...to ask you about guestrooms?

[Littlewhitedove]

Our two adult children have recently flown the nest so we have two double en suite rooms that are now spare rooms.
What makes a spare room into a lovely guest room? What added extras would make you, as a guest, feel welcomed and wanted?
I have ordered new towels and added some pretty decorative items but I'd really appreciate some other ideas so I can make the rooms feel extra special.
Thanks x

Actually I would put ironing king size, fitted sheets as being more tedious than having to type out a Wi-Fi password! 😩

For me it's two bedside tables, each with a lamp. A plug next to each bedside table to charge your phone. Ideally with USB socket. Waste bin, extra blankets without having to rummage for them, dressing gown for you to use, somewhere to hang a few clothes. Two towels for me as my hair needs it own or it will soak the bath towel. Preferably bath sheet and bath towel (not hand towel).

Of course my guests could come down to the kitchen at 3am to make tea! I hate anyone to feel they couldn't.

As a guest I would never go downstairs and make a cup of tea at 3am in the morning - you risk disturbing the whole house. That seems like basic guest etiquette. No-one is in such dire need of tea that they need to do that.

If you are - bring your own flask and make it before you go to bed.

I'm sorry but is it a guest room or a hotel?
M

sorry sent too fast.
I was saying my guests are lucky to have a (sofa) bed for free in an expensive city, I'm not going to give them a flask of water and some pot pourri 🙃

When my friends come to visit me, they’ve come to visit me, not use my home as a luxury base for guided excursions. I say “what d’you wanna do today?” and they say “I dunno, we came to spend time with you so whatever really” and we mull it over for a bit before generally deciding on a walk around a bit of London followed by several hours in the pub.

Lots of great ideas.

Folding luggage rack. Nice comfy chair. Books. Comfy fresh bedding. New bedding is also really nice if you can swing it.

You can give it a theme, like your favorite city, and decorate accordingly.

Spend the night in the room and see what you actually need/use. For me it’s: bedside table for a glass of water, bedside lamp for reading and accessible socket for charging phone. Decent blackout curtains. Spare blanket, towels. Waste paper basket, box of tissues. Chair for putting clothes on; somewhere to unpack suitcase so drawers or space on a rail.

Don’t need: chocolates, soaps, tiny plastic bottles of toiletries, slippers, random crap.

Just don’t take my MIL’s approach which is a bed and nothing else and you’re supposed to clean the shower screen with your bath towel

Some of us like to put a bit of effort in.

We do have a collapsible suitcase stand (not bought specifically for that purpose) that is actually very useful indeed. Towels are provided too. We have a radio alarm clock, tissues and I leave a pile of magazines to flick through. Other than that it just looks like a normal bedroom.

Just because some people don't understand the finer points (or consider them "batshit" ) is no reason for the rest of us to lower our standards.

Not everyone wishes to live the least-effort, lowest-common-denominator life.

The extra effort makes it so much easier to host, honestly. Guests, especially ones visiting for more than a day or two spend a little more time in their comfy room and you can just be more relaxed. They have what they need and are more at ease also.

Gideon’s bible in the bedside drawer, blank notepad and pen in a leather case, rotary phone, ring binder of laminated information on room service, service washes, concierge and local amenities, and a too-loud flatscreen TV with no obvious way to turn off its various glowing blue lights so your guests can sleep.

I agree with this Don’t need: chocolates, soaps, tiny plastic bottles of toiletries, slippers, random crap.

You don’t want it to feel like a hotel. Too impersonal.

I did give a friend soap recently, but it was a gift specifically for her, not one just sitting there as if every guest gets one.

😂 Love it.

Don’t forget the comment cards and shower cap.

As a guest I am just happy for a comfortable bed, extra blanket in case it's cold and a socket to plug my phone in, especially if it's just for an overnight stay.

If I'm staying longer than one night then I appreciate when hosts have made space for guests. I'm not expecting a fully empty bedroom with no personal items at all but minimal knick knacks and somewhere to put my stuff is my basic expectation.

There's nothing worse than wanting to put the things I need like my book, glasses, pill case, phone and bottle of water on the bedside table but there's no room because there's a little porcelain statue, decorative vase of fake flowers, scented candle, and random family photo as well as the bedside lamp there already. So then I have to move them to some other usually already full of other knick knacks surface and then put them back again when we leave looking at you ExMIL

Also I don't expect fully empty furniture but if I'm staying for more than a couple of days I think there should be at least one empty drawer/a shelf/some wardrobe space to unpack into and if they only offer drawer space then at least a hook on the door or some hangers to hang on the side of the wardrobe if needed. That way I don't have to live out of a suitcase for days on end and have random piles of dirty clothes on the floor as I have nowhere to put them, I prefer to unpack and then use my bag/case as a laundry bag so it's out of the way and I essentially "pack as I go", because every drawer/wardrobe/space is stuffed with the host's things.

It's nice if people add little touches like a few books/toiletries/spare charger etc but they aren't necessary - if I'm staying for one night I'll usually manage without the forgotten item for the night and if I'm staying longer then I can just ask my host in the morning to borrow whatever I've forgotten/go out and buy it myself (eg forgotten toothbrush that I don't notice till everyone else is in bed and I'm getting ready to go to sleep ... my teeth won't fall out if I don't brush them for one night, I'll just do it when I get home the following day and if I'm staying for a while then I'll ask my host in the morning if they have a spare and if not then I'll pop to a shop when we're out and about that day)

Are you that legendary poster who posted supercilious comments on threads alluding to being oh so vair wealthy and well-to-do all over MN and then on the famous “Show us a photo of your bedroom” thread, posted a photo swiped from the website of a luxury Parisian hotel along with a very snooty commentary of “their” decisions behind the decor, only to namechange disappear when another poster found the website and revealed porkies were being told?

Forgot to add - if your guest room has an ensuite then it's nice to provide some basic toiletries, especially for guests who are only staying for a single night and so may not have brought all their own shampoos/shower gels etc like a guest who is staying longer, but it's so much better to just provide regular bottles of whatever the family uses than those mini bottles you get in hotels etc as it produces less waste as you can just use what you need - I never use all of the mini shampoo bottle but I always need more conditioner for example.

My parents guest bathroom has labelled, refillable pump bottles on a shelf in the shower for shampoo, conditioner and shower gel they they just top up from their regular bottles in their bathroom when they get low and it looks much nicer than a load of random hotel miniatures.

They also keep a few basics (new toothbrushes, cotton buds, toothpaste, a few tampons/pads and extra toilet paper) and extra towels in the cupboard under the sink and they tell any guests to help themselves if necessary but they don't go overboard with providing everything ever needed as most guests either bring their own stuff or will ask of there's something specific they need.

An ensuite
Jo Malone Candles.
Towels as yet unsullied by another persons arse
Butler
Portal to a magical world through the wardrobe
Flights of angels to sing me to my rest
Bedside lamp

Flights of angels? Hope you're not planning on dying in your friend's spare room; that would be most inconsiderate.

Ok, I’ll go. I certainly wouldn’t call my guest rooms posh. We did build this house as a second home and were going to holiday rent it, but during Covid we started spending the majority of our time here so never did.

It’s fine if OP is the sort of considerate host who can also supply a priest and a shroud.

You are joking right?!
Every guest we've ever had would have woken up with squashed chocolate face if I'd done that.
What odd guests you have!