A Smarter Approach to Deep Cleaning
VRMA Staff
4/13/2026
Deep cleaning has traditionally meant taking a property offline and tackling everything at once. But for many operators, that approach is becoming harder to sustain, especially during peak seasons.
Instead, some teams are shifting to a more targeted model, focusing on the areas guests notice first and building those tasks into regular operations. The goal is to maintain a consistently high standard without the disruption of full-property deep cleans.
Jonathan Wicks, founder and CEO of Well & Good Professional Services, shares how his team prioritizes high-impact areas, structures a rotating system for deeper cleaning tasks, and keeps staff engaged in identifying issues before they become problems.
When you think about targeted deep cleaning, what are the areas in a vacation rental that guests notice most quickly if they’re overlooked?
The most obvious areas noticed by guests are often dirty ceiling fans, scuffs on walls, and disorganized cabinets and drawers.
What are some examples of “high-impact” tasks your team prioritizes—things like ovens, baseboards, vents, entryways, or other areas that can quickly affect a guest’s perception of cleanliness?
Entryways are one of the most impactful areas! Keeping the keypad, door handle area, threshold, and door itself clean goes a long way toward the initial perception of the guest. Don’t neglect the entryway!
How do you structure a rotation for these deeper cleaning tasks without taking properties offline for extended periods?
We use a “weekly emphasis” where we highlight emphasis items each week that our teams can focus on as they are completing standard turns. The emphasis items are:
- Walls/baseboards
- Cabinets/drawers
- Windows/closets
- Exteriors and entryways
What systems or processes do you use to ensure these items are flagged and addressed—checklists, inspections, property management software, or team reporting?
At the end of each work order, we ask each team if they took action on any emphasis items. This helps remind the teams of them as well as allows us to know what was or wasn't highlighted.
How do you train housekeeping staff to identify issues that need deeper attention beyond the standard turnover clean?
Having a dedicated team to work to get a resolution for items like rug stains, torn furniture, damaged towel holders, and more gives our cleaning professionals the support they need. Often, the cleaning professional feels like they are “reporting to nowhere,” and that leads to apathy all over. Our teams know that if they are reporting something, Well & Good is going to work to get a resolution on the matter.
From an operations standpoint, have you seen cost, scheduling, or efficiency benefits from a targeted deep-clean approach compared with traditional full-property deep cleans?
We’ve absolutely seen a reduction in the dependency on deep cleans. They are still needed on occasion (once a year minimum and if there is a really bad guest, etc.), but when we complete them, our teams are focused more on the “unreachable” areas like under furniture, appliances, high reach, etc., rather than baseboards, cabinets, and those items that really should be done on a more regular emphasis.