An Airbnb setup checklist is the list you walk with, room by room, the day before your first guest, so the things that generate a first-night message get caught while there's still time to fix them. Ours has about 70 lines across six sections and it lives in a shared note that we print for every new unit. We open a new unit roughly every two months, and at that pace memory stops being a system. This is the actual list, developed across seven Austin units and a few expensive mistakes, with the reasoning where it matters.
Unit 2 went live with no dish soap. Unit 4 went live with a WiFi password posted incorrectly on the welcome card. Unit 6 went live with a missing bath mat. Three separate first-night messages from guests, three things that could have been caught in twenty minutes with a list. Now we have the list. If you're still at the buying stage, our furnishing guide covers what to purchase and what it costs; this post assumes the furniture is in and you're a week from launch.
Before the room lists: the admin steps that can't wait
These are the items that don't fit in any room and that new hosts push to the end because they're boring. Do them first, because two of them can stop you legally operating and one of them can bankrupt you.
- Short-term rental licence applied for and the number in hand (Austin issues them per unit; some buildings and HOAs prohibit STRs outright, so check the bylaws before you pay for anything)
- Insurance rider or a dedicated STR policy in place. A standard homeowners or renters policy does not cover paying guests, and Airbnb's host protection is not a substitute
- Hotel occupancy tax registration confirmed and the collection method understood (Airbnb collects and remits for most Austin bookings, but not for every channel)
- Written landlord or HOA permission on file if you don't own the unit
- Smart lock or lockbox installed, codes set, and a backup physical key hidden and photographed
- A dedicated bank account or card for the unit, so the numbers are clean at tax time
- A shared note or spreadsheet for the inventory, so restocking is one order rather than a guess
We skipped the insurance rider on unit one for six weeks because the quote took time. Nothing happened. We still think about it.
Bedroom Checklist
- Mattress protector on and fitted correctly
- Fresh bottom sheet, top sheet, and duvet cover
- Two pillows per side, with pillow protectors under the cases
- Spare pillow set in the linen closet
- Spare full bedding set in the linen closet
- Blackout curtains hung and tested in full daylight
- Both bedside plug-in sconces on and working
- Hangers in the closet (we do 10 per unit minimum)
- Full-length mirror in bedroom or nearby
- Spare lightbulb in the nightstand drawer or linen closet
Bathroom Checklist
- Bath towel, hand towel, and washcloth per max occupancy, plus one set spare
- Bath mat with non-slip backing, freshly washed
- Soap dispenser filled (we use wall-mounted pumps in five units)
- Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash stocked
- Hair dryer tested and working
- Toilet paper (we stock three rolls visible plus a few in the cabinet)
- Small trash can with lid and a liner
- Mirror clean with no streaks
- Shower/tub scrubbed and drain clear
Kitchen Checklist
- Coffee maker clean and functioning, with filters and a bag of coffee stocked
- Kettle clean and tested
- Dishes, glasses, and mugs for max occupancy plus two
- Nonstick pan, pot, spatula, and tongs
- Chef's knife, paring knife, and cutting board
- Dish soap, sponge, and dish rack or drying mat
- Paper towels on the counter
- Salt, pepper, and olive oil (the three things every guest needs and nobody packs)
- Refrigerator clean, empty, and set to correct temperature
- All cabinet interiors wiped down
Living Area Checklist
- Seating for max occupancy, tested for stability
- TV working, streaming apps signed in and accessible without guest login
- Remote batteries fresh (we test every remote on setup day)
- Throw on the sofa, styled
- Statement lighting working: pendant light or floor lamp on and warm
- Local guide in binder, current and accurate
- WiFi name and password posted visibly (and tested from a phone not connected to the network)
We test the WiFi by disconnecting from the network and re-entering the password from the printed card. Three of our first six units had a transcription error that would have frustrated the first guest. One check prevents all three.
Listing setup checklist
The unit can be perfect and still not book if the listing is set up lazily. This section is short but it's where most of the money is decided.
- Photos shot at 4 pm with every lamp on and overheads off, hero photo chosen from the living area or the bed, not the bathroom (our photography post has the full method)
- Title under 50 characters, leading with the thing the unit has that comparable ones don't (the patio, the walk to the lake, the king bed)
- Description that names the one flaw outright: street noise, narrow stairs, no elevator. It costs a few bookings from the wrong guests and saves you the reviews they'd have written
- House rules written, including quiet hours, the pet policy, and the maximum occupancy, with the same numbers in the listing and the printed guide
- Pricing set about 20 percent under the comparable set for the first three weeks, two-night minimum, cleaning fee set below your true turnover cost (why is in our cleaning fee post)
- Calendar blocked for your own walk-through days and the first turnover
- Saved replies loaded: pre-booking questions, check-in morning, night-one check, checkout reminder, WiFi, parking
- Instant Book on, with the "government ID" requirement ticked
First-guest week checklist
The list doesn't end at launch. The first week is when the unit tells you what you missed.
- Send the check-in message at 9 am on arrival day, with a photo of the door and the lockbox
- Message at 7 pm on night one: "Everything working? Anything missing?" This one message has caught more problems than any walk-through
- Check the thermostat remotely if you can; guests in July leave it at 68 and the bill is yours
- Read the first three reviews as product feedback, not verdicts, and fix the actual thing within 48 hours
- Walk the unit yourself after the first turnover to see what the cleaner sees and what the guest left behind
- Reprint anything a guest asked about that should have been on the counter guide
Property-Wide Checklist
- Check-in instructions do a real test, walk the entry sequence exactly as a guest would at night
- Lockbox or keypad code confirmed working
- Spare key or emergency access documented internally
- First aid kit stocked and visible
- Fire extinguisher present, charged, and accessible
- Smoke detector and CO detector tested
- Emergency contacts posted (building manager, local non-emergency line)
- Checkout instructions visible (we laminate one page and leave it on the counter)
- Trash and recycling instructions clear
- All windows and doors lock correctly
Why the list is in this order
Bedroom first because it's the room that decides the review. Across seven units and 800 guests the bed and the sleep get mentioned more than everything else combined, so on setup day it gets our full attention while we're fresh. We make the bed properly, lie on it, and look at the ceiling the way a guest will at 11 pm. That's when you notice the overhead light has no dimmer and the sconce on the left is a slightly different colour temperature to the one on the right. Every bulb in a unit is 2700K, and on unit three we found a 4000K bulb in a nightstand lamp a week after launch because we hadn't lain down.
Bathroom second because it's where cleanliness gets judged. A guest will forgive a scuffed wall in the hall and never forgive a hair in the shower. The list includes "drain clear" because a slow drain in a rental reads as dirty even when it isn't, and a $6 drain protector saves a plumber visit every few months.
Kitchen third, and it's the longest list, because it's the room where guests feel the absence of things. Nobody notices a can opener until they're holding a can. The three lines nobody expects on a setup list are salt, pepper and olive oil. They cost $9 and they've appeared in at least a dozen reviews as "thoughtfully stocked."
Living area fourth because it's where the listing photo is taken and where a guest sits when they decide how they feel about the place. The lamp line matters: an overhead light alone at night makes the room feel like a waiting room, and it's the single cheapest fix on the list. A floor lamp behind the sofa and a swag pendant over the table, both plug-in, and the room photographs like the listing promised.
Property-wide last, not because it matters least but because it's the section you do with the lights off and the suitcase in your hand. It is also the section with the most items that can hurt someone. A smoke detector with a dead battery, a fire extinguisher that was never charged, a window that doesn't lock on a ground floor: none of these get mentioned in a review when they're right, and all of them become the only thing that matters when they're wrong.
Setup checklist versus turnover checklist
People conflate these and they're different documents. The setup checklist is run once, before the first guest, and it's about whether things exist and work. The turnover checklist is run by Rosa after every stay and it's about whether things are clean, restocked and in place. Ours has 44 lines and lives in our turnover systems post. About twenty lines overlap (towel counts, toilet paper, WiFi card in place), and that overlap is deliberate: the turnover list is the thing that keeps the setup from decaying. A unit that launched perfectly and is turned over from memory will have a missing bath mat within a month. Ours did.
One more difference. The setup list gets edited after every launch, because every unit teaches us something. The jacket hook line was added after unit four. The spare bulb line after unit five, when a guest messaged at 10 pm about a dark bedroom and the nearest spare was in our car. The list is only useful if the person running it is allowed to change it.
The 11 Things Most New Hosts Forget
Based on first-guest messages across seven units, these are the items that fall off checklists most often:
- Dish soap
- A can opener
- Salt and pepper
- Paper towels in the kitchen
- Spare toilet paper beyond one roll
- A working lamp in the living area (overhead only is not enough)
- A trash bag in every bin on day one
- The WiFi password correctly transcribed
- A place to hang a jacket at the front door
- Checkout instructions in a visible location
- Lightbulb spares anywhere in the unit
How long does an Airbnb setup take, and what does it cost?
With the furniture delivered and this list in hand, a one-bedroom takes us one long weekend: Friday evening for the admin and the WiFi, Saturday for the bedroom and kitchen, Sunday for the bathroom, living area, photography, and the night walk. The first time, without a list, it took three weekends and four trips back to the store. Cost-wise the setup itself (the consumables, the printed guide, the spare bulbs, the first aid kit, the linen spares) is about $350 on top of the furniture; the furniture is the real number and it's broken down in the furnishing post.
The check that saves the most: the night walk. Leave the unit, lock it, and come back at 9 pm with a suitcase using only your own check-in instructions. On unit one that walk would have found the two identical grey lockboxes that earned us a 3-star review in week two. On unit five it found a porch light on the wrong switch. It takes fifteen minutes and it has never once come back clean.
Print this list. Walk the unit with it the day before the first guest arrives, not the night before. You want time to fix things, not just find them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is on an Airbnb setup checklist?
Six sections: the admin steps (licence, insurance, tax, permission, lock), the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area lists, property-wide safety items, and the listing itself (photos, title, honest description, pricing, saved replies). Ours runs to about 70 lines.
What do I need before my first Airbnb guest?
A licence number on the listing, an insurance rider, a tested lock code with a backup key, two full sets of bedding, blackout curtains, warm bedside lighting, a stocked kitchen down to salt and dish soap, towels for max occupancy plus a spare set, a correctly transcribed WiFi password, smoke and CO detectors tested, and check-in instructions you've walked at night.
How long does it take to set up an Airbnb?
One long weekend for a one-bedroom if the furniture is in and you're working from a list. Two to three weekends the first time, mostly lost to return trips and decisions you haven't made yet.
What do new Airbnb hosts forget most often?
Dish soap, a can opener, salt and pepper, paper towels, spare toilet paper, a lamp in the living area, trash bags in every bin, the WiFi password transcribed correctly, somewhere to hang a jacket, visible checkout instructions, and spare lightbulbs. That list comes from real first-night messages across seven units.
Should I test the WiFi before the first guest?
Yes, by disconnecting your phone from the network and re-entering the password exactly as printed on the guest card. Three of our first six units had a transcription error that check caught.
