Airbnb cleaning in Melbourne typically costs $110 to $143 per turnover for a 1-bedroom place in 2026, clean only, or $144 to $182 with linen included. This guide breaks down real 2026 host prices by property size and package. It covers what a turnover clean actually includes, linen economics, the Victorian Short Stay Levy that applies to your cleaning fee, and why the fee you charge guests usually does not cover the clean. If you live in the apartment yourself rather than hosting it, our apartment cleaning cost guide covers resident pricing instead.
Written by Metecan Kalkan, founder of OneDrop FM (ABN 74 499 285 939), a Melbourne cleaning company. We run short-stay turnovers across the Melbourne CBD, Port Melbourne and more than 20 other suburbs. Last updated: 31 October 2026.
The Short Answer: Turnover Prices
Prices below are per turnover, at the final price a host pays. Packages step up in a fixed order: clean only, clean plus linen, then all-inclusive (clean, linen and restocking).
- Studio / 1-bed, 1-bath: clean only $110 to $143; with linen $144 to $182; all-inclusive $159 to $205
- 2-bed, 1-bath: $149 to $179; $189 to $248; $199 to $275
- 2-bed, 2-bath: $165 to $215; $205 to $287; $220 to $319
- 3-bed: $189 to $286; $249 to $393; $264 to $432
- 4-bed: clean only from $229; with linen from $309; all-inclusive from $324
- 5-bed and up: quoted individually everywhere
The fine print that matters:
- The cheapest tier is your minimum fee. There is no smaller job than a 1-bed turnover.
- Late cancellation under 12 hours before the clean costs 50 percent at operators who publish terms.
- A turnover takes about 90 minutes for a 1-bed and up to 3.5 hours for a 3-bed or larger.
- No Melbourne operator publishes a same-day rush premium. The only benchmarks are a Sydney guide’s 10 to 25 percent for sub-24-hour changeovers. One Mornington Peninsula operator passes through a $75 Sunday and public holiday fee. Ask the question directly before peak season, not during it.
- Volume exists but is narrow: one operator gives 5 to 10 percent off clean-plus-linen and all-inclusive packages for hosts with 5 or more properties. Management companies mostly publish no prices at all and fund the clean from your guest fee.
GST is a trap in this market: the biggest published price table in Melbourne is ex GST, while others charge no GST or include it. Every figure here is compared at the price you actually pay. Confirm the basis before you compare two quotes.
What Is Included in a Turnover Clean?
The standard turnover, done properly:
- Beds stripped and remade hotel-style
- Bathrooms sanitised, towels and toilet paper set out
- Kitchen: dishes done, benches, stovetop and microwave cleaned, fridge wiped
- Floors vacuumed and mopped throughout
- Dusting of surfaces and touch points
- Bins emptied, relined, rubbish taken out
- A photo condition record after the clean, with damage or missing items reported to the host
- Doors locked and keys or lockbox checked on exit
Restocking is not standard. Tea, coffee, toiletries and pantry basics are only inside the all-inclusive tier at most operators, or a $35 to $50 add-on. This is the single most skipped item in complaints, because hosts assume it is included.
Linen: Hire It or Own It?
Linen hire runs $25 to $35 per bed per turnover. A worked example from a Melbourne linen service’s per-item pricing: a queen set (3 sheets, 4 pillowcases, 2 body towels, hand towel, bath mat, tea towel) totals $24.50. Package pricing matches: the linen step adds $25 to $97 to a turnover depending on bed count.
The alternative is owning your linen and having the cleaner change it over. That only works with a par of 3 sets per bed: one on the bed, one in the wash, one spare. It breaks down on same-day turnovers in towers. There is no time, and often no machine access, for laundry.
Operators push their own linen program for practical reasons. You get guaranteed supply on peak days, and white commercial-grade sets that match your listing photos every time. Stained items get rejected at the laundry rather than by your guest. And there is no laundry bottleneck inside a 90-minute window.
What Costs Extra?
- Restocking: $35 to $50 per turnover when not in an all-inclusive tier
- Deep clean (between guest blocks or quarterly): from $250
- Carpet steam clean: $120 to $139
- Interior windows: $80 to $89
- Oven detail: from $69
- Balcony and excessive mess: no Melbourne operator publishes a turnover rate for these. What exists are host-to-guest charges (excessive mess from $50, unauthorised events $300, smoking remediation $350). Agree your cleaner’s excessive-mess fee in writing before the first bad guest, not after.
The Short Stay Levy Applies to Your Cleaning Fee
From 1 January 2025, Victoria’s Short Stay Levy charges 7.5 percent on the total booking fee for stays under 28 days. Total means the nightly rate plus the cleaning fee, plus GST, plus late checkout fees. Shifting money into the cleaning fee does not reduce the levy. The State Revenue Office counts it either way.
Who pays it over:
- Platform bookings (Airbnb and similar): the platform remits the levy for you.
- Direct bookings: you must register with the State Revenue Office and remit it yourself. Returns are quarterly if your booking income is $75,000 or more a year, annual (due 30 January) below that.
Your principal place of residence is exempt; a granny flat on the same land is not. Separately, since 1 January 2025 an owners corporation in Victoria can restrict short stays by a special resolution of 75 percent of lot owners. It cannot ban an owner hosting in their own home, though. The City of Melbourne has no permit, registration or night cap in force. Check your building’s position before you price a listing, not after.
Your Guest Cleaning Fee Probably Does Not Cover the Clean
Median cleaning fees guests actually pay, from AirROI listing data: Docklands $160, St Kilda $150, Southbank $113, Carlton $105. Between 66 and 94 percent of listings in those suburbs charge a fee at all.
Set that against the table above. A median fee covers a clean-only turnover and nothing more. On a 2 or 3-bed with linen, the cleaner costs $189 to $393. The host absorbs a $40 to $160 plus shortfall per turnover out of the nightly rate. Two consequences are worth knowing. Since April 2025, Airbnb shows total prices by default in search, so a high fee inflates the headline price guests compare. And Airbnb’s own host guidance warns that high fees discourage bookings and invite harsher cleanliness scoring. Price the fee to the clean-only tier and treat linen as a cost of the listing.
Prices Across Melbourne
OneDrop FM is based in Taylors Lakes, near Watergardens. Our short-stay work concentrates in the apartment towers:
- Airbnb cleaning Melbourne CBD: tower turnovers on tight windows. Fob-only lifts, concierges who cannot hold keys or help with lockouts, and lockboxes or smart locks as the working access method. Fob replacement runs about $230, which is why cleaners log fob handovers.
- Airbnb cleaning Port Melbourne: houses and low-rise apartments alongside towers. Longer cleans, more linen, and beach sand in every room through summer.
Southbank and Docklands run on the same tower rules as the CBD (2.1 metre carpark clearance decides whether a cleaner can even park under the building). St Kilda prices like Port Melbourne, with event weekends tightening cleaner availability.
We also cover more than 20 suburbs across Melbourne. Every arrangement is priced per property, with the package tier and restocking duties in writing.
Red Flags: How to Spot a Bad Turnover Cleaner
The complaints hosts report most:
- No-show or late arrival before check-in. The worst failure in this market: a silent cancellation leaves a dirty property and a full guest refund.
- Repricing on the day. One host review documents a clean quoted at $80 becoming $180 on arrival.
- Standard drifting from the photos. Rushed cleans that no longer match the listing. In St Kilda, cleanliness is the lowest-scoring review category at 4.66.
- Damage not reported. The host learns about breakage or missing items from the guest, because the cleaner took no photos and said nothing.
- Restocking skipped. Guests arrive to no towels or no toilet paper. Usually the restocking assumption gap above, sometimes just a missed task.
- Linen shortages. Own-linen hosts running out of clean sets on back-to-back days. A par problem, fixed by hire or a third set per bed.
- Peak dates unavailable. Australian Open, the Grand Prix, the AFL Grand Final and the Spring Carnival saturate every roster. Book peak cover months ahead.
- Silence when something goes wrong. No call, no photo, no warning. Communication is the service as much as the clean.
How to Choose a Turnover Cleaner
Before you sign up, check these:
- The package tier in writing: clean only, with linen, or all-inclusive, and exactly what restocking covers.
- The GST basis of the quote, and the per-size price for your property, not a from-price.
- Turnover window guaranteed (checkout to check-in), and who covers a missed window.
- Photo reporting after every clean, with damage flagged the same day.
- Linen source: operator program or your sets, and the par level if yours.
- Peak-date and public holiday terms, including any surcharge, agreed before the season.
- Cancellation terms both ways (50 percent inside 12 hours is the published norm).
- A single invoice per property for managers, and volume pricing if you hold 5 or more listings.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Airbnb cleaning cost in Melbourne?
Per turnover in 2026: $110 to $143 clean only for a studio or 1-bed, and $144 to $182 with linen. A 2-bed runs $149 to $179 clean only, up to $287 with linen for 2 bathrooms. 3-beds run $189 to $432 depending on package. Watch the GST basis, as the biggest Melbourne price table is quoted ex GST.
Is linen included, and what does it cost per bed?
Only in the linen and all-inclusive tiers. Hired linen runs $25 to $35 per bed per turnover (a queen set prices at $24.50 on one Melbourne service’s per-item list). If you supply your own, you need 3 sets per bed to survive back-to-back turnovers.
Does the Short Stay Levy apply to the cleaning fee?
Yes. The 7.5 percent Victorian levy applies to the total booking fee, which includes the cleaning fee and GST, for stays under 28 days. On platform bookings the platform remits it. On direct bookings you must register with the State Revenue Office and remit it yourself.
Can a cleaner turn the place over between a 10am checkout and a 3pm check-in?
Yes, that 5-hour window is the industry standard job. A 1-bed takes about 90 minutes and a 3-bed up to 3.5 hours. The risks are late checkout and back-to-back peak days, so confirm the guaranteed window and the late-checkout process when you book the cleaner.
Are there surcharges for Sundays, public holidays or big events?
There should be an answer in writing, because almost nobody publishes one. One Mornington Peninsula operator passes through $75 for Sundays and public holidays. A Sydney benchmark puts rush changeovers at 10 to 25 percent extra. Melbourne cleaners also saturate during the Australian Open, Grand Prix and AFL Grand Final, so agree peak terms early.
Do I get a discount if I have several listings?
At some operators, yes: one gives 5 to 10 percent off linen and all-inclusive packages at 5 or more properties. Others lock your rate and give priority scheduling instead. Management companies rarely publish prices. They fund cleaning from the guest fee, so ask what the cleaner is actually paid per turnover.
What happens if guests leave the place in a mess?
The clean takes longer and someone pays. Hosts typically claim against the guest, supported by the cleaner’s before-and-after photos. Excessive mess charges start around $50, with smoking remediation near $350. Agree your cleaner’s own excessive-mess fee in advance, because no Melbourne operator publishes one.
How do cleaners get into CBD and Southbank towers?
By lockbox, smart lock or a logged fob handover. Lifts in these towers are fob-only. Concierges generally cannot hold keys or assist with lockouts, and a replacement fob costs about $230. Parking is the other catch: many tower carparks cap clearance at 2.1 metres, so confirm where the cleaner parks and how linen trolleys reach the lift.
Book Your Turnover Cleaning With OneDrop FM
Fixed per-property pricing with the package tier, restocking duties and peak terms in writing. Get in touch with OneDrop FM to get a fixed quote.
We are local. Based in Taylors Lakes, running turnovers across more than 20 Melbourne suburbs.
Call 0402 160 946 for a fixed quote.