New Holiday Let ... What Do You Want?

[cows573]

We are just in the process of finishing our holiday let and would like to ask mum's net what they would look for in 4 or 5 star accommodation. We are aiming for prices from 500 to 1000 per week.

The cottage is in a rural location in SW Scotland, 3 bedrooms. 1st bedroom is a twin with blackout blinds as well as curtains, hairdryer and bedside light, plenty of hangers. We may put a tv dvd player in here for dvd's....

Next bedroom is a double with two bedside lights, hairdryer, plenty of hangers, Jack and Jill NetSuite shower/toliet with master bedroom...

Master bedroom with sky free view tv, king size bed, hairdryer and hangers.

Jack and Jill ensuite has shower, toilet, sink and kardean flooring as well as one new toilet roll.

Egyptian cotton bed linen throughout, 2 pillows per bed plus duvets. Black out blinds in all bedrooms and hall windows.

Family bathroom with shower over bath, kardean flooring, 1 bath towel per person, 1 hand towel for each bathroom as well as anti slip mat and bath mat and one new toilet roll. Each bathroom has soap, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and body lotion provided.

Living room with patio doors, multi fuel stove (for central heating too but oil heating as well), first fuel (firelighters, kindling, coal and logs) provided, corner sofa for four, double sofa, kardean flooring, reading light, coffee table, sky free view, DVD player, range of dad's, books and information folder.

Open planned kitchen with tumble drier, washing machine, dishwasher, at least 12 of basic crockery and cutlery. Microwave, sky free view tv, table for six, lots of cupboards, basic stuff provided including cleaning materials...

Secured garden area at rear with hot tub for six, four bathrobes and disposable slippers. Indoor drying room. Buckets and spades, indoor games, travel cot and highchair available on request.

Looking at welcome basket with local wine and beers, milk and bread....

Have I missed anything?

Seconded, Sagely. And always have a spare loo seat. I'm on my 5th (7th year). I have no idea what happens to them. They are not cheap, flimsy ones, either...

Am just washing my knick-knacks this very minute, whokn0ws.

I own a holiday let in Pembrokeshire, a light and airy two bedroomed attic flat with amazing views over North Beach and Caldy Island. Only started running it as a holiday let after I retired two years ago as it helps pay the Council Tax, electric bills etc - when it's not booked out we use it ourselves - as one poster put it's really useful to stay there yourself to make sure you haven't missed anything.
The first year I had a complaint that I hadn't provided an ironing board and iron so had to get one - not sure if you've thought of this OP?
Agree with everyone else that lots of toilet rolls and black bags are essential and apart from hand soap I don't provide any other toiletries
Most guests have been great apart from the odd carpet burns in the bedroom caused by hair straighteners 😡 and I was delighted to be classed as a 3* due to lack of dishwasher and washing machine - no room - which meant under the contract of my letting agents I don't have to provide towels.
Good luck OP, hope you do well

Yes! Wtf do they do to toilet seats???

Not candles! Just in case your guests are a little reckless.

Perhaps something g like a not-fragile vase or pot (easily moved, and perhaps useful).

Do check that there's a mirror in each bedroom and that it's either moveable or in good light (both daylight and lightbulb)

More towels.
Books, maybe a puzzle and a couple of board games (but only if you can check they are complete each time).
An empty cupboard in the kitchen where people can put their food - so many holiday lets are well equipped, but the equipment takes up all the cupboard space!

Welcome pack - tea, coffee, biscuits, small jug of milk in the 'fridge.

Basic basics - salt, pepper, peeps a small bottle of olive oil. The things you always forget to pack. Washing up liquid, a new j cloth, some surface cleaner, and dishwasher tablets. Laundry powder nice to have too even if it's just a couple of sachets.

If you have any local takeaways which deliver, get their menus and put them in a binder.

If there's a stove, then matches, kindling, and a box of fuel for it.

Instructions for increasing the central heating - if I'm paying £1000, then I want to be as warm and as comfortable as I can be. Similarly, extra blankets, and a change of bedding somewhere, especially for children's beds.

In the bathrooms, enough loo roll for the week. Handwash or soap with the basins.

Our favourite place also does something vaguely seasonal for each week let. So this time of year, maybe a small bunch of daffodils. Later maybe tiny eggs, Christmas a tiny tree, Autumn a bowl of conkers, whatever really. Just something a little special.

What's in the kitchen?

Baking trays and roasting tins
Couple of deep mixing bowls
Casserole dishes
Lots of serving/ ovenproof dishes for salads, pasta, lasagne etc etc.
Good quality pans and at least 2 non stick ones for scrambled eggs, porridge, milk etc.

I always appreciate a supply of plastic food bags for taking sandwiches out with us, or picnicware.

Fire Risk Assessment? this is a legal requirement and you must have it if you are letting out your property. your buildings/contents insurance would be invalidated in the event of a fire if you do not have one. this means hard wired smoke alarms, fire fighting equipment etc. plus Public Liability insurance.

Be very careful when providing cleaning products. they must be in a locked cupboard with difficult access for children. never just leave them around like you would in your own home. same for matches, lighters, fuel etc.

same goes for providing any sort of food stuffs except new and in packets. there are food allergy issues that you have to take into account. so whilst leaving a bowl of sugar seems like a nice thing to do if the person before uses a spoon that's been in the peanut butter and the next person has a peanut allergy you have a problem!

good luck with your letting, hope it goes well for you.

sounds lovely. only thing you've not mentioned that I like is some mechanism by which to have a decent coffee, although it doesn't matter if it's a bells and whistles espresso machine, or a £4.99 cafetiere.

I don't cook properly on holiday (probably the only time in the year I don't TBH) so don't need lots of cooking equipment BUT I do like to have plenty of mugs, glasses and plates so that I'm not forever rinsing things out. So for 3 bedrooms with an occupancy of 6 you need a minimum of 12 of everything, ideally 18 mugs and side plates.

I currently have one holiday let, a caravan so this will be my second.

I meant to say two pillows per person and it's one hand towel and bath towel per person.

There are hard wired smoke alarms, fire blanket, carbon monoxide alarms and public liability.

I haven't decided where I am advertising as yet. Probably on farmstay at the very least as the cottage is on our farm.

I will be putting probably four toilet rolls in each bathroom as per your recommendations and we do have free WiFi....

You need another towel per person. I like to turban my hair up in a slightly smaller towel than a bath sheet after a shower. And also it's useful to have extra in case of messing one up or whatever

Agree with all the others than other than a pump of hand soap don't both with toiletries.

I'm staggered at the visitors who don't drink the wine! We get a welcome basket in the place we stay at in Cornwall and the bottle of Cornish wine (£13) is one of the highlights. We never eat the biscuits, jam, tea ...

Milk in the fridge, bag of filter/plunger coffee (no sachets of instant), enough dishwasher tablets for one wash a day plus a few spares.

Please include dishwasher rinse aid! I have lost count of the number of cottages we have rented that have the rinse aid warning light on and only once has it been supplied.

I've never found the cleaning products in a locked cupboard in a holiday let, surely that's up to the renters to put them out of reach if they have young children. Same with matches etc, we've always found them in the hearth or wherever and no problem with moving them ourselves when the DCs were younger.

pericat I check the rinse aid light isn't on before every let and supply it as you never know when it's going to run out.

It's really difficult to know how much kitchen equipment to supply. Some of my guests do little more than make drinks, others cook full roast dinners, and ask me for extra chairs so they can invite their relatives round to join them! It's a compromise between providing what's needed and over-filling the cupboards so there's no room for guests' food (and it's more for me to check!) I usually say I have lots of extra equipment which I am happy to lend.

Make sure there is a constant supply of hot water! Amazed at how many lets have v old fashioned boilers that only heat a tank of water which seems to run out after the first 2 showers!

Mirrors in suitable places near power points for hair drying and with natural light for make up.

A coffee maker.

I have been known to buy the cheap argos ones and leave them in holiday lets because I don't do instant coffee.

It would make me chose your cottage over a different one.

Flyers for all the local take aways would be useful.

This might have already been said but I would ensure enough toilet roll for the week (maybe three or four rolls?) hand soap by all sinks including kitchen, in the kitchen I find it really useful when there is kitchen roll, foil, cling film, a few bin bags (enough for bathroom too?) washing up liquid, washing powder/ liquid for the machine an dishwasher tablets. I imagine a lot of people would bring this but it's handy not to have to buy a huge box of washing powder if you only need to do one wash?
Also how about legs and a washing line, or clothes airer?
Bed guard for children is useful and often picked up second hand reasonably cheaply?

Have you tried staying there for a week 'on holiday'? I find the easiest places to stay are those where the owners use them frequently.

In terms of welcome basket, local biscuits, tea and coffee. A pint of milk in the fridge?

If you accept dogs, or welcome walkers and Mountainbikers, then some old or dark coloured towels.

Pint glasses. Nothing worse than small piddly glasses.

OP Discover Scotland has a big presence in the SW. I would look at similar cottages on there.

Personally i would ditch the robes and slippers - robes because of the extra washing and slippers beacuse of the cost/waste.

Is the cottage warm? If you need to use the stove with wood for warmth I would supply free wood-most places i have been the wood is free. You are at the top of the price bracket - we love the SW but would pay those prices (minus hot tub) for a seaside cottage at somewhere like Rockliffe of Kippford so you are competing against their location and need a different offering (if you are not on a seaside holiday village!).

Your holiday home sounds lovely! We have a 5 bed holiday home and some of the things we've been asked for or had comments on are:

Bigger fridge to accommodate plenty of food for guests plus drinks.
Spare towels (I know I like to change my towel more than once in a week, so I'm sure guests would too).
Free Wi-Fi.
Smart TV in main room so that they can access Netflix etc.
TVs in all other bedrooms.
A good coffee maker and bean grinder.
Plenty of games and books (people would read and swap).
I wouldn't bother with robes and slippers as its not a hotel and it's more to wash and sort out on changeover days.
Have a mix of glass and plastic drinking glasses (breakages can be high in rentals).
Same for crockery and may be have some nice brightly coloured plastic children's plates and dishes.
We have a Wii and an Xbox with games which goes down well with older kids.

If I think it anything more I will post again, but mainly guests enjoyed the standard of decoration and the cleanliness of the house. This is really important.

I hope it goes well for you. As an aside, and I don't want to be the voice of doom, but make sure you are prepared for the fact that people will not treat it the way you would. It's not their home and some guests can be very disrespectful of your beautiful house. We've had to have internal walls rebuilt, replace many items, sofas, have carpets cleaned etc after guests have mistreated the house. It can hard when you put in so much thought, time and money, as you clearly have, and have guests mistreat it. Fingers crossed you won't have the experiences we have had. It really does sound lovely.

Just to add, a folder/file with leaflets for nearby attractions, pubs, restaurants and takeaways that will deliver to the address goes down well. I know its all available on google, but for some guests its nice for all the hard work to be done for them.

Out if interest Alice - what do you do when there has been damage like you describe and the next lot of guests are due that night? Sounds like a nightmare.

We have a management company that runs the house for us, so they get the workmen sorted and find alternative accommodation for guests as they have other holiday homes on their books. They have been lifesavers on a number of occasions! I think that had we known that we would be paying out so much on maintenance and repairs we would really have thought twice about it. We knew that it wasn't a money making scheme and the house was bought as an investment with some inherited money, but we really have subsidised it as we want it to be as nice as possible for our guests so we we would never leave anything, no matter how small, than needed replacing or fixing. After all, we all know how much we look forward to our hard earned holidays.

Also, if guests were inconvenienced - such as having to have someone come in and replace a curtain pole or light fitting during their first day or having to have alternative accommodation for a night - due to damage by previous renters, we do refund a certain amount of money depending on how much it inconveniences them. Luckily there has usually been a couple of days in between renters to allow work to be completed or things fixed. It's not an easy business at all!