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?

Enough clothes hangers ! And not those annoying ones that are fastened to the rail to stop people nicking them !

Decent wi fi

Either smart TV / Netflix or blu ray / DVD with selection of films

And definitely not a feather duvet

duvets need to be washable. and get good matress covers.

wrt hoover, one place we stayed in had a hoover hardwired into the cleaning cupboard socket.
the owners said they had many hoovers taken and as many destroyed by people using them on wet decking or cars.

oh, and changable/washable sofa covers.

Decent waterproof mattress protectors a must- the amount of places that don’t have these is astonishing. Especially on kids beds 🤢

I love a sauna but not instead of a bath.

Washing machine essential. Dishwasher nice to have.

Zip link to super king is the dream for a holiday place, definitely get those.

Yes to washer/dryer, walks and beach generate washing. Yes to dishwasher, who wants to spend holiday time washing up? Self catering means cooking. Yes to bath, shower over no problem, a long soak in a bath after a winter walk is lovely. Yes to twin beds that can zip together if required, not all couples share a bed. Yes to extra sofa bed in case friends/family drop by for a night. This happens a lot with us. No to sauna. And if you have WiFi, make sure it works.

Zip link super king/twin bed. I find them really comfy and can’t notice a ridge - maybe I’ve only ever slept in ones with toppers on.

Dishwasher a must.
Washing machine definitely if you can - this is higher priority than a freezer. Personally I don’t like washer dryers as I think they do both badly so am happy to dry clothes on a laundry rack. If you’re worried about condensation then a dehumidifier is good (with instructions on how to use it). Plus an outside line with enough pegs plus some extra for breakages.

On changeover get whoever is doing the cleaning to check pots, pans and grill pans and check for things like dirty cafetières (just been away and found a dirty one in the cupboard as well as a grill pan that smelt of bacon).
And to check the dishwasher. We tend to always buy a load of dishwasher salt and rinse aid for dishwashers as well as put it on a cleaning cycle wash - no one seems to maintain dishwashers in holiday cottages.

As you’re having a cot then a few plastic plates/bowls /spoons are useful. As is a microwave for sterilising/heating baby food.
As you’re near the beach then provide beach towels as well as house towels. It’s lovely when somewhere does this and means your cottage towels won’t get trashed by being taken to the beach.

Have soap for every sink. Tea, coffee, and fresh milk is even better. Bread and butter or even a cake better still (if you do a welcome pack then free range eggs only please - and free range eggs in cake)

Personally I like it when places leave salt, oil, vinegar etc so you don’t have to buy so many cooking basics.

And yes to leaving a hoover. Maybe we’re just grubby but we usually have to hoover up during a holiday. And have enough cloths and cleaning products so that people can actually clean up if they need to - they might spill something for example.

I avoid places that allow dogs. I’ll used to still rent them if they were the best place otherwise but now I’d avoid. This is from personal experience of slight doggy smell which we could deal with, and poo in a garden which was disgusting and meant we’ve never hired a dog friendly place again.

wrt pots and pans - if you provide a dishwasher these must be dish washer safe.

WRT dishwashers, we asked about dishwasher salt in one cottage. The owner laughed and said the water was so soft, they didn’t need it!

You've given me some fantastic ideas here and it's so good to know what you really don't like when you're away as well as what you generally look for in a cottage.

And thank you to for the advice from experienced holiday letting landlords re insurance, paypal , ltd company etc. The potential downsides (and children) are what have stopped me doing this earlier.

It obviously won't be possible for us to design somewhere which will please everyone - we'll aim for the higher end of the market active/ romantic couple or couple with non-mobile baby.

I'm still musing whether to allow dogs or not. I love dogs, the two pubs within walking distance both welcome well-behaved ones. It isn't the responsible dog owners that concern me, it's the ones who might let muddy, wet dogs run all over the house and sleep on the beds, leave them locked in when they go out etc.

But so far, we've decided upon (part 1):
Bed: a 6 ft zip and link bed which splits into full size single beds with a thick topper to disguise the link.

Dishwasher AND washer/dryer (we don't have room for a separate washing machine and tumble dryer though) with a separate heated airer too. Dishwasher salt and tablets.

A good quality hand held shower over a double-ended bath - no fixed shower head (I don't like them either, particularly if they drip!). No sauna :(

Plenty of high quality crockery (we've already bought a gorgeous set of Denby for the cottage), glasses of varying types, cutlery.

Good range of pans, kitchen items and oven gloves.

Fluffy towels- bath sheet, hand towel and a beach towel each.

Porch with plenty of hooks and a boot rack for wet coats and boots.

Welcome box including local milk, butter, free range eggs, tea, coffee, little jams, dishwasher tablets, laundry pods.

High end mini toiletries and soaps

Smart TV and good wifi (we have superfast surprisingly)

Local info, menus and non-patronising instructions (love it!) for appliances, recycling, heating etc.

Maybes:
Hot tub- may consider for next Spring, depending upon Covid situation.

Coffee maker with pods sounds lovely but would be an expensive item to replace if broken, or worse, stolen.

That all sound wonderful OP. The only thing I’d add is that people will trash your crockery so make sure that you’re happy with that. Breakages do happen and as someone who notices the type of sheets, towels, and welcome pack, when it comes to crockery I just want there to be enough!

And please please get stainless rather than non stick pans. Lots of holiday cottages have flaky non stick where people have used metal utensils in them. Even if you go higher end then unfortunately not everyone will treat your things correctly.

(Ps loving the welcome pack with free range eggs).

Oh and we picked up an all metal cafetière recently for not very much - means you wouldn’t have issues if anyone accidentally drops it. Coffee machines with pods are a bit of a marmite thing. Personally I don’t like the waste but appreciate I might be in the minority here.

We stayed somewhere isolated that offered a local shopping service, you chose from a list of items and they purchased and delivered next day - so much easier than having to stop at Tescos after a long drive. They also had a selection of delicious home made meals that you could order (chicken casserole, curries, shepherds pie etc) - not quite cooking your own, not quite eating out they were a lovely treat after a day exploring.

I wouldn't get a coffee maker with pods - can never get to grips with them and perfectly happy with either a cafetiere or coffee maker - just let people know in advance that one of those are available and no decent coffee drinker will be disappointed.

Yes the dog decision is a difficult one. You can charge a premium for bringing a dog, but if they do get furnishings muddy then £25 extra isn't going to go far. Also you'd want easily cleaned flooring so wooden rather than a carpet which could make the cottage a bit cooler.

You could try not dog friendly to begin with and see what bookings are like, then change if you need to.

For the dogs/no dogs thing, an answer of sorts (I take my own throws mind) is old curtains and throws left for visitors to use.
One cottage I went to had a big pile of such things, I appreciated the gesture. Again get as much of this info in your adverts. This one cottage didnt mention they had these for us to use. So I went armed with my usual haul. Could have done with the space in the boot though.

For the Hoover issue maybe a cheap carpet sweeper, around £15 and not worth stealing?

Despite having a dog myself, we tend to go for places that don’t take them. Good mattresses and pillows are important - nothing worse than a bad nights sleep! I agree a dishwasher is essential - so too is a powerful shower and easy to use appliances and heating/fans. Being able to use your own Netflix is also good. While it’s important all is functional, when browsing rentals I’ll admit I tend to go for something stylish I’d like myself.

Sounds lovely OP. My only qualm is the number of towels seems low. I need a bath towels for my hair and a bath sheet for my body. And prefer a fresh hand towel in the bathroom each day.

Can you test by allowing small dogs? Under 12kg or something like that? A chihuahua who is mainly a lap dog likely would cause less damage than a large working dog.

I run holiday cottages.

By far the most popular and highest yield are couples. If you go as luxurious as you can afford- so a nice sofa for example- you will get a lot more per night and u you will get year round trade.

If the room will only take a king bed you can't do zip and link as the single beds are child size. A superking yields adult size singles.

If you can have an open fire or log burner- even a very good quality electric one- that will get you winter bookings.

Dogs is up to you- we don't take dogs and sold 48 weeks last year.

I'd go for a king bed but I'd also put a sofa bed in the living area that way couples have a good bed and pairs can have a bed each. It would also mean a family with an older child could book in.

A reading light in the bedroom, in fact two reading lights.

Something I would like is somewhere next to the bath I can put a cup of tea or a glass of wine.

Id love AC and would expect to pay extra for it.

I'd also pay to have some things in the fridge / freezer on arrival, a couple of ready meals if I'm driving a long way and a couple of beers.

Menus for local take aways.

Enough equipment to be able to make a meal so chopping board and a good kitchen knife, tin opener, pans, wooden spoons.

Contact details for Dr / emergency dentist / hospital /pharmacy. Hopefully not needed but welcome if you do.

Books / games. I've stayed in places that have a shelf of books to read, if you want to take a book with you then you have to leave one behind.