New holiday cottage - WWYD?

[ladyshale]

We're renovating what was the tiny old gardener's cottage to rent out as a small holiday home from mid-October and need some advice from seasoned UK holidaymakers.

It has one large bedroom (would take king size bed plus cot), and a large open plan living room/ dining area/ kitchen.

For context there is a fantastic pub and a farm shop less than 5 minutes walk away. The south coast is 15 minutes drive away.

Would you prefer:

Beds: twin (maybe that could be zipped together) or king or superking?

Kitchen: Is washer/dryer essential or
(Will have full size dishwasher, fridge/freezer, microwave)

Bathroom: we're thinking either bath with shower over and glass shower screen or shower room with attached sauna.

Any other things that make you keen to rent somewhere?

Bath, definitely. Love a bath on holidays.
Superking, if room.
Somewhere to dry wet clothes after a day out.
Yes to washer and dryer, especially if your market is couples with baby/small child.

Comfy mattress, comfy couches, enough glasses and plates!

Nice garden furniture.
Local information.

We have run a couple of holiday cottages over the years so:
If it's one bedroom- then a good quality superking ziplock bed gives you the option. Sofa beds, imho always give the impression you are cramming people in for extra profit. The extra cleaning, washing and hot water use will make any extra you take in negligible too.
Tbh it depends on your market - are you going for cheap and cheerful or more luxury couples market?
Yes to dishwasher, plus a washer if you can fit it in. Kitchen and bathroom need to look great, so a nice walk in shower and bath (bonus points if you can fit in a double ended pool type bath.)
Make sure the kitchen is fully equipped- not just 4 of the basic crockery and a couple of cheap pans.
Comfortable and stylish furniture (doesn't matter if it's modern and minimalist or antique and quirky) as long as it doesn't look like granny's cast offs.
BBQ - yes, plus tools and a good quality cleaning brush.
Comfy outdoor seating.
Somewhere to hang and dry wet outdoor coats (in the U.K. in winter- vital!)
Some nice luxury touches- good quality coffee maker and pods.
Welcome pack - in a pretty basket inc local products if poss. Set a budget for this and factor it in to your price.
Leave cleaning products- with any luck your guests will actually use them ! Don't leave full bottles though as there is always the cheapskate who takes the lot. I leave bottles topped up to 1/3 to 1/2 full.
Leave toilet rolls, plus some spares.
Supply good quality towels (huge bath sheet and hand towel pp plus lots of tea towels)
Nice bedding- pristine sheets and pillows are an absolute must.

Spotlessly clean - much cleaner than your own home. One pube in the bath, or unidentifiable stain 🤢 and your review ratings are shot.

Up to you about dogs: more cleaning but if you are attractive to walkers, lots of them have dogs. Some places provide outdoor dog showers, baskets and dog blankets.

Finally- have a good long look at the opposition in your area. What is popular? Is there a niche you can fill? How much are they charging- don't think you have to go in cheaper, but you have to offer value for money.

Oh- and look on the Facebook groups selling holiday accommodation direct. No agents fees - you don't have to rely on just one agent.

I would say king sized bed, sofa bed in lounge, washer dryer and a hot tub. I’m looking for a cottage at the moment for October half term and hardly any have hot tubs and I would love one.

Yes to a welcome basket!! Milk, biter, local bread-lovely. And wine? Especially good. Local goods a great idea.

Also, if you supply cleaning things, people will use them. Also supply washing up liquid, dishwasher tabs etc.

I love a tennis court with a holiday house! We always use it.

Yes to somewhere to hang up coats in hall.

Definitely prefer a bath to a sauna in a holiday cottage.

I agree the zip link twin beds are the best idea. That will appeal to a wider audience than just a double or king size bed.

How many do you plan to allow in the cottage? Obviously a sofa bed would turn a 2 person cottage into a 4 very cheaply. But do you want the extra wear & tear?

Like a pp, I also wouldn’t choose to stay anywhere dogs were allowed to stay.

Super king.
Washer/dryer - no.
Bath and shower, wouldn’t use a sauna.

King bed. Bill this as couples' retreat.
Shower over bath. Nice toiletries.

Welcome basket; bottle of champagne. I'd prefer cheese/baguette/olives as this could be breakfast or evening snack. If you provide a microwave include some popcorn. Raise your price accordingly to account for consumables, of course.

Extra blankets. Light-blocking window coverings. One of those electric heaters that looks like a little wood stove with faux flames.

Cleanable surfaces -- no fitted carpeting, etc that hold others' dog hair and germs. Fresh sofa slipcovers for each set of guests would be ideal and something to include in your advertising.

Copious hot water. No sauna. Outdoor bench or box for shoes/boots near entry door.

Assortment of rainy-day books: mystery, biography/memoir, travel essays, contemporary thriller, romance. Easy familiar stuff like Stephen King, Agatha Christie. Mixing in vintage/old faves with modern.

If you can cheaply get little notepads & pencils imprinted with the cottage name & your website it might be good takeaway/advertising. As hotels do.

Just a small thing, but something that often surprises me about holiday lets is that there is nearly always a microwave, but no microwave dishes for cooking veg etc. They seem to be overlooked when kitting out the kitchen.

We have a holiday let and one of the bedrooms has a zip and link. We've hardly ever had to separate it. I'd go for super king or King, and a sofa bed in living room.
Bath. Have a bath. If it's for couples or couples with a baby a bath is essential.
You must squeeze in a washer drier. Essential even for short breaks.
BBQ cleaning protocol? Your cleaner checks it each week and I'd used empties the ash and brillos the grill. It'll never be sparkling clean but you need to avoid leaving fatty burned on lumps fir the next guests. Again, my reality is that it's hardly used!

We stayed in 2 AirBnBs this week. One was newly renovated and nearly perfect. The other was a very old cottage that hadn’t been renovated since the 90s and felt every inch of it. Both cottages slept 2 only.

Things that were great in cottage 1

• Comfy king sized bed with feather duvet and quality cotton sheets
• Walk in shower with rainfall and handheld shower attachments
• Really comfortable 3 seat sofa with a pouffe so both husband & I could hang out in comfort
• Decent dishwasher, washing machine, clothes horse, iron, ironing board
• Well stocked kitchen with decent corkscrew, wine glasses (inc champagne glasses), scissors etc
• Underfloor heating was great - cottage was tiled with wood effect tiles
• Only thing missing was a decent smart TV and a full length mirror

I actively avoid lettings that offer the choice of twin beds or king size as my experience is that zip linked beds are very rarely comfortable for a couple.

A decent sofa, shower with good water pressure and a good bed goes a long way for us.

Oh- forgot! For wine in a U.K. cottage welcome basket I think you need some sort of license.

Hot tubs are VERY popular. However they do need a fair bit of maintenance and I have seen them referred to as "Satan's bidet" and sex ponds. So it's up to you....

@kitkat we wash clothes about 3 times a week when we go away and come away with all clean clothes except the pjs from the last night and the clothes we are wearing. Why would I make more work for myself on coming home? I don't see bunging a load of washing in as a chore at all

Cotton bedding. Nylon or poly is grim.

Generous towels that are really absorbent, no microfiber.

If there's a pizza oven you could devise a kit that would encompass all ingredients for basic pizza and offer that at time of booking for extra cost. But is the oven wood fired? Seems a lot of faff for someone on holiday.

I would go for a zip and link Superkingsize bed, that can be unzipped to be 2 full sized singles. You could also have a sofa bed in the living room.

I would never choose a cottage without a dishwasher, a washing machine is a very attractive addition (especially with beach close by) and even better than that would be washing machine and tumble drier (even if a combi machine).

Bathroom, not fussed on baths myself, but does need a good shower - over the bath gives the best flexibility. Sauna wouldn’t add anything for me.

Outside space, would be lovely to sit out, even better to be able to eat out, barbecue would add to that, pizza oven would just be something else to maintain or go wrong?

Prefer king size bed but twin beds that zip together is good.

Never going to use washer/dryer in a 1-bed cottage - maybe in a 3/4 bed where larger family.

No to sauna, much prefer bath. Separate shower useful.

Also like:

Nice outside space so you can eat outside - proper outside table & chairs.

Couple of deck chairs.

Decent bedlinen - 100% cotton - and proper bath towels.

Duvet not blankets.

Really important: Blackout blinds or curtains in the bedroom.

Proper fire or log-burning stove in the living room.

Bedside lights that are bright enough to actually read your book by - so many places don't have this.

Decent lighting in the kitchen when you are cooking, and please provide tea towels and a new dishcloth too.

Salt & pepper.

In addition to the stuff here, the best unexpected extra I've ever had in a holiday cottage was a bread machine with a packet of mix ready next to it.

I'd definitely go with the washer-dryer, zip-together beds with a topper and a bath. When I've stayed in cottages with a sauna I've only ever used it as a drying room! I'm allergic to dogs so actively look for cottages that don't allow pets.

Your place sounds lovely.

Also - plain and simple decoration.

You might think pastel colours/floral duvets (or even Orla Kiely) are the height of good taste, but I'd much prefer plain.

No fucking ornaments - especially not bits of driftwood, old rope or wooden carvings of seagulls.

Hooks. Lots of them.
A couple by the door for coats/dog leads/hats
A couple on the back of the bedroom door
A couple on the back of the bathroom door for bathrobes/sponge bags.
A couple in the kitchen for hand towels/tea towels/oven gloves.

Shower over bath definitely, I'd much rather use one of these than a cubicle and definitely not a sauna.

Washer dryer essential too.

Dogs, no dogs, no preference here, it's not a consideration for us.

King size bed but not superking if it means there's barely room to move around the room.

Tea, coffee, milk and maybe biscuits or cake but I don't want anything more than that, I'd rather choose my own wine.

I can't see us using a pizza oven.

I booked a cottage last night. I was looking for:

King size with no footboard - DH is 6’4” and he really can’t sleep in a double with footboard
Washing machine
Tumble drier
Bath
Shower (don’t care if it’s over the bath)
Parking
Enough seats in the lounge for everybody (we’ve stayed in a cottage, which didn’t)
Wi-fi
A reasonable sized wardrobe and chest of drawers (a wardrobe that takes about 6 hangers is little use for two for a fortnight)

Nice to haves

Dishwasher
Plenty of cutlery - not just 2 knives and forks for the 2 who sleep there, meaning we have to wash up from breakfast, so we can eat dinner
Decent non stick pans
Coffee machine or cafetière
Decent knives, potato peeler and tin opener, that work (it’s nuisance to arrive in the evening and can’t open any tins)
Garden furniture to eat outside
Washing line and pegs
Cleaning materials - we try to leave it in the state we found it

We don’t care if it takes dogs or not, or has a smart tv or sauna. We did stay in one with a swimming pool and hot tub, because we got it cheap due to a last minute cancellation. They were great; but not essential to us!

Bath with taps in the middle.
Storage in the bathroom - stayed in far too many places which didn't have a cupboard or even a shelf and it's a pain.
Hooks for coats and towels.
Clothes horse.
Washing machine but not fussed about dryer.
King size bed that doesn't have a footboard.
Decent sized saucepan - recently stayed somewhere that slept 6 and the biggest pan was a milk pan!

I like a hand held shower. I’m sure I can’t be the only one. So many places only have rain domes, but you can get sets with both.

Ah yes. Hooks are important, and decent shelf space in the bathroom.

Yes to hand held shower and preferably no to the big rain ones, they're really annoying.