Keep your cleaner in sync — automatically

The problem every Smoobu host hits

Smoobu manages your channel sync beautifully. But when a booking lands, your cleaner still needs to know: when to show up, how many guests, whether there's a dog, whether the crib needs setting up.

Most hosts solve this with a WhatsApp message or a manual calendar update. That works for one property. It breaks at two. And it breaks badly when a guest cancels two hours before check-in and you forget to tell the cleaner.

There are three approaches, each right for a different scale:

Smoobu's built-in cleaner account

Smoobu includes a read-only cleaner access mode. You create a cleaner account under Settings → Users → Add user → Cleaner role. Your cleaner logs into the Smoobu app and sees the property calendar with check-in and check-out dates.

It works fine as a first step. The cleaner sees cancellations (the booking just disappears from the calendar), and they can check upcoming weeks from their phone. The limitations:

• No pet or infant flags — a cleaner seeing "3 guests" doesn't know there's also a dog
• No custom notes column — there's no place to add "long stay, check towel stock"
• No accountant export view — the calendar is a calendar, not a financial ledger
• Relies on the cleaner checking the Smoobu app — WhatsApp pings them; the app doesn't

Google Sheets: the free approach that scales to ~10 properties

The practical alternative is a Google Sheet connected to the Smoobu API. The script pulls your bookings daily and writes one row per booking with:

• Check-in date and time — from Smoobu's booking data
• Check-out date — for turnaround planning
• Guest count — total guests from the booking
• Pet flag — derived from Smoobu's custom field or guest message scan (configurable)
• Infant flag — same approach as pet flag
• Notes — manual column for host notes, pre-filled from booking notes if set
• Payout / OTA fee — for the accountant view (separate tab)

Your cleaner gets a view-only link to the sheet. They bookmark it. No app to install, no account to create. When a cancellation happens and the script runs, the row disappears. When a new booking lands, a row appears.

The full setup — API key, CONFIG block, how to install the Apps Script, which columns to enable — is in the companion technical guide: Smoobu → Google Sheets: the complete sync script. It covers everything including how to add a second property tab and how to handle the accountant view.

When to pay for Turno instead

Turno (formerly TurnoverBnB) is a cleaning management platform built specifically for STR. It integrates with Smoobu, auto-assigns cleaners per booking, includes a mobile app with task checklists, and handles payment to cleaners. The cost is roughly $8–12 per property per month.

Worth it when: you have multiple cleaners (not just one trusted person), you're co-hosting for other owners and need audit trails, or your cleaning operation is complex enough that a spreadsheet is genuinely getting in the way. At 1–5 properties with one cleaner you trust, the Google Sheets approach covers 90% of what Turno does at zero cost.

Feature by feature

The verdict

1 property, 1 cleaner you trust: the free Smoobu cleaner account does the job. The read-only calendar is all they need to know when to show up.

3–10 properties with the same team: still fine without Turno. The Google Sheets approach in this guide covers the gaps — pet flags, custom notes, cancellation alerts — at zero cost.

10+ properties, multiple cleaners, or co-hosting for other owners: Turno earns its price. The mobile checklist and photo documentation create audit trails a spreadsheet cannot replicate.

Setting up the cleaning sheet

1. Get your Smoobu API key — in Smoobu: Settings → External Integrations → API → Generate API key. Copy it somewhere safe.
2. Open a blank Google Sheet and go to Extensions → Apps Script. Paste the sync script from the technical guide.
3. Update the CONFIG block at the top of the script — paste your API key, set your property name, and set ENABLE_PET_FLAG and ENABLE_INFANT_FLAG to true if you want those columns.
4. Run the script once — to populate the first batch of bookings. Authorize the Gmail + Sheets permissions when prompted.
5. Share the sheet with your cleaner — in view-only mode (Share → Viewer). Set up a daily trigger in Apps Script so the sheet updates automatically without you having to run it manually.

For the actual receipt capture — cleaning invoices, supply purchases, repair receipts: Automate invoice processing with AI →