At Helpling, the cleaners you find on our platform are self-employed service providers. This means they decide for themselves which bookings they want to accept.
Choosing Your Favorite Cleaners
To increase your chances of a successful match, we recommend selecting at least four favorite cleaners during the booking process. This gives more cleaners the chance to respond to your request.
What Happens After You Send a Booking Request?
Once your booking request is sent:
Your selected favorites have up to 4 hours to respond.
If none of your favorites accept the request within this time, it will be automatically forwarded to other suitable service providers.
What Does “Automatic Forwarding” Mean?
If your request is automatically forwarded, we will always respect the details you entered, including:
Frequency (e.g., weekly, bi-weekly)
Preferred date and time
Duration of the cleaning
Your selected price range
Only cleaners who match all of these criteria will receive your request.
Important: Requests to a Cleaner You Already Know. If you send a booking request to a cleaner you’ve worked with before, the request will only be sent to that person. In this case, automatic forwarding to other cleaners will not take place.
Can I Turn Off Automatic Forwarding?
You can’t completely disable automatic forwarding – this helps us ensure your request has the best chance of being accepted.
However, you can limit it during the booking process:
In the step “Choose Your Cleaner”, simply uncheck the box labeled “Automatically match with other cleaners.”
Your request will still be forwarded, but only your selected favorites will be able to confirm the booking.
Can Cleaners Outside My Favorites Still See My Request?
Yes, even if a cleaner isn’t on your favorites list, they might still see your request and express interest.
If this happens:
You’ll receive a notification from Helpling.
You can view the interested cleaner’s profile in your customer account.
If you like what you see, you can manually confirm the booking.
The cleaner will only be notified once you confirm.
What should I do if my favorite doesn’t accept?
If none of your selected favorites accepts your request, you still have several options:
Favorites usually respond to booking requests within a few hours. If you don’t receive a confirmation, we recommend the following steps:
Check your request:
Go to your customer profile to see if other service providers have shown interest in your booking.Compare profiles:
Take your time to review the profiles of interested providers. Customer ratings and experience reports can help you decide.Confirm manually:
If you find someone suitable, you can confirm the booking with just one click. The booking will then be saved in your customer profile.Submit a new request:
If no provider fits your needs, you can always create a new booking request for a different date or time. You can select your favorites again during this step.
This way, you can still find a cleaner who meets your expectations – even if your original favorites aren’t available.
Data Privacy: Who Sees What?
Your privacy is very important to us.
When a cleaner receives your booking request – whether as a favorite or through automatic forwarding – they only see the information needed to decide whether to accept the offer.
Specifically, they can see:
The street name (without house number)
The postal code
The preferred date and time
The duration and frequency of the cleaning
Your price range
They do not see:
Your name
Your house number
Any other personal details
Sensitive information – such as your full name and exact address – is only shared with the cleaner 48 hours before the scheduled appointment.
This ensures your data is only passed on when the booking is confirmed and the appointment is near.
If you have any questions or need assistance, don't hesitate to connect directly with one of our friendly service agents – we're happy to help! 😊