Cleaning guide
Old Town · Hill View
Welcome, and thank you for looking after our guests! We’re Airbnb Superhosts with a Superb score on Booking.com, and guests often tell us our apartments feel like a real home, not a rental. That happens because of the care you put in. Everything you need is below. Any questions at all, just ask.
Part 1 · Both apartments
The basics
Keys: keep your set. Guest set always back in the lockbox. Your key opens the supply cupboard.
Clean linen and towels: under the bed. Always keep 2 spare full sets.
One full set = duvet cover, sheet, 4 pillowcases, 2 bath + 2 hand + 2 face towels, 1 make-up towel, bath mat, tea towel and dish cloth.
Also in each flat: 2 beach towels, and 2 travel cot sets (sheet, cover, pillowcase, towel).
Your cleaning, step by step
From booking to getting paid, everything happens in two places: WhatsApp and Octo Clean (a private link Anna sends you once; pin it in our chat). A clean takes about 2 hours, and thorough beats fast. Can’t make one? Tell Anna as early as possible.
Say yes
New cleaning? Tap Yes, happy to! or Sorry, not this time.
Start
When you arrive, tap ▶️ I have started.
Finish
Tap ✅ I have finished. Say how many spare linen sets are left and add photos of anything broken.
Pay
Your cleans and what you are owed are in the Done tab. Anna pays by bank transfer, as agreed.
What matters most
Checklist
🧹 All rooms
- Dust all surfaces
- Mirrors and glass streak-free
- Hoover and mop
- Check drawers and cupboards: no hair, nothing left behind
- Water all the plants (guests love them) and pick off any yellow leaves. A plant looking unwell, pests or a broken pot? Tell Anna with a photo
🍳 Kitchen
- Dishes washed and put away
- Bins emptied, fresh bags
- Fridge emptied and wiped. 2 water bottles in the fridge
- Worktops, hob, oven, appliances wiped. Sink dry
- Refill dish and hand soap
- 1 kitchen roll out
- Coffee machine empty and clean. Capsules in the glass: 2 green + 2 gold
- Brita jug and French press clean and empty, no water left inside
- Tea and coffee restocked (list below)
- Welcome basket on the kitchen table (list below)
- Refill the sweets bowl
- House manual and guidebook on the counter
- By the sink: fresh tea towel, cloth, sponge + 2 laundry capsules
☕ Tea and coffee
- Instant coffee sachets (Nescafé Clássico), normal and decaf
- Milky coffee sachets (galão or cappuccino)
- Ground coffee for the French press
- Black tea (Lipton Yellow Label)
- Fruit and herbal teas, a mix of flavours
- Sugar sachets and sweetener sticks in the glass
- Milk pods
- Honey
🧺 Welcome basket
- 2 tins of Portuguese sardines (1 in olive oil, 1 in tomato)
- 2 packs of crackers: 1 from the grey box (wholegrain) + 1 from the blue box (no salt on top). Use up the orange packs first, until they run out
- 2 bags of nuts (pistachios and almonds)
- 1 pack of Belgas waffle biscuits (Hill View only, for now)
- 1 pack of palmiers
- 2 Biscoff packs
- 2 small jars of jam (peach and strawberry)
🚿 Bathroom
- Toilet inside and out
- Shower, sink, taps, mirror clean and dry
- Shower drain: lift the cover, pull out all hair, then pour in drain cleaner and rinse with hot water (old pipes in Old Town, do this every clean)
- Toilet paper: 1 on the holder + 3 spare in the bathroom drawer
- Refill soaps and dispensers
- Fresh bin bag and floor mat
🛏️ Bedroom
- Fresh sheets, bed made as in the photos (see each apartment in Part 2)
- Towels on the bed: 2 bath + 2 hand + 2 face towels, rolled, and 1 black makeup towel
- Swap throws and cushions if dirty
- Cushions arranged
Clothes cupboard
- Safe open and empty
- Fresh beach towels, if the used ones were taken
- Beach pillows: replace if dirty
- Beach toys and cooling bag back in place
👋 Set up for the next guests
Octo Clean shows who is coming next: how many, their first names, any children and a dog.
- A welcome note with their first names. Cards: under the bed in Old Town, in the utility room in Hill View
- 3 or more guests: make up the sofa bed (both flats have one)
- A baby: set up the cot and the high chair. Cot: inside the sofa in Old Town (or the cupboard with the safe), the utility cupboard in Hill View. Cot sheets and towel are with the spare linen under the bed
- A dog: the bowl with water, the dog bed and a few treats. Kept under the bed in Old Town, in the utility room in Hill View
✅ Before you leave
- Heaters off and unplugged, cords coiled. Radiators off
- Fans and appliances off. Oven knobs on 0
- Broom and mop back by the fridge
- Switch every light on and off once to check all bulbs work. If a bulb is dead, just let Anna know
- Every light off when you leave, the balcony light in Hill View too (it was left on last time)
- Dirty linen bagged and left at the drop spot (where: see Old Town or Hill View in Part 2)
- Guest keys back in the lockbox. Door closed
- Tap ✅ I have finished in Octo Clean
📦 What belongs in each flat
If anything is missing or broken, tell Anna in the Flat tab of Octo Clean.
| Item | Old Town | Hill View |
|---|---|---|
| Full linen sets (spare), under the bed | 2 | 2 |
| Travel cot sets | 2 | 2 |
| Beach towels, clothes cupboard | 2 | 2 |
| Kitchen roll | 1 out | 1 out |
| Toilet paper, bathroom drawer | 1 + 3 spare | 1 + 3 spare |
| Black recycling bins | 1 set | 1 set |
| Large / main plates | 4 | 6 or 8 (to check) |
| Small / dessert plates | 4 | 6 or 8 (to check) |
| Bowls | 4 cream | 6 or 8 (to check) |
| Kids’ set: bowls + cups (teal, orange, navy, yellow) | 4 + 4 | 4 + 4 |
| Mugs | 4 white/yellow | to check |
| Espresso cups | 4 | 6 |
| Cappuccino cups | 4 | 8 (4 light blue + 4 navy) |
| Wine glasses | 4 | to check |
| Tumblers | 4 textured + 8 short | 6 |
| Coupe glasses | 4 | to check |
| Portable aircon | 1 | – |
| Dehumidifier | 1 | – |
Part 2 · Apartment details
Which apartment?
Tap the apartment you are cleaning. Everything inside the coloured box applies only to that apartment.
Dirty linen: inside the white door in the ground floor hallway (your key opens it). Put it in the bags left there.
Supplies: locked cupboard. Cleaning kit under the kitchen sink.
Hoover: in the living room wardrobe next to the sofa.
Old Town extras
- Shutters up: pull the strap (see the sticker by the window)
- Curtains tied to one side so the strap is visible (see photo)
- Windows tilted open for fresh air: only the top of the window opens inwards, like the photo
- Dehumidifier: empty the water tank and switch it off
- Honey and ground coffee go in the cargo drawer, not in the tea basket
Hair and body dispensers
How to refill the dispensers
- Push the small key into the slot on top of the dispenser to unlock it.
- Lift the lid open.
- Pour in HAIR or BODY, stopping just below the top of the level window.
- Close the lid firmly until it clicks, then take the key out.
- Press the lever a few times to check it dispenses.
Photos
Dirty linen: in bags, inside the green shed in the garage, space 7 (see photos).
Supplies: in the storage space behind the door in the kitchen.
Hoover: central vacuum system.
Hill View extras
- 2 dishwasher tabs by the sink
- Dishwasher: run the Universal programme
- Terrace: tidy up, clean anything dirty, water the plants and wipe the white table and chairs
Photos
Thank you. Our reviews are as good as they are because of you.
Anna