What would you expect to find/love to find in a holiday let?

[lifesabitchandthenyoudie]

We want to set up a small cottage quite near a beach, about mid-range. We want to make it friendly and homely, a nice space to 'get away from it all'. What are your essentials in a holiday let? What would you like to see more of? What small extra things would give you that 'special' feeling? Thanks!

😀

Mind you, I used to live for a while in the grounds of a luxury country house let (lovely 18th c farmhouse by the sea, slept 12-15, with an extra 3-bed cottage for staff or overflows), and at that level, a lot of stuff came as standard. Professional chef’s kitchen with two dishwashers, a full formal dinner service for 18, as well as everyday ware from a local potter, fires lit in all rooms every morning and evening, very fully-stocked larder and fresh bread and scones daily, a mud room, kayaks and boards, specific wetsuit drying space, a library, terraces with furniture on three sides of the house to catch the sun or shade, two barbecues (to help changeover cleaning), a grand piano and other instruments, expensive sound system, access to orchard and vegetables, soft fruit etc in walled garden etc etc.

Changeover in high season involved a disciplined rush of lots of hired-in people to clean, restock, change all beds, redo flowers in a few hours.

The last place we stayed had many of the things people have listed. The things we would have liked were a clothes airer, a vacuum, a decent tin opener and proper size mugs. We've also found in the past that sometimes descriptions are somewhat sketchy.

Mugs of a decent size for my morning cup of tea (not the tiny kind you in IKEA cafe for example)

A king size bed - DH is over 6 feet tall
A double bed with no footboard. DH can sleep in a double bed at a pinch, but only if his feet can dangle over the end!
A bath - DD is disabled, and can only use a shower with a shower chair!
Plenty of cutlery for the number of occupants - we stayed in a cottage with the exact number of knives, forks and spoons. We had to wash up, between courses! There were only about two tea towels as well!
Good kitchen knives, a potato peeler and a tin opener (not a broken one)
A washing machine and means to dry the clothes - at a minimum, a washing line and pegs
Enough comfy chairs in the lounge for the number of occupants
Free parking

We stayed in one cottage, with enough glasses to host a party for 20 people; but scarcely enough kitchen utensils, baking trays, etc to cook a meal for two.

A decent description so that guests don't have to guess.

I booked a holiday cottage years ago that showed an outside space with table & chairs. Description didn't say that it was a terraced cottage & space shared with other cottages. There was 2 outdoor chairs but it was a family
Cottage.

If there's outdoor space, have garden / patio furniture & a bbq (along with bbq tools). If there's a washing line, have some clothes pegs

A king size bed - DH is over 6 feet tall
A double bed with no footboard. DH can sleep in a double bed at a pinch, but only if his feet can dangle over the end!

My DH is the same, tbh the footboard is the least of my worries in terms of beds as I want to sleep 5 but for there to be 2 singles rather than a double.

You may of already thought of the following so sorry if I’m telling you what you already know. But IME the ‘nice to have’ come last on the list (important obviously but they are the last stage of getting the property ready).

Join some Facebook groups for holiday let owners. Very useful on asking questions about legislation, marketing, where to source furnishings, what works well, what problems there are.

Assuming you are in the UK!

Read the pink book and make sure you are happy you can comply with relevant legislation. https://www.visitbritain.org/business-advice/know-your-legal-obligations

Be aware that there are rules about qualifying as a holiday let for tax purposes. And for being treated as a holiday let for business rates (and that if not depending upon where the property is in the UK you may be charged 300% of council tax if you don’t meet the business rates criteria).

do a decent budget.

look at lets in the area, how booked out are they? What prices are they going for? Are they comparable to what you will have to offer? Will you want to use some of the peak weeks? (Summer holidays, Christmas and NY, easter and half terms?) and factor in.

work out how you are going to market. Be aware if you use an agency they may take eg 18% of your revenue before anything else (before vat so would be about 22%). Learn how to negotiate with agents and what you can ask for in terms of % and in terms of owner bookings.

Who is going to clean. Who is going to do maintaniance when you need something fixing (happens a lot). Who is going to do laundry? Be aware people struggle to find reliable cleaners. And reliable ones are not on minimum wage by any stretch of the imagination. And good reviews rely on the property being immaculate.

Factor in gas and electricity and that guests won’t care as much as you do re your bills! You can use eg hive/ nest but people will complain if they don’t have plenty of hot water on tap and aren’t warm. And on a rainy day may well be inside all day.

The market is saturated at the moment, lots of people jumped on the band wagon during Covid thinking easy money.

I hope this helps. It is VERY rewarding to provide a good holiday experience for people and I’ve met lovely lovely guests. But it’s not ‘easy’ and I need to be very hands on. and at times it’s very stressful (eg damage done and new guests arriving a few hours later and you need it to be perfect for them). I read a lot about horror story guests, and there are a lot of people getting out of the industry. You really don’t make as much as you think you will after tax, and needing to save that money to then do repairs/ replace white goods/ re roof properties and all the other stuff that having a property entails.

Have a bedside table on both sides of the double bed. (Bitter experience)

To be honest, I'd just prefer all the basics to be clean, tidy, functional and fully working. Not interested at all in "gimmicks" like artwork, ornaments, posh coffee machines, etc.

For me, keep it simple, but get the basics covered, i.e. a 4 slot toaster, decent quality microwave (not the cheapest from Argos!), instruction books for washer, dishwasher and oven, fast/reliable broadband covering the whole house, plenty of cutlery, crockery and glassware (at least double of each for occupancy). Simple welcome pack (bread, milk, butter, tea, coffee, sugar), dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, kitchen foil, trays for the oven, pizza slicer, good range of knives and pair of scissors, replacement light bulbs and batteries. TV that works and is tuned in with working remote! Free flowing hot water in the showers and sinks 24/7. Controllable central heating (not restricted to times/temperatures). Simple garden furniture of table and chairs so we could eat out in good weather. Extra bedding/towels/pillows, a few spare loo rolls, soap for all sinks. A decent shaving/make up mirror (freestanding) in the bathroom (Not one fixed to a different wall to the sink!)

"File" containing a selection of leaflets from local attractions, local walks, takeaways, etc (kept up to date), and telephone numbers for emergencies (inc a 24 hour emergency number for the owner/agent).

Everything all the pp’s have said but enough dishwasher tablets/bin bags/washing up liquid for the whole stay, not just for a few days.

Definitely a vacuum when we've stayed in holiday let's it's always nice to have a vacuum to get the crumbs up and give it a hoover before we leave

Decent sized towels. Last place we were in had small towels which I couldn't wrap round myself. I would be impressed if I also had a smaller towel I could use for my hair.

Stuff like soap, washing up liquid, cloths, dishwasher tabs, loo roll, kitchen roll etc.

Salt and pepper

A couple of sharp knives.

A decent hairdryer and mirror/plug nearby to make it easy to use.

Plugs by the bed - extension leads to make this possible if there are none nearby.

Decent pillows, bedding, mattress topper. I want to be comfortable in bed as I have a dodgy hip.

We stayed somewhere at Easter that had 5 bedrooms, max 10 people. There were 9 dinner plates and only 5 forks. And a corner sofa that wouldn’t sit 9 even if we sat shoulder to shoulder. It was fine to squish up a bit as we went with family, but a couple of extra comfortable chairs wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Also if you’re letting a property for 10, please have a dishwasher. It’s a lot of dishes to wash by hand.
Proper curtains or blinds would be welcome, I don’t expect blackout but the thin unlined ones that are just decorative are awful.

If you’re aiming to be family friendly before you get toys or board games or balance bikes get a couple of plastic tumblers (and to take it a step further the ikea plastic kids crockery is about £6 for 6 bowls, plates, cups and 6 sets of cutlery).

Oh, also clear instructions about rubbish/bins. You cannot expect your guests to understand or research the peculiarities of your local councils bin system, make it easy with labelled bins in the kitchen.

I personally don't need much in the way of food or a hamper, as I always come prepared and it's usually wasted on us. But the basics, like salt/pepper, oil, tea, coffee, some herbal teas, etc.

I would really appreciate a little guide to the area that only a local would know. Anyone can look up attractions nearby on google or the big main beaches and pubs. But we live in a national park and I know there are places near us that are in all the guidebooks and then there are fantastic places (beaches, wild swimming, walks, restaurants, shops, etc.) that aren't. I'd like to have those local suggestions. Also, as I assume you're catering to people coming for a beach day, I'd supply some beach toys/body board/etc. and then also some info for great things to do on rainy days.

Yes this! I always end up messaging as I'll pack something if they don't have one, but it never seems to be listed.

If you're advertising as family friendly make sure the house can actually be set up for a young child (ideally stairgates, and a bedroom where I don't have to declutter all the knick-knacks!)

There was a place we kept returning to that provided the essentials for a basic fry up from local producers, which I thought was a nice touch.

My friend lets a holiday cottage and she has loads of guide books and maps of the local area.

Outdoor seating area

I stayed in a lodge that had board games and also a games console. The board games were handy for the inevitable rainy days

Cheese grater and sieve.

We like to cook pasta and often can't easily drain it or put a bit of grated cheese on it.

Sharp knives, pots and pans that are large enough to cook a meal for the number of people staying in the let (how exactly am I supposed to cook pasta for eight in a pan designed for boiling two eggs?) and drying room - so many places I've stayed in barely have enough room to dry towels for two people, never mind laundry or outdoor gear for larger parties.

Doesn't have to be a boot room or utility room or anything - even additional hooks in the bathroom or a clothes horse would be useful.

But sharp knives are the most important. I now always travel with my own. 😁

If you're going to provide toys, games, jigsaws, outdoor game sets, etc., then ensure they're regularly checked for completeness and damage etc.

Nothing worse than getting a child's hope up, only to be crashed when something's broken or missing.

We once stayed in a holiday home that mentioned a games console in the listing, and it was shown in the internal pictures along with a pile of games. When we got there, DS was excited to see it, but every single game/disc box was empty, so it was useless! DS was very disappointed. We saw in the visitor's book that previous guests had mentioned the missing discs (and also missing DVDs, broken toys, missing pieces from jigsaws), but the owners had ignored it.

Sadly that's very common. Often the games, books, DVDs, jigsaws etc are clearly not checked, often broken or missing, and usually look decades old.

You're better off not providing stuff like that if you're not going to check and replace regularly.

Cotton bedding. Doesn't need to be expensive - IKEA cotton is good. Plenty of crockery and cutlery - again IKEA is perfect for this (remember drinking and wine glasses). A clean place. New washing up scourers and freshly laundered dishcloths and T towels. Basics.

Definitely supply a vacuum cleaner, they might want to hoover up sand or a spillage. It doesn't mean they will think you expect them to clean. Same for a mop and bucket, dustpan and brush, cloths etc.

We use ours a lot so we think we have everything you could possibly need - ours sleeps eight so we have at least 16 of plates, cups, cutlery etc. if you have room in the kitchen (ours is big) include as many utensils as you can, not just one wooden spoon and one knife.

A washing machine, especially one with a quick cycle, and a tumble dryer are great to have especially if people have kids with them.

@MorrisZapp so bloody true! The ‘what would you expect in a guest bedroom’ ones are equally fascinating, random from a plug by the bed and a mirror to a full on coffee making facilities including a mini fridge with fresh milk and bottled sparkling water, dressing gowns and slippers 😂
OP I’d expect it to be clean and functional; working shower, not to smell like dog and good black out blinds and clean comfy bed.
If we are self catering we eat out as much as possible but a couple of dishwasher tablets for glasses/mugs would be useful although not the end of the world to buy some.
Just be very clear on the listing about what IS included.

ranging from, not random from!

Omg how could I, Queen of Hating the Heat, forget this one?

The same lovely Airbnb had FANS. In each bedroom and the living room. BLISS.