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Our Top 9 Tips for Laundering Your Vacation Rental Linens at Home

Our Top 9 Tips for Laundering Your Vacation Rental Linens at Home

So much depends on the back-to-back turnover.

If you own or manage short-term rentals/Airbnb properties, you know what we’re talking about: nothing tests how well you’ve streamlined your operations than those days when you have one group of guests leaving at 11am and another arriving at 4pm.

The most time-consuming of all housekeeping chores, of course, is laundering the linens—and the more beds you have, the more challenging it is. But don’t let laundry be the wrench in your system! Here are some ways to ensure a more seamless turnover if you launder your linens at home.

(In another post, we’ll cover the tips and tricks for laundering your linens commercially, at an off-site location. Stay tuned!)

  1. Buy a second washer/dryer set.

    If you have the space and budget for it, purchasing a second set washer and dryer can work wonders for speeding up the laundry process. Limited space or budget? Laundry backup tends to happen at the drying stage, so a second dryer might be all you need.

  2. Use cotton/poly blend sheets.

    Cotton/poly blend sheets are the hospitality standard for their ease of laundering and soft feel. A tip: the more cotton the sheet has in its blend, the softer it is—and the more wrinkle-prone/high-maintenance it will be. Sheets made from 100% cotton are softest, but it’s difficult to get that smooth, hotel-like look. They’re also not as durable. And most importantly—100% cotton sheets take longer to dry, which could slow down the laundering process.

A 60/40 blend provides just the right balance between comfort, durability, and quick dry times.


  1. Be eagle-eyed in your search for stains.

    Make sure to inspect sheets for stains before tossing them in the wash—or instruct your housekeeping staff to do the same. Pre-treatment is essential for getting those sheets looking as good as new. Turn to our Shout© Stain Remover Wipes for smaller stains, or mix a blend of non-chlorine bleach and water and soak to treat.

  1. Use laundry pods!

    Pre-packaged laundry pods like our Tide Pods© are great for hospitality. They’re quick to toss into the wash, and the pre-measured quantities ensures your cleaners are not overusing product. Bonus: if your guests have access to your washer and dryer, the pods ensure they don’t overdo it with detergent, either.

  1. Be mindful of linen par.

    Take a page from the hotels on this one: “Linen par” is a set number of linen that an accommodation provider should have on-hand at any given time. For vacation and short-term rentals, three is the magic number. That’s three fitted sheets, three flat sheets, three pillowcases per pillow, and three towel sets for every guest (based on max occupancy).

This ensures that if your cleaners don’t get to the laundry before the next guests check in, they’re still able to get the beds ready. Then, the third set is ready and waiting for guests in case of emergency. (Be sure to keep one of the two spare sets in a locked owners’ closet.)

  1. Don’t wash sheets and towels together.

    It’s tempting to throw all your linens together in one load to speed things up. Resist the temptation! If you wash and dry your sheets and towels in the same load, you risk getting pilling on your sheets—and friction from the towels will reduce the longevity of your bedding.

  1. Iron only your pillowcases.

    In an ideal world, there would be time to iron all of your linens for an inviting, crisp appearance on your vacation rental beds. But when dealing with the back-to-back turnover, it’s simply not realistic! The cotton-poly blend sheets we recommend aren’t as wrinkle-prone as full cotton, which helps, but for the sticklers out there, ironing just your pillowcases is a quick way to dress up your bed and invite guests to sink in for a long night’s sleep.

  1. Choose hotel-quality sheets over retail brands.

    You will wash your vacation rental sheets significantly more often than your sheets at your own home, so be sure to choose sheets that are up to the task. Commercial, hotel-quality linens are designed to withstand 100 washings—that’s 60% more cycles than retail brands. Plus, they are often pre-laundered and pre-shrunk, with color-coded hem threads for easy size identification (a huge plus when you have multiple beds in multiple sizes at your rental). In addition, many hotel-quality brands meet the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification for purity.

  2. Consider triple sheeting your bed.

    Bulky bedspreads and comforters are time-consuming (and expensive!) to launder. Triple sheeting replaces the comforter with a lightweight blanket and an extra top sheet. Another option is the trusty duvet with a removable cover.