Airbnb Cleaner 2026: Hiring, Pay Models, and Tax Forms

If you need a turnover cleaner for a short-term rental (STR), 3 things decide what a cleaner costs you. The payment route sets the platform fee: Turno charges 1.5% a payment for your own cleaner paid by bank transfer and 8% for a marketplace cleaner paid by card. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) threshold for Form 1099-NEC is now $2,000 a year. The cleaner’s hours can decide whether your rental losses offset your salary.

As an example only, take the same $400,000 cabin our post on the STR tax loophole uses. It has 100 turnovers a year at 3 hours each. That is 300 hours of cleaning, done by 1 cleaner.

Where Hosts Find a Turnover Cleaner

Turno gives a host 2 routes. In the marketplace, you start a Cleaner Search for 1 property, and Turno sends the offer to marketplace cleaners in your area, who bid on it. Turno’s host guide says bids expire after 48 hours, you need a linked calendar before you accept one, and Turno then creates a cleaning project for each check-out. The same page states: “All cleaners on our marketplace are independent contractors.”

The second route is to invite a cleaner you already work with. Payment through Turno is required for marketplace cleaners and optional for your own.

Turno vs. Breezeway covers when a host needs a full operations platform.

The 3 Pay Models

Per turnover. A Turno bid price becomes that cleaner’s rate for each project on your property, and you can change it at any time. You are charged only when the cleaner marks the project complete.

Hourly. A cleaner can bid with the “Per Hour” rate type. Turno’s hourly article says the app records the start time and the finish time, and calculates the payment from them.

Per bedroom. This is a flat turnover price set by the number of bedrooms. Turno does not publish per-bedroom rates.

For what cleaners earn, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports a median hourly wage of $17.07 for maids and housekeeping cleaners in May 2025, with a mean of $17.83 and 860,670 people employed. That is the wage employers pay employees. A contractor sets their own price, and Turno does not publish typical bid prices.

What Each Payment Route Costs

As an example only, pay the cabin’s cleaner the BLS median of $17.07 an hour for 3 hours. That is $51.21 a turnover and $5,121 for 100 turnovers. Bank transfer means automated clearing house (ACH) payment, which Turno offers for US bank accounts only.

The last row hits the minimum, because 1.5% of $51.21 is 77 cents and Turno’s minimum fee is $1.50. Turno’s fee article says the fees also apply to tips and bonuses. A marketplace cleaner pays a fee of their own, which the article does not publish.

The subscription is separate. Turno’s pricing page lists $0 for 1 property and $0 for unlimited properties that use only marketplace cleaners. Your own cleaners on 2 or more properties cost $10 per property a month, or $96 per property a year on the annual plan.

Contractor or Employee

The IRS decides worker status from the whole relationship. Its contractor or employee page groups the evidence into 3 categories: Behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship. The IRS says no set number of factors decides it.

The risk is employment tax. For an employee, you withhold income tax, Social Security, and Medicare, pay the employer share, and pay unemployment tax. If you treat an employee as a contractor without a reasonable basis, the IRS says you can be liable for those taxes under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 3509. Either side can file Form SS-8 for a ruling, and the IRS says it may take at least 6 months.

The Department of Labor (DOL) applies a separate test for wage law under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Its 2024 rule, effective March 11, 2024, weighs 6 economic factors. Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-1, dated May 1, 2025, says DOL investigators no longer apply that rule and use Fact Sheet #13 from July 2008 instead. The 2024 rule still applies in private lawsuits. The DOL proposed a replacement in February 2026.

Form 1099-NEC at $2,000

The IRS instructions for Form 1099-NEC set the threshold at $2,000 for tax years beginning after 2025, with inflation adjustments possible from 2027. 5 rules apply:

1. It covers payments made in the course of your trade or business. Personal payments are not reported. Ask your preparer whether your rental counts.
2. You file with the IRS and give the cleaner a copy by January 31.
3. Payments by card or through a third-party payment network go on Form 1099-K, which the payment settlement entity files. Form 1099-NEC does not cover them. Ask Turno which form covers your payments.
4. Payments to a corporation are generally not reported.
5. You use Form W-9 to get the cleaner’s taxpayer identification number (TIN). Without one, backup withholding rules apply.

In the example, $5,121 paid directly by check or bank transfer is above $2,000, so it needs a Form 1099-NEC if your rental counts as a trade or business. The cleaning cost itself is a deduction, listed in our Airbnb tax deductions checklist. For whether cleaning moves a rental from Schedule E to Schedule C, see Schedule E vs. Schedule C.

The Cleaner’s Hours and the 100-Hour Test

IRS Publication 925 lists the material participation tests. Under 1 of them, you pass if you participate for more than 100 hours and “at least as much as any other individual (including individuals who didn’t own any interest in the activity).” Your cleaner counts as another individual.

In the example, the cleaner works 300 hours. If you log 250, you fail that test, and at under 500 hours you also fail the 500-hour test. The comparison runs against each individual. With the same 300 hours split between 2 cleaners at 150 each, your 250 hours clear it. When a cleaner bills hourly on Turno, the app records their start and finish times. For what the deduction is worth on your property, use the cost-seg calculator.

What the Checklist and Agreement Cover

Turno offers photo-guided checklists and cleaning documentation for each project. A turnover checklist usually covers beds and linens, kitchen, bathrooms, restocking, a photo of each room, and a damage report.

A written agreement usually covers 8 points:

1. The pay model and the rate.
2. The payment route and when payment is made.
3. Who pays platform fees, including fees on tips and bonuses.
4. Who supplies cleaning products and equipment.
5. The turnover window between check-out and check-in.
6. How damage and missing items are reported.
7. A Form W-9 before the first payment.
8. A record of start and finish times for each turnover.

Points 4 and 5 bear on the IRS categories of financial and behavioral control. For keeping a regular cleaner, read Taking Care of Your Cleaners. For related guides, see Airbnb Cleaning Fee Strategy 2026 and Airbnb Co-Hosting.

What to Set Up First

The platform fee is the smallest number here, at $150 to $410 a year in the example. The cleaner’s hours matter more, because they can decide whether a year of rental losses offsets your salary. We would choose the payment route on fees and keep an hours record from the first turnover. Start with a Form W-9 and a start-and-finish time for every turnover. Book a free strategy call and we will look at your numbers with you.

Host Camp is not a licensed tax, legal, or financial adviser. Confirm figures for your situation with a professional.

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