Clear, consistent communication is the backbone of great property care. But according to our latest survey of vacation rental service providers, including cleaners, maintenance techs, inspectors, and other field staff, many are still operating with partial information, unclear standards, and disjointed workflows.

When your cleaners and service providers don’t get the details they need, you end up with preventable issues: missed tasks, inconsistent quality, frustrated teams, and ultimately, a less-than-stellar guest experience.

Here are the most common reasons your cleaner or service provider may be missing key information, with practical steps you can take to fix each one.

1. Standards aren’t clearly communicated

Survey insight:

38% of service providers told us their hosts or managers don’t communicate property-specific standards at all. No checklists. No special instructions. No expectations. When standards live in someone’s head instead of in a system, cleaners are forced to “guess” what good looks like, and quality becomes wildly inconsistent.

The risk:

• Inconsistent quality between turnovers
• Missed details that affect guest experience (e.g., smudged glass, forgotten amenities)
• Cleaners waste time double-checking past texts or calling for clarification
• Operators spend more time responding to questions and fixing issues later

How to fix it:

Create clear, property-specific checklists, and deliver them in a consistent format every time. Even better: house them in a centralized operations platform where you can update expectations once and share them instantly with your team. Breezeway allows you to attach room-by-room checklists, and custom instructions so cleaners always know exactly what “done” looks like.

2. Instructions are scattered across too many channels

Survey insight:

35% of service providers said they receive instructions via text message, a method that’s quick, but not reliable. Messages get buried, missed, or lost in long text threads. Meanwhile, only 27% said instructions come through task software, meaning teams often juggle multiple channels at once.

The risk:

• Lost or overlooked details causing delays or missed steps
• Frustration as cleaners search for scattered information
• Increased chance of miscommunication around arrivals or owner stays
• Time-consuming back-and-forth that slows everyone down

How to fix it:

Move essential communication (like door codes, guest ETA, or special instructions) into a centralized system. Using a system that sends tasks, checklists, photos, and messages in one place means service providers don’t have to piece together instructions from texts, emails, or separate platforms.

3. Payment processes are spread across multiple platforms

Survey insight:

Property managers pay teams using an average of two different platforms. Payments become fragmented, harder to track, and more likely to cause confusion or delays. Even when instructions are clear, service providers often have to spend time generating invoices, and then remind or ask property managers about when they’ll be paid, which erodes trust.

The risk:

• Payment delays or missed payments
• Cleaners constantly chasing confirmations
• Reduced trust or strained relationships
• PM inefficiency from manual tracking, leading to higher operational costs

How to fix it:

Consolidate payments into one system if possible, or at minimum, house task completion, invoicing, and payouts under the same operational workflow. When work and compensation are aligned, communication improves automatically.

4. Property details are out of date or incomplete

Even the best checklist falls apart if basic information is missing, things like keypad codes, how to operate appliances, owner preferences, or notes about quirks in each property. Cleaners often arrive on-site only to discover the information they need wasn’t updated after the last guest.

The risk:

• Incorrect linens or inventory placed out
• Overlooking amenities or owner preferences
• Excessive time spent learning each property
• Guests notice inconsistencies from stay to stay

How to fix it:

Assign responsibility for updating property profiles regularly and make it standard practice on a quarterly or yearly basis. Centralize details so your team knows exactly where to look, and trusts what they find will be accurate.

5. Last-minute changes aren’t communicated quickly enough

Schedule shifts, early check-ins, late checkouts, and urgent owner requests happen constantly. But if cleaners don’t get these updates in real time, they’re left scrambling, or worse, they miss the change entirely.

The risk:

• Cleaners scramble and rush, leading to lower-quality work
• Guest-ready tasks take longer
• Increased stress and avoidable rework
• Operators absorb the cost of preventable mistakes

How to fix it:

Automation ensures no one gets overlooked. Use a real-time alert system that notifies all team members the moment a reservation or task changes. Breezeway automatically notifies cleaners of reservation changes, tasks, or property status, so they always have the latest information.

6. Photos and documentation aren’t consistently shared

Cleaners may complete the job, but without photos or notes, property managers can’t confirm quality or verify issues. And when cleaners aren’t asked or equipped to document their work, small problems go unseen until the next guest arrives.

The risk:

• Missed items or inconsistent quality checks
• Hard-to-resolve disputes about what was done
• Guests walk into preventable cleanliness issues
• More time spent inspecting or redoing work

How to fix it:

Build photo documentation into the task process. Require before-and-after images and give providers an easy way to upload them from their phones. Breezeway’s checklists help cleaners submit documentation instantly, giving property managers real-time quality assurance reports.

7. There’s no structured feedback loop

Many service providers notice and want to share insights from the field, like damaged items, guest behavior, dangerous situations, or opportunities for improvement, but don’t have a simple way to communicate back to the manager. Without a system to capture this feedback, critical information falls through the cracks.

The risk:

• Cleaners forget steps because details live in too many places
• More room for human error
• PMs spend hours reconciling tasks, messages, and payments
• Reduced trust in the workflow

How to fix it:

Create a dedicated channel for service provider feedback within your operations process. This can be a form, a task comment section, or an in-app chat that routes updates directly to the right person.

8. Not giving cleaners the context behind guest stays

Cleaners often don’t know whether the next stay is a guest booking, an owner visit, or a repeat guest with preferences. Without context, they don’t know which details matter most.

The risk:

• Missed personalization opportunities that boost reviews
• Cleaners under- or over-prepare
• Guest-ready tasks become inconsistent
• Lower guest satisfaction from easily fixable details

How to fix it:

Share guest-type context in every task. Breezeway automatically includes guest type, special requests, and occupancy details, so cleaners prep the right experience every time.

Better communication leads to better property care

Service providers want to deliver great work. But the survey results make it clear: the current communication process between managers and field teams is still too fragmented.

The biggest takeaways for property managers:

• Cleaners need clear standards, delivered consistently.
• Service providers can’t operate effectively with instructions spread across texts, emails, and apps.
• Payment processes shouldn’t involve two or more separate systems.
• Most common problems, from missed details to last-minute chaos, are solvable with better structure and better tools.

And that’s where Breezeway comes in.

With unified task management, real-time messaging, property profiles, detailed checklists, and integrated operations workflows, Breezeway gives your service providers everything they need in one place to deliver exceptional guest-ready stays.