Incidents last. A cracked pane, a broken appliance, a suspicious stain: the cleaner reports the problem from the app, and the report goes straight onto the property's record. The information no longer gets lost between two messages.

Nobody has ever left five stars for a toilet roll. Plenty have taken one off for its absence.

How much CleanClac costs, and what the free tier really includes

The model is unusual: you pay according to the number of active properties, never according to the size of your team. On the pricing page, the first property is free forever, with no card details and no countdown. The subscription starts with the second: 9.99 € a month for two properties, 14.99 € for three or four, 19.99 € for five, then 4 € per property beyond that. Annually, 59.99 €, 89.99 € and 119.99 € depending on the tier, so half the monthly price. No commission is taken on your cleans, and cleaner accounts are free for life.

Cleaning and welcome book: the two halves of a 5-star rating

A perfectly prepared property and a well-looked-after guest: that is the combination that earns the best ratings. Cleaning handles the first impression, the one made in the first few seconds inside the property. The digital welcome book, like the one StyQR offers you, takes over for the rest of the stay: wifi, equipment, instructions, local recommendations.

The two tools in fact work on the same critical moment, the changeover between two stays: while CleanClac guarantees the property is ready and proves it, the welcome book guarantees the guest has every answer without having to come to you. Two complementary forms of automation, for a guest experience that holds up from the front door to check-out.

If cleaning is still the hand-made link in your organisation, it is probably the next job to automate: the 14-day free trial of CleanClac, with no card details, is enough to connect your calendars and watch your first cleans schedule themselves.

Frequently asked questions

Does CleanClac replace my PMS or my channel manager?
No, it sits alongside them. Your software synchronises bookings, rates and payments; CleanClac plugs into it, or into your iCal links, and handles cleaning only. Rates, guests and payments stay exactly where they are today.

Do my cleaners have to pay or install something complicated?
No. The app is free for life for cleaners, with no commission on their work. They log in with their phone number and a six-digit code you send them, from the iPhone or Android app, or simply from their phone's browser.

What if I do the cleaning myself?
You are your own cleaner, and the free one-property tier is enough. You get the checklists, the frequencies and the history. The day you delegate, the property's instructions are already in place, but you will then need a subscription to add a second account.

Is the app only for Airbnb?
No. The iCal links cover Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Abritel, Google Calendar and any platform that publishes a calendar, and the direct connections cover Beds24, Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify, Smoobu and SuperHote. With no platform at all, cleans are scheduled by hand: a gîte let directly, home cleaning, offices.

Is CleanClac connected to my StyQR welcome book?
No. The two tools are set up separately, each with its own list of properties. They meet on the ground rather than in the data: the clean prepares the property, the welcome book answers the guest's questions once they are inside.