Kitting out a holiday home

[SunnyUpNorth]

I’ve got to kit out a holiday home from scratch. Have a pretty detailed list compiled of what to include but now trying to decide where to get it all from. In particular beds, mattresses, sofa etc. We want to strike a balance between being hard wearing and good quality but not so nice that if it gets spoilt we would be gutted.

Beds in particular I’m struggling with. I’m guessing hotel contract style? Medium mattress to suit most people?

If anyone has any good tips in general too re finding a good agent and cleaner that would be most helpful.

One lesson learned was not to supply hairdryers. They walk. The agency say the only way is if they are wired in.

If you are shopping for
miniature jams etc Out of Eden is good but also check out Amazon.

Wayfair is excellent if you know the look you are after. No to velour or oak headboards, look at Pinterest and get some great ideas for headboards there. Nexpresso machine for kitchen - I did have a bean to cup, but too complicated. Dishwasher & provide sufficient tablets - nothing worse than crockery with broccoli left on and your cleaner won't check. Selection of nice teas, in their paper covers in glass jars. Lots of table lamps, good internet and Freeview/smart TV. Simple, cheap Bluetooth speaker. If you can, replace a few electrical sockets with the ones that have USB adapters built in. Good saucepans & plenty of them. All white china, linen & towels. New kitchen rolls every changeover. Lots of loo rolls, they are cheap & it looks generous. Go to Poundland to stock up on Dove soaps - I used to provide White Company in my old cottages, but not sure if they do them now. Hairdryers in every bedroom - the Lidl ionic ones are cheap & good - not lost one yet.
Books & good magazines. Local magazines are nice too. Ring seasonal changes with different throws & accessories. Homemade cake is fantastic if it can be arranged - ditto fresh eggs/jam/bread.
To be honest, it depends on your market though. I rent out at a premium and try & make sure my guests expectations are exceeded. I've flown back this week to get the garden up to scratch and the BBQs out for my Easter booking, but as it's worth £3k it's in my interests to do so.
The most important thing IMO though is utmost cleanliness. And a good welcome pack & note.

Thanks Notwiththeseknees some good tips there. I’ve never actually bought anything from Wayfair as I’m always slightly overwhelmed by the selection when I look. But I’ll check it out.

We need to put some new sockets in anyway and was thinking of getting somebody with usb sockets as we have just had some put in at our home and they’re great.

With the Nespresso machines do you generally just provide a few capsules?

I once used Wayfair, as the perfect sideboard showed up on Pininterest. However the delivery did not arrive and finding an actual phone number to sort out the ensuing mess was awful. I eventually ended up phoning their HQ in the Republic of Ireland. It turned out that they used freelance delivery firms so had little control.

I am impressed by Notwiththeknee's Easter booking. Mine is for £460 before agency fee, clean and linen. Hence the white replaceable china. AirBnB in an area with a lot of second homes has made the holiday letting market very problematic, so always worth a bit of "what if". Luckily there is a good market for student rentals, so we have a choice of a winter let and use part of the money for B&B stays when we go down (my mother has dementia) or simply take the hit, and lend to friends and family. (Just looking at a lovely gift voucher for the posh local restaurant we have never been to, that the friends who spent last weekend there, have sent us.)

If you will have young families a tumble dryer or washer dryer is appreciated. We also have grandparents who stay regularly so they can help out with half term childcare. Neither group will eat out much so they really do use a fully equipped kitchen.

don't get double duvets for single beds, they are really uncomfortable!

dh and I have a kingsize on a kingsize bed, and it is fine, so I would just use what you have, but of you buy more a bigger one on a double bed is nice.

With the Nespresso machines do you generally just provide a few capsules?

For the places I go to on self-catering holidays a cafetiere or filter machine would be just fine. I wouldn't be able to buy more capsules so a Nespresso wouldn't be any use.
Depends on location and your market, obviously.

I pop in an unopened pack of whatever is on offer in Waitrose. (This morning I got my 20% off voucher, so immediately though I'll go in & stock up). With the Nexpresso, it took a long while to get my head around the plastic element, but most of my guests don't use loads & I compensate for the environment elsewhere.
Two large cafetière, so relaxed breakfasts with no rinsing in-between - and even the large ones will barely serve 8.
At least double the amount of nice mugs per person & plates, side plates, bowls, serving bowls, cutlery. I managed to get some beautiful white Denby soup plates in Homesense so upgraded there.
Fancy T towels give a shot of colour. It is the attention to detail that stands out.
By all means get good beds, but no headboards means there is nothing to not like ..... Must have good reading lights by the beds.
I bought the absolute best outside wall lights at Wayfair, not expensive, and I had been looking for years. Linen & throws all arrived safe & sound, so I can only say I've had a good experience.
Outside lighting front & rear, torch by the keysafe (bigger is much better - I'm changing my small one). Some are more fiddly than others, Screwfix have a good one.
Logs/kindling/firefighters & matches.
It's so exciting getting a house together for other people to enjoy!
A good gas barbecue with cover & spare bottle of gas. I provide two Webers, one of each, but I'm canny & got them in Facebook/gumtree.
I've had leather sofas in holiday homes for years (M&S) but a couple of years ago got a fabulous deal on a heather linen Multiyork sofas and they have been brilliant. Unless it is a vintage Heals/Conran/chesterfield I wouldn't have leather. It doesn't photograph well and vegetarians & vegans could be put off.....

Cleaning linen and towels for two double beds, two single beds and towels rental for 6. Is £60 here. E BAY for some lovely furniture, we stick to oak, amazing what we have bought which still looks brand new. Linen for king size bed is more expensive and so much harder to iron if you are doing it yourself. Cotton linen on beds a must.

A bookcase is popular, ditto family games for rainy days. Washing machine a must, tumble dryer we took out the electricity bills were eye watering. Most lets are for three days so if folk are visiting a few places they leave all their washing until they arrive at yours.

A visitors book for folk to sign and comment. Encourage them to leave comments on trip advisor.

Do you have a local laundry for the bedding ? We use one and it's surprisingly good value. £5.70 for duvet cover, 4 x pillow slips and sheet. I could never get the crisp finish that they do and it saves a load of time on washing and ironing. I do all the towels but they are pretty easy.

If you are anywhere near the east cost of Scotland I am selling a holiday home around May and need to sell the contents too. I have 5 zip and link beds and all the duvets and linens to go with them. All furniture too and kitchenware. Let me know if you are interested.

Thanks apollo but we are on the opposite side of the country, the Lake District.

We can’t look into launderettes either as wont be managing it ourselves, we are slightly too far away for that

Can I ask a couple of technical questions? I will check with the letting agent once we appoint one too. But in the meantime...

Council tax - I’ve read it can work out better to pay business rates instead. Have others done this? Did you have to set up as a company to do it?

Insurance - we don’t need buildings insurance as the communal building already has it. But I think we will need public liability insurance and contents insurance. Plus do people have cover for things like having to cancel guests if there has been a problem? For example my poor aunt has just had a horrendous problem at theirs, won’t go into details but they had to replace a bed, mattress, carpet and underlay and it took them a week of daily bleaching and scrubbing to get rid of the smells. Luckily they had no one booked in that week but it wouldn’t have been habitable if they had so presumably would have had to refund if someone had been booked in. Can you insure against that sort of thing?

Any good recommendations for insurance providers?

Everyone’s advice is great, I really appreciate it.

Council tax or insurance anyone? Please?!!

I can remember who I do my insurance with, it's a specialised firm. If you use Airbnb, they include their own cover.
You should include in your t&c that your guests must have travel insurance which covers them in the unlikely event of property being unavailable and that you are not liable for any subsequent losses such as car hire deposits, flights etc.
I have to say (touch wood) that I have never had a problem in my Airbnb, the occasional issue in my cottages (that pre-dated Airbnb) but nothing huge.

Only difference between business & domestic council tax (AIRI) is the business rates were cheaper (my barns were part of my curtilege) but I paid separately for rubbish collection - which was weekly.

@ApolloandDaphne could you message me please - I can't see how to do it on my phone I have a possible project & may need beds....

Actually, you are supposed to pay business rates on a holiday property. Usually you get a debate and pay nothing.You apply to the council to revert to business rates. You don't have to be a company, but you must prove that it is a holiday property.

You need specialist holiday let insurance which covers you for public liability and loss of earnings. Google it, you can use a broker. NFU is an example of a supplier.

MoneySuperMarket is a good portal for HC insurance, Boshers are good, I can't find mine in the list (they may have changed names), I found NFU extortionate although my old banger is still insured through them, Hiscox was cheaper!

Insurance: I'm with a specialist broker i4me.

Business rates: if your cottage is let on a commercial basis (definition available on business rates website - it differs slightly versus the HMRC definition for tax purposes) then you "have" to switch to business rates as it's a commercial enterprise. However, many people don't (for reasons below)....

Business rates are a lot more expensive than council tax but providing this is your only commercial property, you'll get 100% rebate meaning you pay zero. Which is fab.

However, as a commercial business, you "can't" use the domestic bin collection so have to pay a licensed refuse collector to take your rubbish (or get a license yourself, which isnt practical if you are a distant owner) and that frequently costs more than the council tax you would be liable for, hence people sometimes stay with council tax.

But some councils don't link up their business rates department with the refuse collection department, so when you switch, they don't take your domestic bins away and the refuse continues to be collected along with your neighbours.

It tends to be the tourist areas (Cornwall etc) that are hot both on the need to register for business rates, and when you do, remove domestic bins such that you will need to pay for a private company to take your refuse. Other less touristy councils are less likely to notice/care if you remain on council tax, and are less likely to notice/care if you switch to business rates so you may continue getting a domestic collection.

But bottom line is to be doing everything by the book, you should switch to business rates, get 100% rebate and pay for a commercial refuse collection.

We've run a holiday let but it's currently let out as a normal tenancy. Things we've learned or been told: really well stocked kitchen is a plus, as people may want to cook Christmas dinner etc. Yes to white sheets and towels. We had a futon with washable cover for a sofa.
From a renter's POV, please, if you're expecting families with kids, no glass tables or breakable ornaments.

Somebody might have already mentioned this. Sorry, I haven't RTFT.

We don't have holiday homes but my mum is really paranoid about bed bugs and things like that. (She has anxiety and finds new things to fixate on)

She got a bedbug proof mattress protector from amazon that is hotel quality and it zips and seals all the way around the mattress. It's splashproof too. It was a decent price, so we ended up buying one too because I'm a bugger for spilling cups of tea on things and DH gets too hot and a bit sweaty in the night sometimes. So it made sense. (We had just bought a new mattress and I wanted to keep it nice!)

That and a good topper might keep your mattress doing a long time.

I'm on business rates with mine, as it's currently my only property I get a 100% rebate and pay nothing. Commercial refuse and recycling collection (normal household-sized wheelie bins, 240l each) costs me £15.63.

For insurance I've just switched to Bluefin (Jelf) after just having it as an addition to my smallholding insurance for a few years. It almost doubled the price, but I'm now covered for up to 20% of the property's value to find alternative accommodation for guests if the house is uninhabitable for any reason, plus a lot of accidental damage cover that I didn't have before.

(Sorry, that's £15.63 a month for the bin collection and it's in the Highland Council area).

I went for a hotel bed maker for zip beds. Very good value. Bought in 2010 and still like new.

That’s great, thanks all. It is an apartment so there is a communal bin so I might get away with the refuse collection!

I will look into insurance options.

I’m still struggling with choosing mattresses online. When we replaced our own mattress a couple of years ago we tried SO many before we found one we both liked. How I’m supposed to pluck one off the internet that is universally comfy I do not know!!