Short-Let Damage Reports: What a Photo Inspection Should Cover After Every Guest

Written by Iva, founder of Iva Cleaning Services London.

Damage in a short let is rarely dramatic. It is a scorch ring on a worktop, a cracked toilet seat, a wine stain on the sofa, a missing hairdryer, a chipped tile behind the hob. Individually each one is £20 to £200. Across a year and a portfolio they add up to the difference between a profitable unit and a tired one, and the only thing that decides whether the cost lands on the host or on the guest is whether there is a dated photograph of the item before and after that guest’s stay.

This guide sets out what a photo inspection after every check-out should cover, how to timestamp and file it, what Airbnb’s host damage protection requires and by when, and how to turn the inspection into a report that a guest, a platform or an insurer will accept. It is the inspection our cleaners carry out on every changeover for hosts and operators using our short-let and multi-unit management in London.

Why the cleaner does the inspection

The cleaner is the first person in the property after the guest leaves and the last before the next one arrives. That makes them the only person who can document the state of the flat at the exact point between stays, which is what any claim depends on. It also means the inspection has to be fast and systematic, because it is done inside the changeover window. A fixed route, a fixed shot list and a phone is enough.

The shot list: what to photograph after every guest

Before anything is cleaned or moved. Wide shot of each room from the door, then the specifics:

Living room

• Sofa: each seat cushion lifted and the cushion underneath, the arms, the back. Stains, burns, tears, pet hair.
• Coffee table and dining table surfaces, for rings, scratches and heat marks.
• TV screen (on, with the remote in shot), speakers, any games console.
• Rugs and carpet, particularly under the coffee table and by the sofa.
• Walls at hand height and behind the sofa; scuffs and marks.
• Curtains or blinds: the mechanism works, no tears.

Kitchen

• Worktops, especially either side of the hob, for burns and knife marks.
• Hob and oven, interior and glass. Grease is cleaning; a cracked hob is damage.
• Fridge interior, for spills and for anything left behind.
• Inventory items with a count: pans, plates, glasses, cutlery, the kettle, the toaster, small appliances. A glass count is the most commonly used.
• Sink and tap, for chips and for the tap working.
• Bin area and floor.

Bedrooms

• Mattress stripped: both sides if the protector is stained through, otherwise the top. Stains on a mattress are the single most expensive common item.
• Headboard, bedside tables and lamps.
• Wardrobe interior, drawers, hangers count, iron and ironing board, hairdryer present.
• Carpet and walls as for the living room.

Bathrooms

• Toilet seat and lid, for cracks; cistern lid in place.
• Shower screen, tray and tiles, for cracks and chips; the sealant.
• Basin and taps; the mirror; the towel rail attached to the wall.
• Towel count against the par, and any towels stained with make-up, fake tan or hair dye (these are damage, not laundry).
• Extractor fan running.

Whole property

• Keys and fobs present and counted. Lockbox code changed if used.
• Windows and doors close and lock; any broken handle or latch.
• Smoke and CO alarms present with the light on.
• Meter reading if the host tracks utilities on long stays.
• Evidence of smoking, pets where not allowed, or extra guests (bedding on the sofa, extra towels used); each is a house-rule breach with a defined charge if the listing says so.
• Anything left behind by the guest, photographed and bagged.

Thirty to forty photographs for a one-bedroom flat, taken in about ten minutes along the same route every time. The after-clean photographs (made beds, bathroom, kitchen) are a separate set and double as proof of the standard the next guest received.

Timestamps and filing

A photograph without a provable date is an anecdote. Phone cameras embed the date and time in the file; make sure that setting is on and the clock is right. Many checklist apps stamp the time and the booking reference onto the image itself, which is better. File the set against the booking (guest name, check-out date, unit), not in a general camera roll, and keep it for at least the length of time in which a claim can be made plus a margin: twelve months is a sensible minimum. The “before” set for any claim is the previous changeover’s “after” set, which is why the after-clean photographs matter as much as the damage ones.

Airbnb’s host damage protection: the deadline

Airbnb’s AirCover for Hosts includes host damage protection, which the platform describes as covering certain damage a guest causes to the home or belongings if they do not pay for the repairs. The conditions that matter for the inspection:

• The reimbursement request must be submitted within 14 days of the responsible guest’s checkout. Miss it and the claim is out of time regardless of the evidence.
• Airbnb asks hosts to document the issue with photos or videos and to obtain repair or cleaning estimates and/or receipts.
• The request goes through the Resolution Centre to the guest first, and to Airbnb Support if the guest declines or does not respond; supporting documentation should be submitted within the same 14-day window.
• The programme is described as covering up to a stated limit (quoted in US dollars) and it is not insurance; it has exclusions, including normal wear and tear and some categories of item. Read the current terms rather than relying on a summary, including this one.

Other platforms have their own windows and processes, usually also measured in days from check-out. The practical consequence is the same: the inspection has to happen at the changeover, not when the next guest complains, because by then the clock has often run out and the evidence is contaminated by another stay.

Turning the inspection into a report

A report a guest or a platform accepts has five parts: the dated photograph of the damage, the dated photograph of the same item before the stay, a one-line description of what and where, the cost to put it right (a receipt for a replacement, a quote for a repair, or the itemised line from a cleaning invoice for a stain treatment), and the house rule or listing line it breaches if that applies. Send it the same day the cleaner finds it. A claim raised promptly, with both photographs and a reasonable figure, is usually accepted by the guest without going further.

Cleaning-related damage is the grey area. Ordinary dirt is cleaning and is covered by the cleaning fee. A stain that needs a professional upholstery or mattress clean beyond the changeover is a reasonable claim, with the invoice; the methods and prices are in how to clean a fabric sofa and how to clean a mattress. Hair dye on towels, fake tan on sheets and wax on a carpet are damage, and the replacement cost is the claim.

Scaling it across a portfolio

For ten units or more the inspection has to be a standard shot list on a digital checklist, completed by the cleaner on every changeover, reviewed by a supervisor the same day, with anything flagged going to the operator before the next guest arrives. That is the only way a 14-day window is reliably met across a hundred changeovers a month. How that fits into the day, with cut-off times and supervision, is in managing cleaning across ten-plus Airbnb units. The cleaning standard the “after” photographs document is set out in our Airbnb cleaning standards post.

Want every changeover to come with a dated photo report? Get a free quote for a single unit or a portfolio and we come back within one working hour.