...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

we were forever ending up with extra or missing stuff in drawers such as cables, power chargers, towels, vibrators and so on.

Love how you casually threw in vibrators there… did anyone ever ask for them back?!

Please no, don't put anything smelly like pot pourri, scented reed sticks or candles in the room, I hate artificial stink and it gives me a headache. Open the window and air the room for a while beforehand if you want it to smell fresh

It is possible to find pot pourri that isn't "artificial stink" - the Santa Maria Novella one is beautiful. It's also very subtle until you give it a rake through with your fingers so quite a good one for guest rooms.

I appreciate it's not for everyone though!

i like the idea of a small bookshelf in the room but will pass on the ideas of kettles, biscuits and chocolates on the pillow

i would strongly advise you not to. 😂

Good god. I can’t decide if this is bullshit or if there is people actually behaving like this.

In our guest room I keep
Fluffy towels
Dressing gown (we dont have an ensuite and they might need a midnight wee)
Wardrobe with empty wooden hangers in
Hook on door for hanging damp towels
Full length mirror
A little decorative bucket with toiletries, tissues, cough sweets, pain killers, spare toothbrush and toothpaste, mini shower gel, shampoo etc, aromatherapy room spray, and another smaller one with electrics like chargers, plug adaptors for foreign appliances.
I also put bottles of water and a snifter of something stronger in case they cant sleep!
The bed has a heavy throw that can be used if its cold as its situated on top of the unheated garage so can get a bit nippy once the heating goes off.

Love the book shelf idea.

I think a lot of these suggestions are a little OTT. I wouldn’t use travel sized toiletries from a basket or a dressing gown for a midnight pee, or use tea making facilities. If these are presumably good friends I’m staying with I’ll have a cuppa with them when I wake up. I’d use their toiletries if I forgot my own. I’ll take a Comfortable bed. Good bedside lamp. Clean towels. I’m very low maintenance!

Some are very OTT.

I am just waiting for someone to come along and say they make up a fruit and champagne hamper for each guest. And then have glasses engraved with said guests names on.

Who the hell would sit eating biscuits in a spare room of a friend's house?! There are some v peculiar people around it seems.
Also: mice

My ideal guest room comes from reading Rosamunde Pilcher books . There was a quote in one about never putting a guest in a room without fresh flowers. Her characters always put some biscuits in the room too in case their guests get hungry in the night. And when people arrive to stay, they always demonstrate what good hosts they are by offering a hot bath in ' a enormously deep bath hwith huge hungry bath sheets. '
A hook on the back of the door to hang your things.
Then st bedtime, the host would always come up with you and open the curtains for some reason.

I don't have a spare room unfortunately so our guests stay at a hotel.

Also.....has anyone read Anne of Green Gables? Do you remember that it was her life's ambition to stay in a spare room?

Bottled water, and actually wash the bedding in between guests. I once stayed with someone who had obviously let the bedding stew for quite some time and the stench kept me awake all night.

Oh, I just remembered - check that your daughter’s diary full of angst about her love life isn’t still under the pillow (had this once too)!

A hungry bath sheet

😂

I'm quite sure that was a typo, but not too much would surprise me on this thread.

We kept our childrens rooms as they want them when they're home.

Our guest rooms are comfortable, clean and private with space to sit away from the hub-bub, a television, a set of charger cables. High count linen. Good sized towels. Nothing much more. Bathroom has small soaps and basic high quality toiletries like shampoo and conditioner. There are toothbrushes, deodorant etc and sanitary products in the cabinet.

I'll put a carafe of water and glasses in and flowers on the day they arrive usually. Definitely no odd ornaments, dried flowers, candles or anything too personal.

Hungry bath sheet absolutely NOT a typo! It means a really good, absorbent towel that dries you well rather than one that just moves the wet around.

One of my relatives has lovely soft fluffy towels that do nothing to dry you at all and as a result i always take my own rough, hungry bath towel when i go visiting!

Hungry bath sheet absolutely NOT a typo! It means a really good, absorbent towel that dries you well rather than one that just moves the wet around.

One of my relatives has lovely soft fluffy towels that do nothing to dry you at all and as a result i always take my own rough, hungry bath towel when i go visiting!

I just stayed in a room with Barbies! It was my friend’s daughter’s room and now her grandkids play in there. So sweet.

My dad is the best host and provides:
Very comfy bed
Very comfy pillows
Fresh bedding with extra blankets
A hot water bottle down by your feet if it's cold
An occasional visit from a pet

In this vein, and just in case OP is a friend of mine.

Bacon sandwiches at 10 am with freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee made with hot milk; latest Margaret Attwood book on the bedside table; percy pig pjs and bed socks for the guests to keep and £100 towards my own leccy bill please!

Im reading all these lovely suggestions whilst in bed with a fever.

clocks have just gone back which is making me confused even more.

but Jesus Christ, you must be an angel wanting guests to stay at all! Id get rid of the beds!

If I was staying at a friend’s overnight then my main “wish” would be decent pillows and a big/wide duvet. As you’ve mentioned both rooms have en-suite, then some towels would be great.

Other than that, I don’t expect my friends to provide/stage an hotel-style room.

One major factor to consider is the type of guests, and how long they'd stay. Living close to San Francisco, this might be different for you:

1. Parking, they'll always have/need a rental car and a place to park it
2. Luggage/bag storage, some people travel with lots of bags (some very light), and it's often useful to be able to leave some stuff here
3. Local sim card, that can be swapped in their phone

Our visitors are never for just one night, it's at a min 3 or 4 days. Over years we've had people leave things here, mostly unimportant things, and we'd bring anything important back on next visit to UK.

Visitor support is very basic, due to us working during the day, having weekend activities too. But it is lovely to so some sightseeing with them!

Things that have been mentioned here that I would take as given:

• Clean sheets
• If it's an ensuite bathroom: soap, shampoo, conditioner and clean towels.

Someone once offered to bring their own towels and sheets when they came to stay for a night. No! I would not expect to do that if I'm visiting someone else and I don't expect people to do it when they come to me.