What would you expect from a welcome hamper?

[Aracanum]

Starting a new job soon and part of the role includes making up welcome hampers for holiday cottages.

What kind of thing would you expect or want from a welcome hamper? Branded of unbranded items? Locally sourced or supermarket standard?

My predecessor has some fabulous reviews stating she went above and beyond even including dog treats for guests with dogs. So, I'd like to also go above and beyond. What kind of things could I do to go above and beyond in general?

Im a bit of the opinion if it isn’t broken don’t try and fix it. What did your predecessor do? She got good reviews- look to replicate it.

Ensure you capture dietary requirements on booking form.

We stayed in a cottage on Devon border. Great cream tea. Perfect scones - obviously I did it the Cornish way though.

If you are in wales look up tregroes waffles. Epic.

A local delicacy is usually welcome eg scones with a tub of clotted cream and a pot of , hopefully, local jam.
A local tea bread with real butter.
Artisan biscuits
Quality tea , coffee, hot chocolate
A bottle of local wine
A pot of local honey
A freshly baked cake
Local sausages/bacon/eggs
A large bag of artisan/local crisps
Local cheese

Obviously not all of these.

We once stayed at a cottage where the bread maker had been put on so that its finish cycle coincided with our arrival!

I wouldn't bother with those slender sachets of instant coffee /hot chocolate as it looks like a cheap hotel's offerings.

Ideally, I'd like a loaf, semi skimmed milk, some teabags/coffee/sugar (but these are often in the cupboard anyway) some freshly baked scones with clotted cream/jam or a nice locally baked cake, some quality biscuits and bottle of red wine. But I'm aware that's quite greedy 😂

I think some people are going massively OTT here! I certainly wouldn’t expect breakfast every day!

I agree with checking dietary requirements but I’d be pleased with:
Nice tea and coffee
Maybe a mini bottle of Prosecco per adult
A loaf of fresh bread, nice jam and butter
Definitely cake or biscuits, ideally local if you have anything in particular that your area is known for.

Definitely a little pack just for the kids with a carton of juice, little packet of sweets and some biscuits or something.

Supermarket basics : Milk, butter, tea bags, instant coffee, salt, pepper, sugar, vegetable oil & olive oil. Cupboards well stocked with cleaning products including dishwasher tabs & washing powder if applicable.

Plus a nice basket of local goodies, bread, eggs, pastries, cakes / scones, jams etc.

Things we’ve most appreciated when staying at holiday cottages are:

Tea/coffee/milk/sugar
Fruit juice
Wine
Home made or farm shop style cake or scones plus jam or marmalade.
Eggs

My US friends love getting crisps like skips, whotsits, prawn cocktail walkers...

Whoops! Wrong thread

Locally sourced or branded things: tea bags, coffee, biscuits, milk, butter, bread, crackers. That sort of thing

@theMoJareajoke absolutely. I was just going to say my ideal welcome hamper would be gluten free. Otherwise I can't eat it! I have coeliac disease.

How much am I paying for the holiday cottage? Whereabouts is it in terms of surrounding area?

If you're an employee, isn't there a standard set out to ensure consistency?

I wouldn't want a bunch of wasteful stuff for the sake of showing off if it were me, just enough to settle in easily.

I would add fruit of some sort, and hampers where breakfast was sorted. (So bread, jam, some pastries, milk and perhaps some nice cereal)

A treat for the evening - chocolate / cake / cheese and crackers - locally sourced would be ideal.

Tailored treats like something for the dog, a child friendly treat etc.

Locally sourced
I love a homemade cupcake!!
Defo milk and a few tea bags!

A specifically local treat eg in Cornwall it might be cream tea, in Wales it might be bara brith or welsh cakes, in Scotland shortbread or whatever.

I'd also appreciate you checking for dietary requirements eg if dairy free providing oat milk, if coeliac providing GF biscuits would definitely get me feeling v positive about things.

We went to a place years ago that had a small pack for each child containing a nice cookie, some lovely local sparkling drink ( adults got wine!) and a voucher for an ice cream from local shop

presentation is key too, nice clean basket etc with a welcome card

Ooh, locally sourced honey. If you can get some in a small glass jar - not plastic - with a bit of honey comb in it, it always seems fancier than it is.

Also think about basics they might have forgotten, so maybe a pack of 2 dishwasher tablets and a small bottle of cooking oil.

We used to run a holiday let and would leave a loaf of bread and a cake from the local bakery, milk, kettlechips, bottle of wine, mini jams/marmalade’s and little caddies of tea, coffee and sugar. A nice bunch of fresh flowers on the table and some dog biscuits if they were bringing the family dog. We always got lovely compliments, particularly on the bakery items.

Also left a cleaning caddy with spare tea towels, dishcloth, bin bags, food recycling bags, couple of dishwasher tabs, small bottle of washing up liquid.

Some of the nicest things we've had in welcome hampers are a Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle cake, locally made shortbread, locally made apple juice, a nice jam or marmalade. Local produce is always great to receive!

The best welcome hamper we had was in a place in spain.we arrived late afternoon/early evening and had v young children at the time.
We were left some pasta and a sauce, a bottle of wine, cheese, bread, cereal, tea, coffee and milk.(there was possibly butter as well) It meant we could make a simple meal in the eve (probably not up to MN standards - a months worth of carbs!!) and have breakfast next day without having to venture to the supermarket. The house was quite remote and not very near a shop.
I'd pay extra for something like that to avoid the hassle of finding a shop immediately.

As above really, all locally sourced is really important to support the local economy. If it’s not in England (or if it is, but in Cornwall), a booklet with key words / phrases from the local language is always good to include, and we always include a postcard and stamp with ours too.

Just make sure you tell people in the listing what there will be. I hate it when I arrive with bread, milk etc and find surprise duplicates that are possibly wasted.

I did stay in a place in Spain that literally had a fully stocked kitchen and a surprise dinner laid out. Also access to an allotment. I only bought some meat, fish and topped up the wine all week. That place really was something else entirely.