The Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist Every Owner Needs to Succeed

The Evolve Team
The Evolve Team
January 4, 2023

Keeping an up-to-date vacation rental inventory checklist is one of the most important tasks for an owner. 

Why?

In between stocking your rental, standardizing a cleaning process, and collecting five-star guest reviews, there’s a lot you need to do to manage your home. Staying in the know about everything you own is critical to making sure all of those tasks are carried out successfully.

The great news: taking inventory doesn’t need to be daunting. Our free, easy-to-use vacation rental inventory checklist helps you take stock of important household items in every room.

Inside you’ll find recommended essentials that can help you deliver on seamless guest experiences, plus free space for documenting anything additional that’s specific to your home. Consider it a foundational step in enhancing your vacation rental performance.

Download Our Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist

In This Article: 
What Is a Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist?
Why Is a Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist Important?

What Is a Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist?

Photo of a flat lay of two clipboards holding the Evolve vacation rental inventory checklist

Simply put, this resource is used to document important items in your home. It allows you to take stock of what you have, what you’re running low on, and what you need to buy or replace. 

An inventory checklist for vacation rental should cover every room in your house, making it easy to track everything from pantry items to pieces of furniture. There should also be space to note the quantity and condition of each item (think: six coffee mugs in fair condition).

From there, just how in-depth your inventory gets is up to you. You can write down every last trinket if it provides peace of mind, or you can choose to cover only the supplies, amenities, and decor that contribute to your guest experience. Either way, you’ll have a robust frame of reference for maintaining a top-tier environment.

While you can fill out a fresh checklist as often as you’d like, our experts say it’s best to do a full inventory when you do your bi-annual deep clean and maintenance inspection. Quick spot checks for dwindling supplies can happen more frequently to keep up with guest stays.

Why Is a Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist Important?

3 panels of images showing vacation rental inventory items like folded towels, cleaning supplies, and dishware

Keeping an accurate home inventory is key to smooth business operations. Having a checklist makes it easy to do a thorough job. It can also help:

1. Deliver Five-Star Guest Experiences

A list of existing items is the first step in providing for your guests. It exposes supply gaps and creates a baseline for upgrading the amenities that help your home stand out to travelers.

It can also make it easy to answer inquiries from eager vacationers. If a potential guest wants to know whether you have a hair dryer in the primary bedroom, you can quickly scan your Airbnb’s inventory checklist and provide accurate info. When an item isn’t available, you’ll spend less time digging for an answer and more time finding a fix.

2. Streamline Collaboration with On-Site Teams

Having an inventory checklist for cleaning crews and other maintenance professionals gives them a great reference point for their work. Housekeepers can make sure items are returned to their designated locations. Repair staff can track an appliance’s condition prior to the request. And your pre-organized checklist can also help familiarize new team members with your home and ensure consistency across the board.

3. Provide Reliable Documentation

With guests and crews filtering in and out of your home, keeping inventory establishes a reliable system to track valuable items and their condition. We can’t rely on memory alone to confirm everything is how it should be — and where it belongs. This becomes even more difficult if you’re a remote owner who can’t regularly pop in and assess. Having your up-to-date inventory checklist on hand eliminates the what if and gives you peace of mind.

Plus, in the rare event that something does go missing or appears damaged, having clear documentation can help with filing an insurance claim. Our Partner Development team says supplementing with photos of valuable items (taken every six months as part of your full inventory update) can also help resolve issues faster.

Get Organized with Our Free Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist

We created our inventory checklist for vacation rental because we want to help you check “success” off your to-dos.

Inside you’ll find: 

  • A room-by-room breakdown of essential vacation rental items
  • Recommended quantities of items for guest satisfaction
  • Free, templatized space for logging individual items in every room
  • Organized fields for noting details like condition and exact location
  • Additional pages to suit the layout and special areas in your home

And that’s not all we have. From cleaning checklists and dynamic revenue management to earning five-star reviews from your guests, Evolve has tons of resources to help your vacation rental thrive.

Get Your Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist

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