How to Track Your Airbnb Cleaning Score — And See How You Stack Up Against Competitors

In the STR landscape – it’s not enough to just know your own stats. Most STR hosts have no idea how their cleaning score compares to their competition. They only know their own rating. They might check a competitor’s listing occasionally. But they’re not tracking the data — and they’re not making decisions based on it.

That’s a problem. Because cleanliness isn’t just a hospitality detail. It’s a revenue driver. And if you’re not driving your drive, you’re not driving your revenue.

Here’s what I know from my own business: when I brought cleaning in-house and implemented tighter standards, my cleaning reviews improved by 15% — and my average daily rate went up by 5%. That’s not a coincidence. When guests trust that a property is clean…they pay more, book again, and leave better reviews. The numbers follow the standard.

That’s exactly why I collaborated with Futurestay to bring the Clean Connection to life.

Key Takeaways

• Cleanliness is one of the most impactful factors for repeat bookings and Superhost status — and most hosts aren’t tracking it systematically
• The Clean Connection is a free tool that gives you your Airbnb cleanliness score, updates it weekly, and lets you benchmark against your competitors
• You can add your own custom comp set to see how your cleaning scores and cleaning fees compare to specific properties in your market
• Cleaning fee strategy is a business decision — a $0 cleaning fee attracts a different guest than a paid cleaning fee, and the data helps you make that call intentionally
• You do not need a Futurestay account to use the Clean Connection — it’s completely free and standalone
• This tool was designed for data-driven decisions: understanding how your cleaning performance connects to your occupancy and ADR over time

 

Why Cleaning Scores Matter More Than Most Hosts Realize

Let’s be honest about what a cleaning score actually represents.

It’s not just about whether your floors are swept and your windows are streak-free. It’s a signal — to guests, to Airbnb’s algorithm, and to prospective property owners considering who to hire — about how seriously you take your operation.

Airbnb weights cleanliness heavily in its ranking and Superhost calculations. A guest who rates your property a 4 on cleanliness is unlikely to rebook. And in a market where two properties are otherwise comparable, a 5.0 cleaning score versus a 4.9 is the difference that tips a booking decision.

I’ve watched this play out over and over. The hosts who track their cleaning data — and make decisions based on it — outperform the ones who assume things are fine because no one has complained.

No complaints is not the same as a clean property. It just means guests didn’t say anything.

 

What Is the Clean Connection?

The Clean Connection is a free data tool born out of a collaboration between me and Futurestay. It connects to your Airbnb listing and gives you a real-time view of your cleanliness score, your guest reviews, and how you’re performing against your competitors — updated every week.

You can access it by clicking here. No Futurestay account required. No upsells. Just data.

Here’s what it gives you:

Your Cleanliness Score and Review History

When you connect your Airbnb listing, the tool pulls in your cleanliness score — the rating guests have given you specifically on cleanliness — and displays your full review history alongside it. You can see your score over time on a performance timeline, going back up to a year, so you can spot trends: Is your score consistent? Did it dip after you switched cleaning teams? Has it improved since you tightened your checklist?

The score updates every Sunday with fresh data. You’ll also get a weekly email snapshot so you don’t have to log in to stay informed.

Your Key Performance Metrics

Alongside your cleanliness score, the Clean Connection displays your occupancy rate and average daily rate. This matters because the goal isn’t to track cleanliness in a vacuum — it’s to understand how your cleaning performance connects to your revenue. When your cleanliness score goes up, does your ADR follow? When it dips, does occupancy suffer?

That relationship is what the tool is designed to make visible.

Your Competitor Comparison

This is where it gets interesting.

The Clean Connection lets you add your own custom comp set — the specific Airbnb listings you want to benchmark against. You enter the Airbnb URL for each competitor, and the tool loads their cleanliness score and their cleaning fee side by side with yours.

You can see immediately: Are you outperforming your comp set on cleanliness? Are you charging more for cleaning than your competitors? Less? And what does the data suggest about how those decisions are affecting your position in the market?

 

How to Use the Clean Connection to Win Co-Host and Management Conversations

Here’s a use case that doesn’t get talked about enough.

If you’re a co-host or property manager in conversations with prospective owners, you’re often competing against other managers they’re considering. Owners want to know: why should I choose you?

Most co-hosts answer that question with testimonials, marketing language, or general claims about their process. What if you answered it with data?

Pull up the Clean Connection and show a prospective owner exactly how your cleaning scores compare to the other managers they’re evaluating — or the managers already operating in their building. A 5.0 versus a 4.9 doesn’t sound like much until you explain what that difference means for repeat bookings, Superhost status, and ADR.

Cleanliness goes hand in hand with property care. A high cleaning score signals to an owner that their investment is being protected. That’s a compelling conversation — and now you have the data to have it.

Want to learn more about Co-Hosting? Check out my e-book here to learn more on starting and scaling a profitable STR Co-Hosting business. 

What Is a Good Airbnb Cleanliness Score and How Do You Improve It?

A good Airbnb cleanliness score is 4.9 or higher, with 5.0 being the target for hosts pursuing Superhost status and competitive positioning in search results. Airbnb weights cleanliness heavily in its ranking algorithm, and guests consistently cite it as the factor most likely to influence whether they rebook or recommend a property. 

To improve your cleanliness score, start by reviewing your existing guest feedback to identify specific patterns — not just overall ratings, but mentions of particular areas or items that guests noticed. 

Next, make your cleaning inspection checklist more prescriptive: replace vague items like “check bathroom” with specific actions, required photos, and yes/no verification questions. 

Finally, track your score consistently over time. Hosts who monitor cleanliness data weekly are faster to identify when something has shifted — a new cleaning team, a new property, a seasonal change in turnover volume — and faster to correct it before it compounds into review damage.

 

The Cleaning Fee Question: What the Data Actually Shows

One of the most common conversations I have with my Airbnb market manager is about cleaning fees. The feedback is almost always the same: your cleaning fees are higher than your comps.

My response is also always the same: cleaning is not free. I’m not volunteering my cleaners. I have to pay them — and I’m not going to hide that cost by baking it into the nightly rate and pretending it doesn’t exist.

But here’s what the Clean Connection makes visible in a new way: when you see a competitor with a $0 cleaning fee and a lower cleanliness score, that data tells a story. A $0 cleaning fee attracts a different guest. It signals a different expectation. And in many cases, it produces a different level of care for the property.

That doesn’t mean a cleaning fee is always the right call for every host. It means you should make that decision with data — not just because your market manager said your fee is too high, and not just because you saw a competitor doing it differently.

Look at the scores. Look at the fees. Look at the occupancy. Make the call based on what you actually see — not what you assume.

 

How to Get Started with the Clean Connection

Getting started takes less than five minutes.

Go to https://cleanconnection.futurestay.com/ and create your free account with your name and email. You’ll receive a confirmation link to access your dashboard.

From there, add your Airbnb listing by pasting in your listing URL. The tool will pull in your cleanliness score, review history, occupancy, and ADR automatically.

To set up your competitor comparison, go to the Clean Competition section and add the Airbnb URLs of the properties you want to benchmark against. The best comp set includes properties in your same neighborhood with similar bedroom counts. If you already have a custom comp set in PriceLabs, that’s the fastest place to grab your competitor links.

Once you’re set up, you’ll receive a weekly email summary every Sunday with updated data. You can also log in anytime to view your performance timeline and comp comparison.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Clean Connection?

The Clean Connection is a free data tool built in collaboration with Futurestay that lets Airbnb hosts track their cleanliness score, monitor guest review trends, and benchmark their cleaning performance against competitors. It connects to your Airbnb listing and updates your data every week, delivering a summary to your email each Sunday. You can access it at cleanconnection.Futurestay.com — no Futurestay account required.

Is the Clean Connection really free?

Yes — completely free. There’s no subscription, no paid upgrade tier, and no requirement to use any other Futurestay product. The tool was designed specifically to give STR hosts access to cleaning performance data without a cost barrier.

Do I need a Futurestay account to use the Clean Connection?

No. You can create a Clean Connection account directly at cleanconnection.Futurestay.com using just your name and email. You do not need to be an existing Futurestay customer to access the tool or any of its features.

What data does the Clean Connection show me?

The Clean Connection shows your Airbnb cleanliness score, your guest review history filtered for cleanliness-related mentions, your occupancy rate, and your average daily rate. It also includes a performance timeline so you can track your score over time (up to one year of history) and a competitor comparison view where you can see how your cleanliness score and cleaning fee compare to properties you select.

How do I add competitors to the Clean Connection?

In the Clean Competition section of your dashboard, paste in the Airbnb listing URL for each property you want to benchmark against. The tool will load their cleanliness score and cleaning fee data alongside yours. For the most accurate comparison, use properties in your same neighborhood with similar bedroom counts. If you have a custom comp set in PriceLabs, that’s the fastest source for competitor listing links.

How often does the Clean Connection update?

Your data updates every Sunday. You’ll also receive a weekly email summary with your latest cleanliness score and key performance metrics so you can stay informed without logging in every week.

Can I track multiple properties in the Clean Connection?

Yes. You can add all of your Airbnb listings to a single account and view each property’s cleanliness score, review history, and performance data individually.

Final Thoughts

The question isn’t whether your cleaning performance affects your revenue. It does. The data is clear on that. What’s less clear for most hosts is exactly where they stand — relative to their own history, and relative to their competition.

That’s the gap the Clean Connection was built to close.

So here’s what I’d encourage you to do this week: go to the Clean Connection, set up your free account, add your listing, and add two or three of your closest competitors. Look at the numbers. And then ask yourself — are you making cleaning decisions based on data, or based on assumptions?

It takes five minutes. It costs nothing. And it gives you a view of your cleaning performance that most of your competitors don’t have.

Get Your Free Clean Connection Account → https://cleanconnection.Futurestay.com/

Your cleaning score is updated every Sunday. Is your strategy keeping up?