What would you expect in a welcome basket?

[GoodNewsAndBadNews]

Am about to start to let a holiday property in a fairly rural part of Wales. Nearest shop is a short drive away. I was thinking of bread, milk, jam, butter, wine, tea and coffee. What other things would you expect? The property was left to me by a relative, and we want to be able to use it as a family but hoping to offset some of the costs by sharing it with holiday makers.

I wouldn’t want a welcome basket due to food intolerance and not drinking alcohol. I’d say to have tea, coffee supplies in place, loo paper, washing up liquid, dish washer tablets, clothes washing liquid and sponge, nice hand soap and tea towels.

Milk, tea, coffee, biscuits. Nothing else.

Same here.
Crisps would be nice as I always crave something savoury. A few Coca-Colas would be heaven.

Keep it simple and easy and cheap for you, but with something that it a nice touch. Nothing worse than reading A review saying there was a freshly baked cake and then not getting one!

Those are all pretty much essentials, rather than part of a welcome basket. I think sachets of coffee, a few tea bags, and milk sachets are pretty much what everyone provides as the bare minimum as are a few dishwasher tablets and cleaning products.

The best and most memorable welcome baskets have been where the owner has clearly put plenty of thought into them (and money!), such as local produce, i.e. a pack of Yorkshire tea in Yorkshire, farm shop cheese, jam, bread and butter, quality packet of biscuits and bottle of wine. The places that make an effort are the ones you remember and go back to or recommend.

The worst ones are where someone has just lazily been to Tesco and bought a random bottle of milk, a random small loaf of bread, some catering butter blocks, cheapest pack of Tesco own label crisps and cheapest pack of Tesco biscuits. Just don't bother if you can't be bothered to do it properly - cheap junk is just a waste as it goes in the bin!

Standards have risen (in line with the ever increasing costs the owners think they can get away with). What was acceptable a decade ago isn't any more.

A bit like the old seaside guest houses where the owners proudly advertised a loo on each floor and a colour TV in the lounge. Now basic expectation is en suite and a smart tv in your bedroom. Times change.

We're a long way from the bad old days of self catering on the Costas where you literally got nothing, not even a bog roll, just a couple of pans and a bit of cutlery and crockery. Yet some holiday home owners think anything more than that is being generous!

Certainly, anyone claiming to be "luxury" or 5 star needs to be providing quality items, and cover all eventualities, not being stingy when they're charging 5* prices! Obviously different level of expectation for a bog standard Air BNB flat!

We stayed in a lodge type place a couple of weeks ago. There was milk, wine, local butter, sourdough, local honey, brownies, dog treats and tea and coffee pods. The kitchen had everything we needed like dw tablets, washing capsules, washing up liquid etc. There was a big basket of firewood and each bathroom had lovely toiletries too.

A good welcome basket has bread, butter, milk, tea, coffee, jam, eggs or cheese and maybe some biscuits or a cake or local delicacy and maybe a bottle of wine. It's basically a glass of something (or a cup of tea and slice of cake) to celebrate the start of your holiday, and a simple breakfast next morning, so you don't have to slog out and look for a shop after a long drive.

I'd agree with this, I don't mind welcome baskets with things I can't eat (numerous as I'm coeliac) as long as they're things that I don't have to put straight in the bin.

Sorry slightly off topic but one thing was disappointed in at last holiday cottage stay was that they’ve kitted it out with the cheaper or pots and pans, we paid more than £500 for 2 nights so I did expect more than student cookware. I only use stainless steel at home due to concerns re chemical leaching, the abundance of chemical air fresheners wasn’t appreciated either

The best holiday let I went to had a home made apple cake, tea, coffee, small bottle of milk, loaf of bread.

P.s and please don’t have a long list of jobs for guests to do when checking out, stripping beds etc, I always find it ends in a stressful mad dash panic to get everything done in time

4 pts milk, tea, coffee, loaf of bread, pack of butter, half a dozen eggs - enough for arrival cuppas, some rounds of toast and a bit of breakfast - enough to keep going before venturing out to shops, should people arrive late, not have been able to bring stuff with them. If changeover day is Sat and local shops don't open on Sunday until 10/11, it's very helpful to find sustenance in a welcome pack.

And definitely provide things to enable guests to use the loo and wash and dry their hands.

I’m pretty unimpressed if I have to buy more loo roll. It costs very little. Counted out dishwasher tablets etc is also depressing.

What you put in a welcome basket depends what you’re charging. 5 star prices should mean nice bread, local butter, milk, decent tea and coffee, biscuits, something local or Welsh cakes or similar. If it’s not an expensive holiday let then tea, coffee milk and sugar at a minimum.

I'd say tea coffee milk sugar and biscuits. Some local info.

We always take all of our own stuff, milk, coffee etc. Apart from leaving dishwasher tablets and washing up liquid/sponge, what always feels like the host is really thinking of you is leaving enough toilet rolls and kitchen roll.

A selection of books and games is great for wet days.

I wouldn't expect to buy loo roll either.

I stayed in a cottage in October, welcome basket contained the expected eggs, milk, bread and biscuits, chocolate, tea and four nespresso things. There was also bacon and butter in the fridge, wine and some sort of liqueur.

I didn't drink the wine or liqueur and just left it in the property.

The cupboards contained oil, salt, pepper, a few stock cubes and some cornflour. Dishwasher tablets, washing machine pods, cleaning products and washing up liquid.

I'm actually not a fan of nespresso machines with a few capsules in a holiday rental. A bag of coffee and a coffee press would be much better for me. Primarily because I don't have one at home and really cba to establish what the machine is and which type of capsules I need to buy for such a short break.

I owned a property abroad for many years, & whatever was in the Welcome Pack was wrong.

Just the very basics were cause for moans.
White/brown bread
Butter/chemical grease
Whole milk, decaf coffee (unheard of), local cheese, etc

I stopped providing any foodstuffs, but gave a list of shops near my home + their opening hours.

We swapped to compostable pods v ground coffee after one year almost every guests ask for a coffee pod machine. It’s also less waste as ground coffee is generally a 250g minimum and many only used a spoon worth then left half used bag.
We include a cafetière coffee machine and separate milk frother for anyone to use with own coffee. Coffee is so personal that most people have favourite brands also.

We include more than enough toilet rolls to cover whole stay. It would annoy me if I have to buy those if I stayed anywhere. Plus dishwasher stuff. I would rather provide plenty of tablets and then people use dishwasher regularly than someone attempting to half wash something badly without soap. Plus by providing foil, baking paper and similar most people use it so the oven is easier to clean.

the bbq is also popular. We provide charcoal, bbq lighters, matches. So it’s ready to use

Salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar, loo roll, dishwasher tabs, laundry detergent, cleaning cloths, tea towels, plenty of towels

I misunderstood- it’s what you expect to find at the house not a luxury extra basket. As I wrote before but to add local amenity info, bath towels, milk, vegan milk, (can be from previous guest usage - butter, jam, cooking oil, herbs, instant coffee, tea, herbal tea)

Still not as bad as the entire contents of someone's granny's kitchen that we once suffered in a supposedly quality self catering cottage. Either that or they were charity shop purchases. All mismatched and most of the crockery had chips or pattern worn off. Some owners really don't "get it" do they??

I have a holiday let and tea/coffee basic condiments are always in the place anyway. I did include milk, jam , butter and bread for first guests and afterwards they didn't thank me they just said they were vegan so couldn't eat it.
I thought I'd do a local made cake and milk next time. Still not vegan friendly but can't cater for all. I won't include wine as the margin's too tight.
Most places I've stayed at don't include a welcome basket or is made up of such random stuff I think it must be what other guests have left behind!