There’s nothing worse for guests than to arrive at their holiday rental (potentially after a long journey) only to find they have to go shopping straightaway to buy all the essentials they’ll need.
This is one area we mention frequently, but it’s amazing the holiday rentals we’ve stayed in where the essentials haven’t been provided. It can make a real difference to a guests experience – and can get great feedback in many cases as well.
It’s worth spending some time getting all the essentials together to make life easier and more convenient for your guests. Then don’t forget to highlight the main ‘extras’ on your website so guests know that there’s added value for booking you rental. It provides another perk that sets your holiday let apart from the competition. You could also include details of the items included as standard information on your booking confirmation document.
A welcome pack
Many holiday let owners offer this, but you can make sure yours is packed full of great items with a little additional thought. The essentials should be as follows:
- Tea
- Coffee
- Sugar
- Milk
- Bread
- Butter
- Washing up liquid
- Soap (one in each of the bathrooms)
- Dishwasher tablets (if applicable)
Aside from this you can add other things such as local produce, a bottle of wine and some biscuits or cakes to have as soon as your guests arrive. You might also want to include a note that explains where the nearest shops and supermarkets are as well as their opening hours for your guests convenience.
Essentials for the property
Toilet paper is an absolute must – along with a few spare rolls. Towels should also be provided for the bathroom(s); if your holiday let is close to a beach you could also provide beach towels or mats for your guests.
Bin bags should also be provided, both for the outside bin and for the ones you have indoors. In the kitchen, make sure you have plenty of tea towels along with oven gloves so your guests can stay safe while cooking.
Before your guests arrive you should make up all the beds and provide plenty of pillows too. While not essential it’s a good idea to have pillow and mattress protectors in place. They ensure your bed and pillows enjoy a longer life.
There are a number of practical items you can include as well. For example, make sure you have a full length mirror available – ideally in each bedroom – and provide an ironing board and iron as well. Every female guest will appreciate a hairdryer too as this item takes up valuable space in their suitcase!
Since you’ll have guests in your holiday rental throughout the year, plan for all weathers. A real fire should have logs and fire lighters available. Provide some cosy blankets in the living room for guests to snuggle into whilst watching a DVD with a glass of wine, as well as for each bedroom. While hot weather can be planned for by providing fans just in case it becomes humid.
Finally, it’s a nice touch to provide some CDs, DVDs, playing cards, and games for all the ages you are targeting, in case people decide to stay in from time to time.
What do you leave in your holiday rental for your guests? Do you cover all the above points, or have some others that give your rental a real personal touch?
Rick Bond says
Good article.
We’d also recommend the following based on the feedback we’ve had from guests.
A knife sharpener – regular holiday cottage users often imply that the majority of the world’s blunt knifes lurk in the drawers of holiday cottages.
Include a breakfast cereal multi-pack in the welcome pack to ensure you’re offering a good choice to all members of the family.
It’s always nice to put in a new pan scourer/sponge and J-cloth, rather than expecting guests to use something that has been used by previous guests.
Finally, to save owners having to continually update a collection of CD’s to replace those that ‘get borrowed’, install an i-Pod/MP3 Dock so that guests can just bring and play their own music collection.
PromoteMyPlace says
Thanks Rick. Some good additions there. It seems things like sharp knives are often overlooked, but it can definitely be quite irritating for guests if there aren’t any when they are trying to cook at the property. Little things like that can taint the overall experience. The new pan scourer/sponge and j-cloth is a great idea too.