Free housekeeping room checklist template
This free housekeeping room checklist template — printable PDF or editable Excel — covers a room in the order you clean it, distinguishes departure from stayover service, and ends with a supervisor spot-check line.
Free. No email address, no sign-up — the housekeeping room checklist downloads straight away.
Room checklists work when they follow the route through the room rather than grouping tasks by type. Enter, strip, bathroom, bedroom, surfaces, replenish, final look from the doorway. Cleaning in a fixed sequence is what makes rooms consistent between housekeepers and what makes a room take a predictable amount of time.
Departure and stayover are different jobs and this sheet marks which one applies to each row. Treating a stayover like a departure wastes linen and time; treating a departure like a stayover is how a room goes out with the previous guest's hair in the shower. Circle the service type at the top of each room block.
The rows most complained about by guests are the ones easiest to miss because they are not dirty-looking: the kettle and its lid, remote control, light switches, door handles, the underside of the toilet seat, hairdryer filter, and behind the bathroom door. They are on the list for that reason.
The supervisor check line is what keeps standards from drifting. Spot-check a proportion of rooms, not all of them, and record which rooms were checked and by whom. A housekeeper who knows any room might be checked cleans every room as though it will be.
What's on the sheet
Checklist — pre-printed tasks in sections · Portrait A4 · PDF, Excel and CSV
Header fields
Property · Date · Housekeeper · Rooms allocated
Columns
- Task
- Dep — Departure
- Stay — Stayover
- Done — Initials
- Issue / maintenance
On entering
- ·Knock, announce, wait, then enter — even if the room shows as vacant
- ·Open curtains and window; check for odour and for anything left behind
- ·Check for damage, stains, missing items and anything to report before you start
- ·Strip bed linen and towels; check under the bed and behind the headboard
- ·Empty all bins and replace liners
Bathroom
- ·Toilet cleaned inside, outside, seat both sides and behind the base
- ·Shower and bath scrubbed, screen and grout cleaned, drain clear of hair
- ·Sink, taps and plughole cleaned and descaled
- ·Mirror and glass cleaned streak-free
- ·Behind the bathroom door and the extractor grille wiped
- ·Floor cleaned into the corners and behind the toilet
- ·Towels replaced to standard and folded; bath mat replaced
- ·Amenities, soap, paper and spare roll replenished
Bedroom
- ·Bed made to standard, linen change on departure and per policy on stayover
- ·Mattress protector and pillows checked for stains
- ·Dust all surfaces including headboard, skirting, picture frames and lampshades
- ·Kettle emptied, descaled, lid and spout cleaned; cups replaced clean
- ·Tea, coffee, sugar and water replenished; check expiry dates
- ·Remote control, phone, light switches and door handles wiped
- ·TV screen wiped and TV on the correct channel or welcome screen
- ·Wardrobe: hangers to standard, spare bedding, safe empty and unlocked, iron and board present
- ·Hairdryer present, working and filter clean
- ·Mini fridge cleaned and empty or stocked to standard
- ·Windows, sills and mirrors cleaned; glass smear-free
- ·Vacuum whole floor including under the bed and along edges
Final check from the doorway
- ·Compendium, notices and fire evacuation notice present and correct
- ·Curtains hanging straight, cushions and throw to standard
- ·Lights all working; bulbs replaced where needed
- ·Heating or air conditioning set to standard and remote in place
- ·Room smells fresh and there is no visible dust from the door
- ·Any maintenance issue recorded and reported before leaving
- ·Door locked and room marked ready in the system
Supervisor
- ·Room number spot-checked
- ·Passed / re-clean required — with the reason
- ·Supervisor initials and time
What you get
- ✓Printable PDF, portrait A4, five sections following the route through the room
- ✓Excel (.xlsx) version you can edit to your own room standard
- ✓CSV version for import
- ✓Separate departure and stayover columns
- ✓The commonly missed items: kettle lid, remote, switches, hairdryer filter, behind the bathroom door
- ✓Supervisor spot-check block with pass or re-clean
How to use it
- 1
Print one sheet per housekeeper per shift and write their room allocation in the header.
- 2
For each room, mark whether it is a departure or a stayover before starting.
- 3
Work the sections in order — entering, bathroom, bedroom, final check — rather than jumping around.
- 4
Initial each row as you complete it and write anything broken in the issue column immediately.
- 5
Do the final check standing in the doorway, looking at the room as a guest would.
- 6
Hand the sheet to the supervisor, who spot-checks a proportion of rooms and signs the last section.
Questions
What should be on a housekeeping checklist?
Every task in the order you move through the room, split by departure and stayover, plus the items guests notice most: bathroom detail, kettle and cups, remote and switches, linen standard, and a final look from the doorway.
How long should it take to clean a hotel room?
It depends on room size, standard and whether it is a departure or a stayover, and every property sets its own target. Working in a fixed sequence is what makes the time predictable enough to plan a rota around.
What is the difference between a departure and a stayover clean?
A departure is a full reset — all linen and towels changed, everything replenished, the room checked as though for a new guest. A stayover is refresh and replenish, with linen changed according to your own policy.
How many rooms should a supervisor spot-check?
A proportion rather than all of them, chosen unpredictably, and recorded. What creates consistency is that any room could be checked, not that every room is.
Or stop printing it altogether
Rotahr does this check on a phone — timestamped, with the person who did it attached, reminders when one is due, and a PDF export when somebody asks for a month of records. Same job, no folder to search through.
Templates that go with it
Guest incident & complaint log
This free guest incident and complaint log template — printable PDF or editable Excel — records each incident with what was offered, what it cost, who resolved it and whether anyone followed up, so recurring problems become visible instead of being absorbed shift by shift.
Front of house opening & closing checklist
This free front of house opening and closing checklist template — printable PDF or editable Excel — takes the floor from doors-locked to service-ready and back again, including the pre-service brief and the checks guests notice first.
Daily & weekly cleaning schedule
This free daily and weekly cleaning schedule template — printable PDF or editable Excel — lists cleaning tasks by area with a frequency, a method and an initials box for every day of the week, so it is obvious what was cleaned, when and by whom.
Free to print, copy and use in your venue — no attribution required. Written for an international audience: where a threshold is a widely used figure it is printed as one, but food safety and employment rules differ by country and change. Check yours before relying on this sheet.
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