Cleaning is an art. Doing it with your heart.
If you own a cottage rental, you already know: cleaning can make or break your guest experience. Guests will forgive a squeaky screen door or an old couch, but they won’t forgive dirty sheets, missed garbage, or the smell of last weekend’s fire pit drifting inside.
On the Beyond the Listing podcast, we sat down with Alina Lapteva, founder of Your Lifestyle Cleaning. She started as an Airbnb co-host, scaled to 25 units in downtown Toronto, then pivoted into running a 30-person cleaning company. Her journey is packed with lessons cottage owners can use to avoid bad reviews, protect their investment, and keep their rentals five-star ready.
Why Cottage Cleaning Is Different (and Harder)
City condos are one thing. Cottages are another beast entirely:
Bigger footprint: More rooms, more beds, more bathrooms, more outdoor space.
Nature factor: Sand, bugs, pollen, and campfire smoke sneak into every corner.
Seasonal rush: Summer means back-to-back turnovers with no buffer days.
Septic systems: Guests flushing wipes or overusing shampoo can cause real damage.
Weather wear: Mud, snow, and wet gear create messes that condos never see.
As Alina put it:
“Turnovers are stressful because the time window is so small. But at cottages, you’re dealing with even more — laundry, outdoor furniture, BBQs, docks, fire pits. It’s back-to-back and there’s no margin for error.”
5 Cleaning Lessons Cottage Owners Can Steal
1. Hire Slow, Fire Fast
Alina’s team doesn’t just hire cleaners off a job board. They test them with:
A home clean test (before/after photos of their own home).
Training videos and detailed checklists.
Shadowing experienced cleaners for multiple turnovers.
For cottage owners, this matters: don’t let just anyone handle your property. Seasonal staff may seem convenient, but the wrong cleaner can cost you thousands in refunds or damage.
2. Train for the “Detail Eye”
Most people don’t notice sand in the entryway or a hair on white bedding. Guests do.
Alina trains her staff to see what owners (and guests) see:
Stamped toilet paper
Aligned shampoo bottles with labels facing forward
Pillows placed with hotel precision
“Cleaning is an art. Doing it with your heart.”
In a cottage, it’s the same: the small details make guests feel like they’re in a luxury retreat, not someone else’s old family cabin.
3. Systems Protect Your Investment
At 50+ properties, you can’t physically check every clean. Systems do the heavy lifting:
Checklists for every room (yes, even the Muskoka Room).
Timestamped photo proof for before/after documentation (critical for Airbnb’s AirCover).
Tech tools to assign, schedule, and confirm turnover tasks.
For cottage rentals, where guest issues often involve garbage, firewood, BBQs, and septic, systems are the difference between chaos and smooth operations.
4. Respect the Turnover Window
Most cottages run on 10 a.m. check-out / 4 p.m. check-in. That’s not much time for:
Travel time in cottage country.
Full laundry loads (often 5+ beds plus towels).
BBQ scrubbing.
Restocking firewood, propane, or lake gear.
Deep cleaning kitchens after a week of heavy cooking.
This is why cleaning fees are higher at cottages — they’re not “just a quick sweep.”
5. Prepare for the Unexpected (Parties, Floods, Fires)
Cottages attract groups. Groups throw parties. And sometimes, guests treat bathrooms like wet rooms (yes, floods happen).
That’s why Alina stresses:
Noise monitoring devices
Guest vetting
Clear house rules
Cottage owners who ignore this risk end up with ruined carpets, smoke-damaged furniture, or even septic overflows. Prevention is cheaper than repair.
Why This Matters for Cottage Owners
Cottages aren’t condos. They’re bigger, messier, and harder to maintain. But they’re also where the highest rental revenues are made — families and groups paying premium rates expect hotel-level cleanliness in a rustic setting.
Alina’s story proves one thing: the hosts who scale are the ones who treat cleaning as a system, not an afterthought.
Final Takeaway
If you want to maximize your cottage rental revenue, you need:
A reliable, trained cleaning team
Detailed checklists and photo proof
Systems that make sure every turnover is consistent
At Homeseeker Vacation Homes, this is exactly what we build into our management service. Because your guests aren’t just booking a cottage — they’re booking a 5-star experience.
👉 Want to learn how to get your cottage rental ready for back-to-back summer bookings?
