Airbnb housekeeping supplies. where you get them from?

Question

Hi short term rental experts! My company has about 40 Airbnb units in downtown Atlanta and we have pretty high turn over rate. As that being said a lot of our supply has short life..We have to constantly replacing our pot and pans. Always go to Costco/walmart for cleaning supplies etc. We are still growning and adding on more units and i'm thinking there must be eaiser and better way to order our supplies! What's your method of doing this? Thanks in advance!

Justin Ellis · Answer

@Jingru Sui

I manage 11 units right now and one thing I've found that helps is standardizing where you can.

Example, you mentioned destroyed pans. So if you have the same pots/pans at all the units, when 1 pan gets destroyed, you can keep a replacement set on hand and just replace the one pan instead of the whole set. Then you have the rest of that set to distribute to other units as pieces get destroyed.

I try and do the same thing with all the dishes, silverware, sheets, towels, etc. Anywhere I can create a standard, I will.

Also, as I scaled, I created a "hub" (Storage unit) where I keep all my supplies. I used to keep extra everything at every property (Mini soaps, Toilet Paper, Paper Towels, cleaning soaps, coffee cups, etc) but realized that I had a LOT of cash tied up in stuff that would only someday be used. So I pulled it all from the individual units and put at the hub. Now my cleaners go here daily, pick up a supply bin and the linens for their cleanings that day, this has helped a ton.

So as an example, I used to have 24 rolls of TP at every site in the cleaning closet (11 units x 24 rolls = 264 rolls of TP sitting around). When I went to the hub system I now keep say 48 total rolls in inventory and the cleaners keep 8 rolls in their cleaning supply bins and disburse as needed throughout their day, then refill their minimal supply the next morning.

This also help remove the logistical nightmare of having to keep track of stock levels at all the places as opposed to just the 1 hub.

I do the same with linens. I used to have 2 complete sets of linens and towels at each unit, but because I have all the same sheets and towels and keep them all in 1 location now, I don't have to own 2x the stock levels of all the units.

As a pointer, if you have different size beds, use different colors for each size! I have primarily Queen, so queens get white, and the few fulls I have get a light tan. Trust me, this will save you TONS of headaches.

Oh, another change I made, I used to have the cleaners wash the stuff while on site and put them away on site for the next cleaning. We now bring all dirties back to the hub and take them to a wash-n-fold facility. They get washed and returned to us the next day and restocked at the hub.

As far as cleaning supplies, we do the same concept. I have 1-2 big jugs each type of cleaner at the hub and provided the cleaners with labeled spray bottles (Sanitizer, windex, fabuloso, etc). They just fill up at the hub and I don't have to worry about stock levels at tons of units.

Hope this helps, let me know if you want to connect and talk further on this!

Luke Carl · Answer

@Jingru Sui I’m doing it on a smaller scale and I’m not managing for others so it’s a bit different for me. My main concern is tracking money spent to write everything off. Therefore I buy all supplies on amazon and ship to cleaner. End of year I download amazon spreadsheet, give to CPA, done deal.

You might try something like http://nathosp.com

Pavan Mediratta · Answer

@Jingru Sui check out https://hdsupplysolutions.com

Julie Groth · Answer

Yes, doing the math is important. But, this drives me crazy because I hate all the wasteful use of plastic bottles. Someone must furnish large bulk supplies??

Nathan Gesner · Answer

@Justin Ellis nice suggestion about the colored sheets. We've always put them on labeled shelves but your idea is much simpler.

Mark Miles · Answer

I really wanted to like hdsupplysolutions.com bc it seems "cool" to be using a professional hotel supply company and I've seen it recommended many times on here. But honestly, I just don't find their prices to be any better than the Big 3 wholesalers (costco, sam's, bj's). and also, their site UI is pretty horrendous to use - i find it much easier to search, sort and find items on costco, sams & bjs web sites than hdsupplysolutions.com.

For regularly restocked supplies (TP, paper towels, shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc), does anyone know of anywhere cheaper to buy than the big 3 wholesalers' web sites? (Note: I don't have time to buy supplies in person, so visiting stores in person isn't an option). It's funny, Jingru came here bc she thought there must be somewhere better or cheaper to order supplies than Costco, and I'm just not sure that there is! Even in the large "hotel volume" quantities that many of us are purchasing in, seems odd that we can't find somewhere better than Costco which is where everyone shops! We're running our high volume businesses using the same supplier that every household in America uses. Crazy.

Jeffery Wilen · Answer

@Jingru Sui

I’d echo a lot of what Justin said standardize as much as possible on things you replace frequently or could get broken/ruined. We also keep supplies in a central location. There is a restaurant/hospitality store close to us where we order our supplies. They supply bulk items as inexpensively as Costco and have a better selection.

Paul Sandhu · Answer

@Justin Ellis has a pretty good system.

When I need any supplies (soap, cooking utensils, laundry detergent, linens, towels, pillows, vacuum cleaner, etc) I get them from Wal Mart as needed.  My cleaning person keeps all the cleaning supplies and some restocking materials in the trunk of her truck (Ridgelines have trunks).  I don't order anything online or make it complicated.  Just go to Wal Mart and buy the supplies, and buy any personal supplies while I'm there (dog food, canned goods, clay pigeons ((we go through a lot)), frozen seafood, etc).

Now if I have a group of 20-30 guys in my places, I go ahead and buy all the restocking items ahead of time.  When they leave, they are all going to leave on the same day.

23 STRs, 83 beds.  Contractors are my tenants.  The guys you see working on the large erections of steel at a petrochemical refinery...welders, fitters, boilermakers, electricians.  Big burly guys driving jacked up 4x4s, they have neck tats and chew tobacco in their sleep.  You'd avoid the Wal Mart aisle if you were there buying supplies. I'd go up to him and punch him in the arm and say "What's up mofo, do you need any supplies?  Maybe some hand lotion or vasolene?"

Michael Baum · Answer

Hi @Jingru Sui, I am not sure what I do will scale well to 40 units. I have only one place. I buy a bunch of cleaning supplies at the Dollar Tree. Spic N' Span anti bacterial and refills mainly. They carry some different items like window cleaner etc that I also buy there.

Plus they carry Spa Soap which is nice. Big refill bottles for a buck. That is about the only thing I get there. Otherwise I use Costco and Amazon for other supplies.

I buy the Grandeur Hospitality towels for our place. They have been great and we are on our 3rd year with them and they still look good. I only have bought more to replace those that go missing or are damaged.

I use the Kirkland Signature Stainless Steel pots/pan sets. They are pretty tough and on their 3rd year. I augment with Henckels Granitium Italian made frying pans. They are also tough. Guests tore up my Tramontina ceramic coated with steel utensils and the Henckels can take that abuse.

I have been buying small soaps and shampoo's from Amazon. Any kind of Eco friendly stuff. I don't provide lots of that. They usually bring their own.

I wish I had a better answer. I am really looking forward to others ideas on this. I don't expect I will ever be at 40 units, but I can dream! :)

Mark Miles · Answer

More importantly... were you able to get a better price (per ounce) than Costco? Bc I see big jugs of cleaning supplies all over the internet. But when you actually do the math & calculate your cost per ounce (including shipping costs), Costco still wins!!!! Costco doesn't sell the big jugs - you're usually buying like 40-oz bottles of stuff, but those 40-oz bottles are still cheaper (per ounce) than the big jugs I'm seeing anywhere else!!

Like, I see online hotel supply stores selling 4 gallons of shampoo for $50 or $60, but that still doesn't beat (per ounce) Costco's 40 oz of shampoo for $3.50! Guess I'll just buy a dozen 40-oz shampoos from Costco for less money.

Airbnb housekeeping supplies. where you get them from?

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