What do you like about a holiday cottage?

[Karwomannghia]

My mum has asked me to help her update her holiday cottage as she’s not letting it this season. The main thing is to get a bigger tv with freeview but does anyone have experience of what makes a good tv? Is it possible for people to login to their own Netflix accounts for example?
Also what else do you really like about a cottage? I’ve mentioned having good blinds/curtains to block out the light. It’s a house with a double in one room and bunk beds in another.
I’m staying in it and will point out things to improve but anything to look out for appreciated!

I wouldn't book anywhere with a huge TV - that's what I want to get away from. Well-equipped kitchen is a must, though.

Comfortable beds
Clean, well maintained decor and furnishings
Well equipped kitchen inc dishwater (and tablets), decent knives, chopping board, freezer
WiFi
Some basics in the kitchen - teabags, oil etc. Bottle of wine or some local produce is always a nice touch
Good instructions for appliances and recycling as well as local info
Outdoor seating & bbq
Good heating in autumn/winter
Modern tv (smart tv would be ideal)
A nice to have is speakers/alexa device and sockets with usb points
Mirrors in bedrooms
Enough space to put toiletries in bathroom
Comfortable beds and sofas
Good selection of board games
Enough glasses of different size/types
Plenty of towels and pillows
Garden toys are good of aimed at families with young children, also high chair, toddler cutlery etc.

Thanks for all the suggestions. The current TV is very small, she doesn’t want a huge one, it wouldn’t fit for a start, just a bigger smart one!

Places to hang up coats etc near the main entrance, more hooks than people, shoe rack, pint glasses and the thing that drives me most crazy is getting the shopping delivered and finding there is no where to unpack it due to the random stuff that fills EVERY kitchen cupboard! In the same way I don't want ornaments so there's no where to put anything down. Good luck with the refurb

wifi that works
decent amount cutlery ( not just 1 knife, fork per person)
hoover
few family board games
cheese grater

clear instructions about how to use things etc

Already assuming the place is clean, warm and comfortable and has everything as advertised in the listing then the most important things to us are

1. no interference or visits from cottage owners
2. good clear instructions for appliances especially TV
3. sensible number of loo rolls, tea towels, dishwasher tablets and cleaning products provided for the week

So far I’ve discovered we definitely need to make room for food (we can discard 3 of the 4 cafetières which will help- don’t ask), we’ve ordered more mugs as there are a lot but we need bigger ones and we’ve ordered new baking tins, wok, pillows and huge towels.

There is a wonderful knife I want to take home myself! It’s very slightly serrated so great for tomatoes but also goes straight through carrots etc

Pet hate not enough dining chairs eg I we usually go on holiday with my sister and her family 7 of us in total, I am fed up looking at properties for 8 people which have 6 dining chairs, and not enough seating in the lounge. Quite often we do all want to eat and sit together. Another one we have arrived at some places and found 1 towel per person for a weeks stay! Tiny cups is another one. Also fancy cooker or washing machine with NO INSTRUCTIONS.

Sorry, forgot decent kitchen knife even if it is only one.

There is a wonderful knife I want to take home myself! It’s very slightly serrated so great for tomatoes but also goes straight through carrots etc

Serrated knives are right handed, better to have non-serrated knifes so lefties can use them.

Kitchen scales or a dry measure and measuring jug would make a difference.

Jigsaws much appreciated on my last family trip. All I actually look for is comfort and a great location

Clean, and smelling like it's been well-aired (not full of headache-inducing home fragrance plug-ins!)

The last place we stayed had an understairs cupboard with hooks and a rubber mat that they specifically said were for muddy/wet wellies, coats etc. Often there's nowhere to put those where you won't spoil carpet or walls.

A knife sharpener!!! No point having good knives if you can't sharpen them.
Decent size dishes to cook eg a family lasagne.
Oh and yy to big mugs! Also bedside lamps on both sides of every double bed.
Flexible beds. We've rejected so many houses because they have four or five bedrooms, all double. I don't get it - surely in a house that big you're likely to have kids sharing a room? (Or some adults who don't want doubles - lots of older generation prefer twin.)
Games and jigsaws.
Speakers with a jack.

There are several other knives just one I particularly like! It has all the other things mentioned but unfortunately the bunks have to stay due to the size, but clearly visible in the spec.

Get some world's sharpest knife knives. They're amazing and we've never sharpened them.

A friend who has an air bnb swears by burgundy red towels. Presumably for stains.

I hate excessive throws and cushions if they're not cleaned between guests.

Not night storage heaters! An easy to change heating thermostat, with individual controls on each radiator. Spare light bulbs. Lamps in the main seating area, not just an overhead central light. A good shower. No carpets downstairs. DVD player for family favourites. Towel rack in each bedroom for airing soggy towels - an old wooden one is fine, doesn't have to be a heated rail. Plentiful supply of hangers and pegs/wardrobe space.

It's so subjective though! Lots is down to personal taste. For instance, I'm currently staying in a place that many here would deride as far too chinzy but I really love it - it's cosy and quaint.

I get very cross with the following: insufficient kitchen kit (negative points for really cheap, blunt kitchen knives, nasty cutlery that has rough bits, cheap thin pyrex plates, fugly mugs, only enough of anything for one meal for a family); hard lumpy pillows (but I bring my own); bad or absent bedside table lamps; horrible harsh lighting; hot water issues; no 'entertainment' bits and pieces like games, books, dvds (mostly because I find rental cottage bookcases endlessly fascinating); nowhere to dry towels/clothes; no wastepaper baskets in main rooms.

I want my ideal rental cottage to be old, quaint, cosy, furnished with antiques, a bit creaky, nice and ENCLOSED garden, somewhere off-road to park so it isn't a parking lottery when you get back from the beach, and with excellent kitchen facilities. Wifi is a must, tv can bugger off.

yy to excessive and unnecessary pillows and cushions on beds. On BEDS? Where have they been? What have they seen?? How have they been used??? Yuck.

There’s been some similar good threads about the same thing in the past.

Do not have a wooden or glass chopping board
If you ha e a coffee machine that takes pods, put what make It is in the cottage description
Airer
Good mattress (premier inn sell their own on their website)
Good size mugs
2 sizes of frying pans
Nice contemporary decor
Proper size fridge freezer
Double the amount of cutlery and crockery then the number it sleeps
Spare salt and rinse aid for the dishwasher
Good WiFi
Good shower
Recycling details
Decent kitchen storage for food
A fan if it’s a property that gets very hot
Privacy at windows. (Once stayed in a property with no frosted glass or blind in the bathroom window)
Tv in bedrooms

Very clean!

Guide to local area, good walks, pubs, shops etc

No wine glasses that look like the stems will snap
Set of Plastic cups/plates etc for children
Good knives
Good amount of hangers
A cottage I stayed in had a night light/take off torch plugged into the hallway, was very handy in a power cut
Ice cube trays

Small hand soaps by the sink near each toilet just to cover until we get to a shop.

Bedside light on both sides of a double bed. This is the only thing I get truly cross about not having.

Decent kitchen equipment including roasting tray and something it's possible to make cake in (I have made lots of cakes in random pyrex dishes in holiday lets)

Scales or dry measure would be great. Failing that I can improvise with a measuring jug.

I hate mugs that are a dark colour inside - makes the tea look disgusting to drink out of a dark navy or primary yellow mug. Plus it's harder to tell if they are clean.

I love a selection of books and games. Beach things like buckets and spades are wonderful to find.