Running an aparthotel: unit inventory, cleaning model and deposits

An aparthotel is run as a hotel, but its rooms are equipped for self-catering: under Turkish tourism regulations, an apart hotel is defined as a facility with at least ten apart rooms, a lobby with reception, and self-catering capabilities. Confirm your specific building's classification and duties with a legal adviser. Operations turn on a counted unit inventory, a departure-based cleaning model and a written deposit policy.

For example, a guest checks out at 11:00 leaving a frying pan in the sink, two missing forks and a fridge that has been off since Tuesday. The next arrival is at 15:00, and the unit cannot be sold again until someone has cleaned it, counted it and decided what the deposit covers. This article covers aparthotel operations in that four-hour window and around it: what a kitchen changes, how to run a departure count, how to schedule cleaning, how to settle deposits and utilities, and how to cover reception with few staff.

What changes when a room has a kitchen?#

A kitchen adds surfaces, appliances and consumables that a hotel room does not have, and it changes what a departure means: the unit is not clean until the kitchen is clean and the equipment is counted.

The legal frame comes from the Regulation on the Qualifications of Tourism Facilities, consolidated text, Articles 15, 18 and 25 (opens in a new tab) (mevzuat.gov.tr, 7 November 2026). Article 25 defines apart hotels as facilities with at least ten rooms that meet the regulation's minimum qualities, are equipped with what guests need to meet their own food and drink needs, are run as a hotel, and have all rooms arranged as apart rooms. Under Article 18(1)(a)(2), a suite becomes an apart room when a kitchen with a dining table and chairs, a hob, a cooker hood, a refrigerator, enough cooking and serving equipment and cupboards to store them is added to its sitting area, or when a separate kitchen is provided.

The building must also carry a lobby with a reception and a waiting area (in summer facilities part of this space may be open), a management office, matching standard furnishings in the apart rooms, and an automatic washing machine in the units if no laundry and ironing service is offered (Article 25(2)). Two small reliefs sit in the same text: rooms in apart hotels with fewer than 30 rooms need no telephone (Article 18(1)(a)(1)), and a staff area is not mandatory (Article 15(2)).

The operational consequence is three work streams a hotel room does not carry: an equipment count, a kitchen deep clean and appliance checks, on top of longer stays and self-catering waste. Whether a particular building qualifies, and how an apart hotel differs from a short-term rental permit, belong to the compliance articles, not here. The honest trade-off is simple: fewer rooms to service, but each one takes longer and carries more that can break or disappear.

Unit inventory: what goes on the list, and when do you count it?#

The list is one page per unit type, and the count happens at departure, before cleaning finishes, because the count is what tells you whether the unit can be sold and whether the deposit covers anything.

The list holds, per unit type, quantities of crockery, cutlery, glasses, pans, cooking utensils, kettle, toaster, coffee maker, iron and board, hairdryer, remote controls and keys, plus a linen par of bed sets, towels, bath mat and tea towels. Count at departure, not at arrival: an arrival count delays the guest at the door and moves the argument to the wrong moment, when the unit has already been sold as complete.

Separate the counter from the charger. The room attendant counts while cleaning and signs the sheet; the desk decides the charge. One person doing both is a conflict the guest can see. Keep a replacement store at par, the same crockery, glassware and small appliances on a shelf, so a missing item is replaced the same day instead of re-bought at retail price.

Draw the line between wear and loss in writing: a chipped plate, a burnt pan and a stained tea towel are replacement cost, not a charge against the guest. Record the count on the unit's history, so a repeat problem and a failing appliance become visible before the next guest finds them. Budget the time: the count adds minutes to every departure, so schedule it inside the cleaning slot rather than after it.

Cleaning model: departure clean, weekly service and linen change#

An apart unit needs two different cleans: a full departure clean that includes the kitchen, and a scheduled service during the stay, usually weekly, with linen and towel changes written into the booking terms.

The departure clean sets the sellable standard: degrease the hob, hood filter and splashback, clean the oven and fridge inside, the sink and drain, the dishwasher filter, the bin and the floor, then the bathroom, bedroom and living area. The stayover service is a smaller, defined list: bins, bathroom, floors, towel change. It does not include personal laundry or washing up, and saying so at booking prevents the expectation.

Linen change follows nights, not requests: pick a cadence, print it in the confirmation, and keep it. A guest who declines service still gets a scheduled check for safety and appliance faults. Scheduling is the hard part: the departure clean blocks the next arrival, so checkout and check-in times must leave a real gap, and a same-day turnaround needs a second attendant or a shorter list.

Longer stays mean more wear, so put one deep item on a weekly rota: oven, hood filter, shower head, mattress rotation. Self-catering guests leave food waste, oil and packaging; put the waste collection times and the bin location in the arrival information. The room-attendant sequence for the room itself is set out in our hotel operating system page, which this section assumes.

Deposits, damage and utilities: how do you settle them without a scene at the desk?#

Take a deposit under terms the guest accepted at booking, decide the charge from the departure count and dated photos, and state in the same terms whether electricity and water are included or metered.

The deposit terms belong in the booking confirmation, not at the desk: the amount, how it is taken (a card pre-authorization or cash), what it may cover, and when and how it is returned. Evidence comes first: the signed departure count sheet and dated photos. Without them a charge becomes a negotiation about memory.

Publish a price list for the common cases, for example a missing pan, a burnt worktop or a lost key, so the charge follows a rule rather than a judgement made at 11:00. Utilities are a policy decision: either electricity and water are included in the rate, or they are read from a meter and charged at a stated unit price, with readings shown at arrival and departure. Long stays carry the risk: a monthly guest cooking and washing daily can use more electricity than a nightly rate assumes, so make utilities a line in the offer.

Keep the money side clean: a charge goes onto the guest's bill and is documented as your accountant directs, and a correction is voided and reversed rather than deleted. The wider question of disputed charges, and how to raise one without a scene, is covered in our article on disputed charges at checkout.

Who covers reception, and how do late arrivals still get their KBS notification?#

The regulation requires a lobby with a reception and a waiting area, but not a particular number of staff; what cannot be dropped is the guest identity notification (KBS) that every stay involves, whatever the hour.

The requirement in the text is a lobby with a reception and a waiting area, part of which may be open in summer facilities, plus a management office (Article 25(2)). With few units, the staffing models are a staffed window plus an on-call number, a night shift shared with a nearby property, or a resident manager. Each buys coverage at a different cost and sets a different last check-in time.

Self check-in with a key box or door code can shorten the desk's hours. It does not remove registration or the identity notification: the ID still has to be captured and the notification still has to be sent. Design the flow for the 01:00 arrival: the person on call should be able to complete the notification from a phone, with the guest's ID captured at booking or at the door. State a last check-in time and what happens after it, so a late arrival is a procedure rather than a phone argument.

Keep a person reachable at night for safety, and put fire instructions and an emergency number inside every unit. The duty is general and the detail of your own process is yours: confirm it with a legal adviser. Our KBS explainer covers the duty itself.

Long stays and monthly guests: what changes in the routine?#

Long stays move the work from departures to scheduled service: the weekly clean becomes the main event, utilities and billing become monthly, and the unit inventory count becomes a periodic check rather than a departure count.

The weekly service becomes the anchor of the week: a fixed day, a linen change, and a full check of the kitchen and appliances while the guest is out or present. Billing changes shape: a mid-stay statement, a monthly invoice, and a deposit sized for a longer exposure than a three-night stay.

Utilities and wear need an agreement in writing: who pays for electricity and water, and who covers the faster wear that daily cooking puts on a kitchen. The identity notification applies to each guest who stays, including a change of occupant in the same unit. Contract terms do the quiet work: notice period, extension, early departure, and what happens to the deposit when a stay ends mid-month. Weekly and monthly pricing is its own decision, and it is easy to give away peak nights while filling a quiet month; our article on long-stay rates sets out the trade-off.

Spare parts and small repairs: what keeps a unit sellable?#

A small store of the parts that fail most, and a rule that every reported fault becomes a work order with a unit number, keeps units sellable without a maintenance team on site.

The store covers the failures that stop a sale: bulbs, fuses, a kettle, a toaster, a remote, a shower head and hose, tap washers, a door handle, silicone, batteries and a spare set of keys. Every fault gets a unit number and a date. A fault in a sold unit is an out-of-order decision, not a note in a diary. Our article on hotel maintenance work orders covers the flow from complaint to closed job.

Keep an appliance age log: when each fridge, hob and washing machine was bought, so replacement is planned rather than an emergency in August. Decide who fixes what: on-site staff for the first few minutes of a job, a named tradesperson for the rest, with a response time agreed in advance. When a guest reports a fault during the stay, acknowledge it, give a time, and record it, even if the fix is a new bulb at six in the evening. A repair is not closed until the unit has been cleaned and counted again, because a repair visit disturbs both.

What to do next#

Start with the unit list and the departure count: the cleaning schedule, the deposit decision and the repair log all hang off a unit that has been counted. Write the service promise and the deposit terms into the booking confirmation this week, and walk your own check-in flow once at 01:00 to see whether the identity notification still gets sent.