Holiday home - what are your top 5 must haves - in order?

Location is everything for us: next to the sea, river, stunning views, it needs to be special. We are staying in Whitby soon in a flat overlooking the estuary.

Parking off road. Have had some tiny spaces when we had a big car though!

Dishwasher and washing machine

Outdoor space

Pubs within walking distance.

That's what I did to find out more about parking this year @Laiste. The house was listed over a number of websites.

Number of bedrooms
Two bathrooms
Private outside space
Beautiful view
Temperature control air con/heating

Going more for things I notice when I arrive…
Not just a load of random bits of furniture clearly left over from someone’s main home.
decent chopping board and sharp knives
normal sized mugs and glasses
some board games for kids
a bottle of wine

I twisted an ankle last year in a holiday home where the only bathroom/loo was on a different floor from the bedrooms - the stair had an angled bottom step and the light switches were badly located. The ankle is still giving me twinges. This holiday house also had one bedroom off the other , not obvious from the listing. I'd love to get floorplans but have never seen one for a holiday cottage.

So I'd say, in order, going for things you can tell from the listing and not things you can't (like 3 forks for 4 people in our last stay!)

• separate bedrooms as needed, with proper beds not sofabeds, doors on all bedrooms and no walkthrough bedrooms
• a dining table with enough chairs for everyone
• an area of comfy seating with enough soft seats (sofas or chairs) to seat everyone
• no pub or all night cafe right outside
• a bit of character in the buildings and/or the furnishings. I don't like staring at empty white walls and brown leather furniture on holiday

@FKAT

You weren't confronted with the taste of the owner.

Or their deceased elderly relatives! We absolutely hate places that are too "personalised" with family photos left on the wall, granny's old crockery in the kitchen, Auntie Flo's china in a display cabinet, etc. Quite a few owners think it's acceptable just to leave their old relatives' junk in the home when they inherit it or move the old junk into a newly bought home. Likewise old furniture that's inherited or bought from a charity shop with old fashioned colours/patterns.

Also, hate those where it's clear the owners live there and just move out for a few weeks/months and rent out their home. Where they still have their clothes in drawers and wardrobes, personal photos/photo albums in the sideboard cupboards, etc., or even worse, an underwear drawer complete with a sex toy! The kind of places where they leave a note to say they've cleared the top drawer of the bedroom chest of drawers and the left hand wardrobe. Urgh!!

We scrutinise the photos before we book anywhere to look for signs of "personalisation" or inheritances. If there aren't plenty of photos, we won't risk it and won't book. Had to many uncomfortable places in the past.

Hot tubs aren't a must have for me but I would like one, but not the electric heated, water never seems to get changed kind of hot tub, but a proper wood heated barrel hot tub, where you put fresh water each time and heat it with fire. Like in this picture.

My uncle had one and I love it when I visit him. Though you really need to plan ahead to use it, as it takes quite a while to heat up.

I know this isn't exactly what you mean, but I only want to go somewhere that is at least as nice as my own house and preferably nicer (not hard!). I don't want to go somewhere that is decorated, furnished and has kitchen/bathrooms from 30 odd years ago. For me holiday lets should be a bit luxurious.

100%. Cannot abide having to have a shower in a bath tub for a start and the last airbnb didn't have a microwave.

I think an Airbnb/villa is very different from a home and should be designed accordingly. It gets so much more wear and tear than a house but also should feel luxurious and vacation like - yes, even at the lower budget end of the market.

The last place we stayed in was absolutely beautiful (lack of microwave aside) - a very nicely modernist refurb of old farm buildings. I noticed that while there were lots of art books and the decor was beautiful there was no art on the wall and that made it feel both a bit more lux and a bit less personal. You weren't confronted with the taste of the owner.

When choosing:

• area & amenities
• number of bedrooms
• parking
• view

• comfortable beds
• decent curtains that keep out the light
• sufficient storage / surface areas
• a kitchen & dining area that 'works'

Likewise - too many holiday cottages don't follow the HSE rules and I don't want to risk a nasty infection from using previous guests' dirty water. If you ask to see the daily log, the booking is often declined!

We only ever go away for a week, so a washing machine is a low priority for me. I can easily fit a week's worth of clothes in a case.

Assuming the basics like in the right place, bedrooms for the right number of people:

1. Comfortable beds with decent duvets and cotton bedding.
2. A big pot so we can make soup/a large casserole dish (hardly any holiday homes have this, yet they are obvious things to cook for >3 people)
3. Enough seating for everyone to lounge and watch tv
4. Combi boiler so constant hot water
5. No leather seating, you just slide around and it's ugly
6. (Nothing red. I can't stand red in decor anywhere. But that's a niche requirement!)

A bath
The owners to be not in earshot
Firepit or woodburner

I know. Ditto the blasted curtains. I travel with my own pillow where possible.

Location - needs to be in the right place for our holiday and convenient obviously.
Adequate number of bedrooms/ beds - I hate listings that reckon they sleep 10 with 2 bedrooms and 3 beds and the rest is weird sofa arrangements.
Not somewhere noisy (e.g. above a pub)
"Nice" - I don't go on holiday to live in someone's mess or in hostil conditions. This means nicely decorated, clean, mod cons etc
Dishwasher/ properly stocked kitchen

No smoking is important too. I don't care about pets, but it needs to still be clean so no dog hairs everwhere

2 bathrooms
Dishwasher
Bath and shower (not just shower)
Garden
Close to shops n stuff

I would say coffee machine but we always take our tassimo anyway

Pets allowed
Walking distance to pub

That's it from me!!!

5 star cottage with top cleanliness score
Number of bedrooms
Outside space for ball games
Fridge and Freezer
Washer

But how do you find out about the mattresses and pillows? This is also a priority for me. I find it so stressful worrying about the beds. We’ve had so many holidays ruined by shit beds.

Spotlessly clean.
Well thought out quality furnishings.
Quality bed linen towels crockery cutlery.
Honest description.
Lovely area.

Currently in a lovely holiday property in the UK. Little basket on arrival with lentil crisps, shortbread, bottle of prosecco, teabags and coffee sachets as well as some Nespresso pods. But no washing up liquid or dishwasher tablet. Either would have been fine. Even Haven caravans provide a bit of washing up liquid to start you off.

Agree with everyone about bedrooms. Can't be doing with this '2 bedrooms but sleeps 15' business. But then again, maybe if you had loads of kids it would work for some families.

Position and view
Comfortable bed
Well equipped kitchen
Usable outside space
Parking