Should You Hire or Buy Your Airbnb Linen? The Real Cost per Changeover

Written by Iva, founder of Iva Cleaning Services London.

Every host starts by buying linen. It is the obvious thing to do: two sets of sheets, a few towels, done. The question only arrives around month three, when the second set is in the wash, a guest has checked out at eleven and the next one arrives at three, and the sheets in the dryer are still damp. At that point the real cost of owning linen shows up, and it is not the price of the sheets.

This is a straight comparison of buying and hiring, worked through per changeover rather than per set, because that is the number a host actually pays. It uses typical London figures and the way our own Airbnb linen hire in London works, so you can put your own numbers in and see which way it falls for your property.

What “buying” actually costs

The purchase price is the smallest part. For a one-bedroom flat with a double bed and a sofa bed, guest-grade linen means at least three sets of bedding (one on, one in the wash, one in the cupboard) and three sets of towels per guest. A set of hotel-quality cotton bedding is £40 to £80; a bath towel, hand towel and bath mat set is £25 to £40 per guest. Call it £350 to £500 to start, more for a two-bedroom.

Then the running costs, per changeover:

• Washing and drying. A double bed set and two guests’ towels is two or three machine loads. At London energy prices a 60°C wash and a tumble-dry cycle together cost roughly £1.50 to £2.50 per load in electricity, plus detergent. Two to three loads per changeover: £4 to £7.
• Time. Stripping, loading, moving to the dryer, folding and ironing a set takes 60 to 90 minutes of someone’s time across the day, spread so that it cannot be done in one go. If a cleaner does it during the changeover the clean takes longer and costs more; if the host does it, it is unpaid work that still has a value.
• Replacement. Guest linen lasts 60 to 100 washes at 60°C before it greys, thins or pills. At two changeovers a week a set is worn out inside a year. Stains that will not shift, a lost pillowcase, a towel used to clean a shoe: in practice hosts replace about a third of their linen stock every year. On a £450 stock that is £150 a year, or about £1.50 per changeover.
• Storage. Three sets of bedding and towels need a cupboard. In a studio or a one-bedroom let, that cupboard is often the one the guest should have.
• Standard drift. Home-washed linen is never quite hotel linen. It is folded, not pressed; the whites go slowly grey; the towels lose their nap. Guests do not write “the sheets were slightly grey” in reviews, but they write “felt a bit tired” and score four stars instead of five.

Added up, home-laundered linen costs most hosts somewhere between £8 and £14 per changeover for a one-bedroom flat once energy, replacement and a modest value on time are included, and considerably more if a cleaner is doing the laundry on the clock.

What hiring costs

Linen hire is a fixed price per set delivered, which covers the linen, the commercial laundering, the pressing, the delivery of clean sets and the collection of used ones. You hold no stock, you do no washing, and the sets that arrive are hotel-grade every time because they are laundered at commercial temperatures and pressed by machine.

The per-changeover price depends on the bed sizes, the number of guests and how often you turn over, and it is quoted for the property rather than from a list. The structure of our service: linen is delivered on a 14 or 21-day rental period and exchanged at the end of it, re-hire charges apply if sets are kept beyond that, and lost or damaged items are charged at replacement cost. Delivery is combined with the changeover clean where we do both, which removes the extra trip.

The cost that hosts under-estimate on hire is the one that goes away: the Sunday afternoon spent at the laundrette with a bin bag of sheets because a guest left at eleven and the next one is at three.

What “hotel quality” actually means

The phrase is used loosely, so here is what to look for whether you buy or hire. Bedding in white, so it can be washed hot and bleached when needed and so stains show and get treated rather than hidden. Cotton or a cotton-rich percale or sateen of a weight that survives commercial laundering; very high thread counts are a marketing number and often a finer, weaker yarn. Towels of 500 to 600 gsm (grams per square metre), which is the weight that feels substantial and still dries overnight; heavier towels stay damp in a London flat in January. Everything washed at 60°C or above and pressed, not just dried, because pressing is what makes a bed look like a hotel bed. A hire service should be able to tell you the weight, the fibre and the wash temperature without looking anything up.

A worked comparison

Put a value on your own time and the comparison usually comes out close on money and clearly in hire’s favour on everything else. The exception is a property that turns over once a fortnight or less, where home laundering is cheap, unhurried and fine.

When buying still makes sense

• You let infrequently (fewer than four changeovers a month) and you live nearby.
• You have a washer-dryer in the property and a cleaner who is paid by the hour and can run loads during the clean.
• The property is outside a delivery area, or access for deliveries is difficult.
• You want a particular style of bedding (coloured, patterned, specific brand) that a hire service does not stock.

When hiring makes sense

• Two or more changeovers a week, or any same-day turnovers.
• No washer-dryer, or a small one, or no space to dry.
• More than one property, where stock, washing and transport multiply.
• You want hotel-standard presentation every time without managing it.
• You are not in London, or not reliably available, and need the changeover to happen without you.

How much linen you need either way

Whichever route you take, the number of sets is the thing to get right. Too few and a late check-out breaks the day; too many and money and cupboard space sit idle. We set par levels for hire clients the same way a hotel does, by bed and by turnover, and the method is in how many sets of bedding does an Airbnb need?. If you are moving from buying to hiring, the full changeover routine, linen included, is in our Airbnb cleaning checklist.

Want a per-changeover price for your property? Get a free quote with the bed sizes and your typical turnover, and we come back within one working hour.