I Checked Into 6 Utah Airbnbs as a Guest This Summer. Here's What I Actually Noticed.

Here's What I Actually Did During Check-In

I want to be upfront. I didn't come into these rentals thinking like a hotel critic. I came in as a paying guest who just wants a clean place to sleep and shower. But I also notice things. And I want to tell you what I checked and what made me decide to give either 5 stars or 4 stars on the cleanliness review.

I'm going to walk through the first thing I checked, then the second, and so on. This is roughly the order in which most guests check these things too.

First Check: Smell

I walked into the first rental and caught a smell. Not a bad smell exactly. But not fresh. Like the previous guests' presence was still there. Cooking smell. Sweat smell. A staleness.

I didn't write a review about this specifically. But it set the tone. I noticed everything else more critically after that first smell.

The fourth rental I visited? Different story. I opened the door and the place smelled clean. Actually fresh. Not like artificial air freshener. Like the space had been properly ventilated and cleaned thoroughly. I immediately felt more confident about the cleanliness of the whole rental.

Second Check: Visible Dust and Floor Cleanliness

I looked at the floors. Are there visible dust bunnies in corners? Streaks on the hardwood? Stains on the carpet? In three of the six rentals, I saw dust in corners. In one, I found a stain on the carpet that looked like it had been there a while.

The two rentals with spotless floors got higher marks immediately. Not because the floor was fancy. But because it was actually clean. No dust. No stains. The message was clear: someone paid attention.

Third Check: The Bedroom (And This Is Where I Got Picky)

I sat on the bed. Did the pillow smell fresh or did it smell like other people have slept on it? This is the detail that matters most to guests. A pillow with old smell is something you notice and remember.

In two rentals, the pillows smelled fresh. Pillowcases were obviously clean. In one rental, the pillow had that unmistakable scent of previous guests. I made a note. Cleanliness review would be 4 stars, not 5.

I also looked under the bed and checked if there was any debris, hair, or dust. In half the rentals, the area under the bed was clean. In half, I found some dust or the occasional strand of hair.

Fourth Check: The Bathroom

Here's where I became an inspector. I looked inside the toilet bowl. I checked behind the toilet. I looked at the grout lines in the shower. I opened the medicine cabinet to see if there were previous guests' items left behind.

In one rental, the toilet was spotless. Grout was clean. Shower looked fresh. The bathroom immediately communicated, "This place is cleaned properly."

In another rental, I found hair on the bathroom floor. The soap scum on the shower door was visible. The grout had a dark film. Message: cursory cleaning, not thorough cleaning.

I also checked the exhaust fan. One rental's exhaust fan had the musty smell of bathroom moisture that hadn't been properly managed. Another rental's fan was clean and fresh.

Fifth Check: The Kitchen and Microwave

I opened the microwave. Is the inside splattered with food from previous guests? In five of the six rentals, I found splatters. Dried food. Stains. In one rental, the microwave was spotless. That detail mattered.

I also opened the fridge. Was there staining? Weird smells? Leftovers from previous guests? Two rentals had fridges that smelled questionable. The others were fine.

I checked the sink. Is it clean and dry or does it have staining, water spots, or dried residue? The sink was the clearest sign of attention to detail. Clean sinks appeared in rentals that got 5-star reviews. Stained sinks appeared in 4-star rentals.

Sixth Check: The Details Nobody Expects You to Check

Light switches. Remote controls. Door handles. These high-touch surfaces tell a story about how thorough the cleaning was.

In the best rental, all of these were visibly clean. No grime on the remote. No smudges on light switches. It communicated that someone had thought about the details that guests touch most frequently.

In another rental, the TV remote was sticky. The light switch was slightly discolored. I touched it and immediately thought, "This wasn't cleaned thoroughly."

Seventh Check: Does It Feel Lived-In or Cleaned?

This is abstract but real. Some rentals felt like they had been lived in recently and partially tidied up. Other rentals felt like they had been properly cleaned top-to-bottom and prepared for the next guest.

The difference is in attention. Did someone actually inspect the space and check every corner? Or did they do a quick walkthrough?

Here's What Determined My Star Rating

Rentals I Gave 5 Stars

Fresh smell. Spotless floors. Clean pillows. Pristine bathroom with clean grout. Spotless microwave. Clean kitchen sink. Light switches and remote visibly clean. Overall feeling of thorough cleaning.

Rentals I Gave 4 Stars

Slight staleness on entry. Visible dust in at least one corner. Dirty microwave. Bathroom grout with visible film. Sticky remote or discolored light switch. One detail wrong that made me question overall cleanliness.

The Real Insight

The gap between 5 stars and 4 stars isn't about the rental being dirty versus clean. It's about the difference between "clean enough" and "wow, this place is spotless." Five-star rentals communicate that someone cared about the details. Four-star rentals communicate that someone did a decent job but didn't sweat the details.

One pillow that smells fresh instead of stale. One remote that isn't sticky. One kitchen sink that's spotless instead of stained. These small details are what turn a good review into a great one.

And here's the thing: the rentals that got my 5-star reviews were obviously cleaned by professionals. The ones that got 4 stars felt like they were cleaned by the owner or someone cutting corners.