The windowSix hours between ten and four
A changeover is the only part of short-stay work with a deadline set by somebody else. The departure is ten in the morning, the arrival is four in the afternoon, and the six hours between them are not negotiable once both bookings are confirmed. Every allowance this office plans against comes out of that bar.
The flat is held either side of the window. Work that cannot be finished inside it has to move to a night when the flat is empty.
OrderThe order the work is done in
The order matters more than the speed, because three of these steps have to dry and two of them cannot be undone. Beds are stripped before anything else so the laundry leaves with the crew that arrives, and the bathroom is done last but one so the floor has the shortest possible time to collect dust before the arrival.
- 09:45Crew arrives, parks, and reads the departure note for anything the previous guest reported.
- 10:00Keys returned to the safe; code changed before the door is opened for the first time.
- 10:10Beds stripped, towels gathered, laundry bagged and tagged with the flat number.
- 10:30Walk-round against the inventory: what is missing, what is broken, what has moved.
- 11:00Kitchen: fridge emptied and wiped, oven and hob, bin out for the collection day.
- 12:00Living and bedroom: surfaces, floors, windows if the weather allowed them to be opened.
- 13:00Restock: linen set, towels, consumables counted back to the standard list.
- 14:00Bathroom last but one, so it has the least time to gather dust.
- 15:00Meters photographed, alarms pressed, arrival note left, code confirmed to the guest.
- 16:00Arrival window opens.
Long windowWhen the turn falls on a void night
A departure with no arrival behind it is a different job. The window becomes a working day on site rather than six hours, and the things that never fit into a same-day turn are done then: curtains down, mattress protectors through the machine, limescale, the inside of the kettle, the oven shelves properly rather than quickly, touching in the paint on the door edges that every suitcase finds.
This is why the planner at step one treats a void night as ten hours and a same-day turn as six. A month with eight void nights is not merely a month with eight fewer let nights; it is a month with eight opportunities to do the work that the busy months push forward.
FaultsWhat stops a changeover
Four things stop a turn and all four are reported to the office before noon rather than at four. A failed appliance that the arrival will need. A leak, however small, under a sink or behind a machine. A lock or key safe that does not work first time. An alarm that does not sound when it is pressed. In each case the arrival is contacted while there is still a usable part of the day in which to do something about it, and a contractor is instructed against a works order that names the fault rather than the flat.
Anything else — a chipped mug, a missing teaspoon, a stain that will not come out of a cloth — is written on the changeover note, charged to nobody, and picked up on the next void night.