Free guide

Damage and missing items between guests

Look before you remake the room, write it down the same day, and separate wear from damage.

The short answer

Check for damage and missing items during the changeover, before the beds are remade and the bins are emptied. Note what you found, where, and whether the next guest can still stay. Wear and tear, breakages and missing items are three different things, and only the last two are worth a conversation about money.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Look while the evidence is still there

The useful moment is before the clean removes it. A wine stain under a duvet, a broken chair pushed to the wall, a missing remote that is actually down the side of the sofa. Once the linen is in the wash and the rubbish is in the council bin, you are arguing from memory.

Photograph in daylight, with enough of the room in frame to show where it is. One close photo and one wider photo is enough. Write the date, the property and the room in the note, not only in your head.

Sort wear, damage and missing

Fair wear is a tired towel, a scuffed skirting board, a cushion that has flattened, a glass that has clouded in the dishwasher. That is the cost of letting. Damage is a burn, a broken bed slat, a stained mattress, a smashed window, or anything a guest did that a normal stay does not do. A missing item is a remote, a hairdryer, a key, a board game or a duvet that is not in the house.

Do not bill a guest for wear, and do not ignore a missing key because it feels small. A missing key is a lock problem as well as a cost. Replace anything the next guest needs before you chase the last guest for money.

Make the next stay safe and complete first.
Keep a simple inventory of the items you would actually notice, not every teaspoon.
Agree in advance who is allowed to replace a small item and claim it back.

Tell the owner the same day

A cleaner's note on the day is worth more than a complaint a fortnight later. Say what is wrong, whether you cleaned around it, and whether the next arrival is affected. 'Chair in the front bedroom has a broken leg. Photo taken. Next guests can use the other chairs. Needs a replacement before the weekend.' That is enough.

On the Changeover Master job link the cleaner can report damage, with a short note and a photo, without a login. You see a flag on the changeover, such as one open problem, in the diary. An owner or manager marks it resolved. The problem report itself is not emailed. The clean-done email, if you use it, can include open problems so the damage is not only on the phone that took the picture. You can start a free trial and use the next real changeover as the test.

Money is a separate step

Your booking terms, the site the guest booked on, and your insurer are the routes for money. Use the process that booking actually has. A platform resolution path is not the same as an email asking the guest to transfer a sum you have chosen.

Do not assume tenancy deposit protection applies to a short holiday stay. That page is about certain rented homes. A holiday booking is often a different arrangement. Read it, read the terms the guest accepted, and speak to your insurer or a solicitor if the sum matters. This guide cannot tell you what you can keep.

Fix or replace what the next guest will notice, and keep the receipt. Arguing for a week with a broken lamp still in the bedroom helps nobody.

Worked example · illustrative

A burnt hob and a tired towel

The situation

The cleaner finds a melted plastic patch on the hob and a towel that is thin but clean. The next guests arrive tomorrow.

What you do

The hob is photographed, reported as damage, and the owner decides whether tomorrow's guests can cook. The towel is replaced from the spare set as ordinary wear, with no guest charge. The hob conversation happens the same day, with the photo, not after the review.