Hour by hour after checkout

This sequence assumes the guest has left and nobody else is booked into the unit yet. Adjust it if your next arrival is closer.

First 15 minutes
Walk in with the windows still closed and note where the smell is strongest. Photograph ashtrays, butts on the balcony, burn marks, the thermostat setting and any open windows the guest left behind. Do this before the cleaner touches anything.
First hour
Message the guest through the platform, briefly and factually, noting what you found. Keep it to the booking thread so the record lives where a claim reviewer can see it.
Hours 1 to 3
Strip every bed, pull pillow covers, throws, shower curtain, bath mats and kitchen towels. Bag them separately from other laundry. Open windows and run the bathroom and range fans to start moving air.
Hours 3 to 6
Replace the furnace or air handler filter and wipe the return grille. Wash hard surfaces from the ceiling down with a degreasing cleaner, starting in the room where the guest smoked.
Day 1 evening
Re-enter after the unit has been closed up for a few hours. A smell that returns once the windows shut is living in soft surfaces, walls or the duct system, not in the air.
Day 2
Decide whether a turnover clean has done enough or a source treatment is needed, and contact providers with your next check-in date and time in hand.

Why the order matters

Cigarette smoke deposits tar and nicotine residue on cool surfaces: window glass, the inside of lampshades, the ceiling above where the guest sat, and the coils of the air handler. Airing the unit out clears what is suspended in the air, but the residue keeps releasing odor whenever the space warms up. That is why a rental can smell fine at noon with windows open and smell like an ashtray at nine at night with the heat running.

Photographing first protects your claim. Once linens are washed and the trash is gone, the evidence is gone too. Laundering early protects your linens, because residue set into fabric by repeated warm cycles without the right detergent is harder to lift later.

Changing the filter early keeps the HVAC system from spreading residue into rooms the guest never used. In many LoHi townhomes the system serves three floors, so one bedroom of smoke can become a whole-house problem if the fan runs for a day on a loaded filter.

Soft goods to pull in the first pass

  • All bedding, including mattress protectors and duvet inserts if they are washable
  • Decorative pillows and their inserts, which are easy to forget
  • Throws and blankets kept in closets or ottomans
  • Shower curtain and liner, bath mats, hand towels
  • Curtains or drapes in the room where smoking happened
  • Dish towels and oven mitts
  • Area rugs small enough to launder or send out

Common questions

Should I spray a fabric freshener to buy time?

It mainly adds a second smell on top of the first. The next guest often notices the combination and assumes something is being hidden, which tends to show up in reviews.

Is one night of smoking really that bad?

It depends on how many cigarettes, in which room, and whether the HVAC fan ran. A few on a balcony with the door shut may clear with a thorough turnover; a night of chain smoking in a bedroom usually needs source treatment.

General information for LoHi, not a quote or professional advice. In an emergency, call 911.