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You already know commercial laundry is worth going after. Bigger orders, recurring revenue, less back-and-forth than residential drop-off. The case writes itself. If you need a refresher on why, check out our guide to the 10 Best First Clients for Your Commercial Laundry Service.
But knowing who to target is only half the battle. The harder question, and the one most laundromat owners actually get stuck on, is how do you get in the door?
This guide is your 2026 playbook. We'll walk you through five of the highest-value commercial account types, exactly what they care about, and the specific outreach moves that turn a cold call into a signed contract.
What Makes a Commercial Account Worth Chasing
Before we get into the tactics, here's what makes these five categories worth prioritizing right now:
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Gyms and fitness studios are expanding rapidly, especially boutique concepts that rely on fresh towel service as part of the member experience.
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Airbnb and short-term rental hosts are under increasing pressure to deliver hotel-quality linens, and most are still handling it themselves.
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Small hotels and inns continue to outsource more operations to control labor costs, laundry included.
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Salons and spas are high-frequency, low-complexity clients and a perfect foundation for building your commercial book.
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Retirement communities and assisted living facilities are one of the most overlooked segments in the industry, with consistent, high-volume laundry needs and professional procurement processes that reward reliable vendors.
Each one needs a slightly different approach. Here's how to crack them.
1. Gyms and Fitness Studios
What they need: Fresh towels on demand. That's mostly it. Gyms go through towels by the hundreds per week, and front desk staff rarely has time to manage a laundry operation on top of check-ins and class bookings.
What they care about: Speed, reliability, and not running out. A gym that's out of towels at 6am is a gym with angry members and bad reviews.
How to get the account:
Walk in during a slow time. Mid-morning on a weekday works well. Ask for the general manager or operations lead. Skip the pitch and lead with a question: "How are you currently handling your towel laundry?" Let them talk. Most will have a story about the headache it is.
From there, offer a one-week trial at no obligation. A gym doing 500 towels a week at $1.25/lb will spend roughly $300-400 per month with you. Frame the trial as a way for them to see what smooth looks like.
Pro tip: Show up with a sample. Literally bring a towel you've washed and folded to hotel standard. Presentation closes deals.
2. Airbnb Hosts and Vacation Rental Managers
What they need: Fast turnarounds on sheets, towels, and kitchen linens between guest checkouts and check-ins. For a host managing multiple properties, this is one of their biggest operational headaches.
What they care about: Reliability and speed. A missed turnaround means a delayed check-in, which means a bad review.
How to get the account:
Start with Airbnb host communities. Facebook Groups, local host meetups, and NextDoor are full of people asking each other for laundry solutions. Post a helpful intro (not a sales pitch) explaining what you offer and how it works. DMs will follow.
For property management companies with multiple units, a cold email or LinkedIn message to the operations manager works well. Keep it short: who you are, what you offer, and one specific thing that makes you easy to work with (same-day turnaround, per-pound pricing, free pickup with 10+ lbs, etc.).
We've covered the logistics of this market in detail in our Vacation Rental Laundry Services checklist, and it's well worth a read before you start outreach.
3. Boutique Hotels and Inns
What they need: Consistent quality on linens, towels, robes, and sometimes uniforms, on a schedule that syncs with their housekeeping.
What they care about: Consistency and professionalism. Hotel operators have dealt with flaky vendors before. If you show up with a clear service agreement, professional invoicing, and a defined pickup schedule, you immediately stand out.
How to get the account:
This one is worth a formal pitch. Put together a one-page service overview with pricing structure, turnaround times, pickup/drop-off schedule, and a short list of what you handle. Drop it off in person with a business card and ask for a meeting with the GM or front-of-house manager.
Smaller independent hotels and bed-and-breakfasts are your best starting point. They're often underserved by industrial laundry vendors who focus on larger properties, and they're looking for someone who will actually pick up the phone.
4. Salons and Spas
What they need: Clean, neatly folded towels, robes, and smocks multiple times a week.
What they care about: Presentation and timing. A spa that runs out of warm towels mid-shift, or gets back linens with folding that looks sloppy, will find someone else fast.
How to get the account:
Salons are one of the easiest cold-walk-in targets. Go in, compliment the space, and ask to speak with the owner or manager. Tell them you're a local laundry service that works with salons in the area and you'd love to offer them a free first order to try you out.
The key is the word local. Salons and spas tend to prefer vendors they can build a relationship with over a faceless commercial service. Lean into that.
Barbershops are another great entry point into this world. Even simpler needs, and owners tend to know their neighboring salon owners.
5. Retirement Communities and Assisted Living Facilities
What they need: This is the big one. Retirement communities and assisted living facilities run continuous laundry operations: resident personal items, facility linens, staff uniforms, dining room textiles. The volume is substantial, the schedule is predictable, and once you're in, you tend to stay.
What they care about: Compliance, reliability, and documentation. These facilities are regulated environments. They need a vendor who shows up on time, handles items carefully, and can provide records of service if needed.
How to get the account:
This segment requires a more formal approach. Start by researching communities in your area. Look for independent senior living, assisted living, and memory care facilities. The decision-maker is usually the Facilities Manager, Director of Operations, or Executive Director.
Send a professional introduction letter or email before calling. Briefly explain your service, your capacity, and that you'd welcome the opportunity to submit a proposal. Follow up with a call a few days later.
If you get a meeting, bring a written service proposal that includes:
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Pricing (per pound or per item)
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Pickup and delivery schedule
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Turnaround time guarantees
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How you handle special items or damage
The retirement community segment rewards preparation. Don't walk in without a packet.
Set Your Business Up to Win the Account and Keep It
Getting a commercial account is one thing. Keeping it long-term requires professional systems behind the scenes.
Invoicing: Commercial clients expect professional, recurring invoices, not a handwritten receipt. Cents Commercial Invoicing lets you send clean, branded invoices directly from your dashboard, set up recurring billing, and keep a clear record of every order. For facilities like retirement communities or hotels that work with multiple vendors, looking professional on paper matters.
Pickup and delivery: Most commercial clients want someone who can come to them. Cents Dispatch handles route optimization and scheduling so you're not managing pickups manually as your account list grows.
Order management: As volume increases, keeping track of what belongs to which client and in what state becomes critical. The Cents POS gives your team a clean system for tagging, processing, and tracking commercial orders separately from residential drop-offs.
Marketing and follow-up: Use Cents Accelerate to stay in front of potential clients with email outreach and to re-engage leads who showed interest but haven't signed on yet.
A Few Final Tips Before You Start Dialing
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Start with one or two account types, not all five. Salons and gyms are the easiest entry points. Get your process dialed in before you take on a retirement community.
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Get a simple service agreement in place early. It doesn't have to be a 10-page contract. Even a one-page document that outlines pricing, schedule, and expectations protects both sides.
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Ask for referrals. A gym owner who loves your service almost certainly knows a spa owner. A happy Airbnb host is plugged into a community of other hosts. Your best next client is often one introduction away.
Commercial laundry is one of the most reliable ways to grow your laundromat in 2026. The businesses are out there, and most of them haven't found a vendor they're truly happy with yet. That's your opening.
Ready to build out the systems to support your commercial growth? Schedule a demo with Cents and see how operators are managing commercial accounts at scale.
