Checkout damage is easiest to document before the cleaner moves towels, resets furniture, or throws away packaging and broken pieces. Use this checklist to capture wide room photos, close-ups, missing items, cleaner notes, and the previous-condition comparison for Airbnb or VRBO stays.
Capture the checkout scene before reset
- Photograph the entry, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, and patio from the doorway before towels, furniture, trash, or luggage are moved.
- Take one wide shot of the exact area where the issue was found, such as a sofa cushion, cracked blind slat, stained sheet, wet floor, broken chair, or missing remote tray.
- Note who found the issue and the checkout or cleaner time, especially when the next guest arrives the same day.
Show damage with surrounding context
- Capture a close-up of the scratch, crack, stain, burn mark, broken hinge, torn fabric, or chipped surface with enough wall, floor, or furniture around it to identify the spot.
- Add a second photo pulled back to show a room landmark, such as the nightstand, kitchen island, patio door, hot-tub steps, or entry bench.
- Photograph loose pieces, packaging, glass, hardware, wet towels, or displaced furniture before throwing anything away or resetting the area.
Separate missing items from cleaning work
- List supplied items that commonly disappear, including remotes, keys, fobs, parking passes, towels, linens, pillows, hangers, cookware, chargers, and pool or hot-tub accessories.
- Photograph the empty hook, cabinet shelf, drawer, towel stack, linen closet, or tray where the item normally sits.
- Write the item name, expected count, and location without assigning the gap to a guest, cleaner, or prior stay.
Compare against the previous condition
- Compare the last clean-turnover or pre-arrival photo with the same angle when the earlier photo exists.
- Pair before/after photos for high-use areas: sofa bed, dining chairs, kitchen counter, shower glass, mattress protector, patio furniture, and entry floor.
- Note the visible change in plain terms, such as "new red stain on left sofa cushion" or "remote missing from living-room tray."
Package the report for the handoff
- File the wide room shot, close-ups, missing-item note, and cleaner note under the same checkout report before the next stay begins.
- Label separate line items for damage, missing inventory, extra cleaning, maintenance follow-up, and guest-left items.
- Save the report link or PDF for the property owner, co-host, cleaner, or manager who needs to review repair or replacement next steps.
Use this guide as documentation support, not legal advice. Local rules, lease terms, platform policies, and professional guidance may affect how a record should be used.