Help me make my holiday let awesome!

[Kracken]

Hi all, we welcome our first guests into our holiday let in a week! I will obviously be cleaning and gardening madly all week but I wanted to ask you wise folk what you need from a holiday home to make sure I haven't missed anything!

Kitchen equipment is all new and I've made sure there is plenty of everything and sharp knives as I hate it when all you can find are blunt rubbish ones when on holiday. I am doing a quick guide to all appliances, boiler etc plus info on local area etc. Decor is very neutral. I plan to put flowers in main rooms.

What has 'made' a self catering holiday for you? What would drive you mad if it wasn't there? What would you expect to have in your welcome groceries, am planning milk, tea, coffee, sugar, bread and some dishwasher and laundry tabs, couple of loo rolls and one kitchen roll. Debating leaving wine and should I bake something?!

Any thoughts really welcome, thank you. I am starting to panic!

yes as Doilooklikeatourist says towels really must be white. the fact that white shows grubbiness is exactly why - with a white towel, I know that if it looks clean it is clean. I wouldn't like using a black towel as I wouldn't be able to tell if there was some kind of mank on it hidden by the colour.

Re the feather duvetand pillows I would say you really need to have a spare set for each bed you provide of microfibre/noallergy bedding. I would have no issue with black towels like you say they wont look grubby so quickly, idont get why white is so important and its a towel, as lkng as clean, fluffy and smells good!

If you have space, have a "leave and swop" bookshelf - your guests will renew it by leaving and taking, and it's not difficult to set up.

Also have playing cards and a couple of games. People probably won't play them, but it's nice to see them there. And you need a seriously idiot proof guide to TV, DVD player, other gadgets and all their remotes. Get a known technophobe to go through them to see if they are truly friendly.

A really good local guide (including local freesheetaps and mags if you have them) is important. As are mirrors in every bedroom and bathroom.

And although they'll probably walk, brollies.

Another one who is allergic to feather bedding!

Also appreciate cafetiere although I do now take a stove top espresso maker with me. Also like to find Tupperware and baking equipment (scales, baking tray and loaf tin).

I'm not bothered about dishwasher tablets etc. I would either supply my own or replace if I used. If special stuff needed, then good if this is advised or supplied.

Good advice on how appliances work is helpful!

A bottle of Flash yellow spray. I really resent paying for things like that in s/c places.

Also allergic! So have a non feather duvet on standby!

We stayed in a holiday let last year and they had a badminton net and rackets, it was brilliant! I picked one up for my DDs yesterday in tesco.

I want to come and stay in your house!

I know that you shouldn't flush tampons or towels or wipes, but the fact is that some people do and often it may cause problems down the line but no problems with the property's plumbing, so they are used to doing it. If your place is one of those where it does cause immediate plumbing issues definitely post a sign up to avoid bills and embarrassment!

I would also say a pump for the shower would be good when affordable, as water pressure does bother me. It would only really annoy me if it was so weak you can't rinse your hair, but it is a bonus to have decent pressure.

Also, if the shower (or bath if shower over) are really slippy, I would provide a mat (which would have to be kept really clean) or treat the surface - I think you can get things to apply that make it less slippy. I went to one hotel where we were slithering around like maniacs and the chamber maid mentioned they'd had a lot of accidents!

Bedside lamps that work. Annoying when you want to read before bed and there's no lamp. On that note some spare lightbulbs.

A decent travel cot with a sheet to fit it. In some places I've stayed they've been grubby or broken.

Toilet cleaner or bleach.

Ooh yes and a board game and jigsaws kept us all busy. There was also a colouring book and a little pack of pencils which kept my little dd so happy.

The idea of a 'leave and swap' bookshelf is great!

A couple of bin bags please for whatever type of bin you have.

I wouldn't care what colour towels you have as long as they smell like lovely fabric softener, and have been washed... otherwise, if I ended up with black bits all over me I may be a bit !

Also, please make sure that the bathroom has a small, lined bin. At some friends houses they don't have this, and I always feel awkward carting sanitary products into a main kitchen bin surreptitiously!

Preferably shower screen and not curtain (as this tends to look manky quickly if not aired properly after use).

With the telly, just a short list of which channel to find 24hr BBC, and Cbeebies (if you are a property that expects to accommodate little people)!

I can also send you a few books if you like?

We stayed in one in Scotland. They'd left us 4 whiskey glasses with a good sized dram in each. The glasses had glass lids on them and they were a lovely touch.

It pisses me off when I have to go buy bloody everything, kitchen roll, soap for the bathrooms, and there's only one towel per person and no hand towels for bathrooms.

We now take everything, condiments, tea bags, tea towels, hand towels, olive oil, kitchen roll.
I don't expect enough food for a meal to be left for us, but a bit of consideration for paying customers who've travelled a long way goes further towards repeat visits.
We'd go back to the place in Scotland again, probably every year.
We wouldn't go back to the Dorset one that had nothing at all

Sorry if my answer is a bit long but we love a s/c holiday, twice a year at least if we can afford it

All the above please and loads of shelves in the bathroom. Drives me mental when there is nowhere to put all my gubbins.

Oh and a mirror somewhere with good enough light to put my face on. Hate it when the only mirror in the place is 3 inches square and 4 foot from the nearest light. I must spend some holidays looking like a drag queen.

Proper big glasses - pint sized, whether plastic or glass. Nothing worse than piddly little glasses when you're hot and thirsty

Oh, and bin bags

All the food stuff sounds lovely but we've stayed in dozens of holiday homes and never had so much as a jar of coffee - I just really don't expect it. I think I've got the Hotel Inspector woman in my head asking how much all this cuts into your profits.

Vinegar for chips.

The real test is whether you have sharp knives this time next year. I suspect every holiday let owner thinks that they have sharp knives, because they were sharp when they bought them, but a short period of blunting them on a glass chopping board destroys them.

If you could do a bbq, or even a stand with one disposable bbq per stay plus some garden chairs that would be fab.

The kitchen basics is a great idea - having to buy a full thing of herbs/salt/pepper to cook something is annoying, though I'm happy to get my own oil or anything where I could buy a small size and expect to use a good amount.

In your info pack, include details of local parks, nice walks and other less 'googleable' things. Details of the nearest minor injuries and A&E departments is very handy (my ds fell out of bed on holiday and we had a middle of the night trip to get his chin stuck together, which was made much easier by the details in the cottage book). Takeaway menus. Recs of local pubs/cafes/restaurants.

If there are any local free magazines, then it would be nice to have them in - ours has lots of whats on, and make interesting reading to visitors

This is probably too late because if the answer is no then it's something that should have been taken into account when you were fitting the place out - but is there actually any storage space for non-fridge food in the kitchen of this house? So many times we have had a self-catering cottage and tried to unpack the self-catering shopping and there is nowhere at all to put the cereal, pasta, tins & jars because the kitchen has been fitted with only just enough cupboard space to store the kitchen equipment provided, and no more.

Is there any way you can let your tenants know in advance what you are providing? I find it frustrating when you pack up the car with salt, pepper, wu liquid, loo roll etc only to find it all provided. It's lovely that it's there but it would be helpful to know in advance what I actually do or don't have to bring!

I'm afraid that I would find black towels off-putting. I would expect white.

I am surprised at all the kitchen and food suggestions. I personally would be sceptical about the quality/cleanliness about left over oil, herbs, salt, etc, and would personally never use them. I am picky about tea and coffee, so always take my own, but appreciate the thought of their being provided. It is nice to have a pint of milk and biscuits.

I don't expect to find salad spinners and the like. It does irk me when there is not good quality basics (sharp knives and a pair of decent kitchen scissors, clean-looking chopping board, good quality large non-stick chef's pan, undamaged utensils for frying, decent colander that will drain rice and spaghetti as well as bigger things), and in my experience that has usually been accompanied with cupboards rammed full of extra (useless to me) items like salad spinners.

A few board games/toys, but please check that they actually have all the pieces that you need to play them, otherwise it looks like you just haven't cleared out your old rubbish.

I would personally put your time into pulling together local recommendations for places to eat, and perhaps visit, if there is something special that isn't the usual London attractions. It has been a very nice touch when we had a folder that included a note of the things that the owners had enjoyed doing when they lived there.

YY to details of local minor injuries place. With detailed map and driving directions.

Corkscrew and oven gloves are things we've missed too. Although neither of these are related to needing the minor injuries unit!

Some means of cleaning the unit at the end of our stay also, so dust pan and brush etc.

I agree with TheHouseofMirth - I now assume the worst of rentals, so we take everything. It would be great to know what we didn't need to take.

Also, pepper in a grinder, not ready ground.

Oh my goodness everyone, thanks so much for all of the replies! I have been reading them out to DH who is also very grateful.

The towel debate is interesting! Our black towels smell nice and have been washed and tumble dried twice to remove fluff so I hope that will be an ok compromise for white towel loving guests!

Chopping boards are plastic and will be replaced before they get really scratched.

I have emailed all my booked guests to check they are ok with feather bedding and offering to get anti allergy if not and I've edited our holiday let listing to mention bedding is feather and to ask if alternative is needed.

I have decided to send a pre-check in email which will list all of the stuff we provide such as loo roll, washing stuff and food bits so people don't pack it all!

We have fans, board games, DVDs and I hope some tasteful (not ikea) pictures on the walls. We also offer baby and toddler equipment and preschool toys and our travel cot is nice and clean! Nothing in the way of ornaments though apart from church candles and nice fruit bowls which is why I was thinking flowers would be good but not so sure now. I'm going to pop to b and q and see if I can get a bargain BBQ and some garden toys (sadly garden not large enough for a hammock but that would be so nice!). I have also added vanity mirrors for each bedroom to the list as I get the mirror frustration on holiday too!

Two storage cupboards in kitchen for non food items and we have pint glasses- I hate small glasses too!! There is a cafetiere and a fancy coffee machine that DH and I never used so we thought guests might like it.

Will put up a sign re. sanpro disposal and there is a lined bin in toilet. Very good point about including A&E info in the guide book.

The offer to send books was so kind! My mum has actually offered to donate a small part of her enormous chick lit, thriller/crime and random celeb biography book collection so I think that's a start for the book shelf.

Right, off to bed for some tossing and turning and maybe some sleep if I can chill out. Thanks so much again all.