SA startup SweepSouth partners with Airbnb

Cape Town-based on-demand domestic cleaning service SweepSouth announced its new partnership with Airbnb. 

SweepSouth has partnered with international home sharing platform, Airnbnb

This partnership announcement comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the move to lockdown level two allowing for the hospitality and tourism sector to once again open its doors to local customers. 

The partnership also aims to encourage locals’ appetite for domestic travel and third-party accommodation by ensuring that hosts meet the standards of Airbnb’s enhanced cleaning protocols for hosts in South Africa. These measures have been awarded a Safe Travels seal by the World Trade and Tourism Council. 

Aisha Pandor, SweepSouth co-founder, and CEO explains that the partnership provides ease of mind to those wanting to book a night or two with a local Airbnb. 

“The long-awaited reopening of South Africa’s hospitality industry comes with unique challenges that SweepSouth has been preparing for months. In addition to providing dedicated sanitisation and hospitality protocols training for SweepStars, our online platform has been upgraded to make booking a dedicated option for Airbnb hosts. Guests can now make Airbnb bookings, safe in the knowledge that accommodation serviced by our SweepStars meets with the highest international hospitality cleaning best practice standards”.   

Due to the need for increased sanitisation and cleaning solutions required due to Covid-19, SweepSouth partnered with Airbnb during level three of the national lockdown. This partnership would allow Airbnb hosts to easily access a premier cleaning service through the easy-to-use SweepSouth platform providing an easy solution to hosts. 

The protocol adopted and implemented by SweepSouth claims to be above the stanardised guidelines in the home-sharing sector and South Africa. Airbnb hosts who opt to use their services will be able to access their services in a quick turnaround time with a high standard of services offered to ensure Covid-19 free environments. 

Employment opportunity 

Not only is the partnership working to provide ease to those who are wanting to travel locally while staying at an Airbnb but it also offers additional work for their ‘SweepStar’ employees.

While SweepSouth established the COVID-19 SweepStar fund in April to provide monetary support for SweepStars, many of whom are the sole providers for their families, the majority were desperate to return to work.

“The fund, which was aided by an R6 000 000 contribution from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation provided vital short-term support for SweepStars, raising just short of R12-million to date. However, the international-standard hospitality training which SweepStars are now being empowered with not only expands their independent employment prospects across an array of hospitality sectors but also strengthens their ability to contribute to South Africa’s economy. They are providing Airbnb and the hospitality sector at large with an indispensable cleaning resource,” explains Pandor.

SweepSouth has revolutionised the home services industry and gives flexible work opportunities at great rates to the amazing people who do domestic cleaning, gardening, plumbing, and more in South Africa.

 The award-winning, industry-disrupting platform prides itself on excellent quality and high customer ratings. 

Read more: Cape Town startup SweepSouth raises over R50m in new funding round
Read more: SweepSouth receives investment from Futuregrowth 

Featured image: Aisha Pandor, SweepSouth co-founder with Alen Ribic, co-founder of SweepSouth