Holiday cottage - What would make you feel welcome?

[DianaPrince]

We are moving to a house with a holiday cottage attached. Rural area two miles from beautiful coastline and two miles from nearest station. We have three young children and have our own ideas about what we need from a self catering cottage which is welcoming to a family. (DH would require an open fire - but there isn't one!) What is your list of requirements that would make a cottage really special for your holiday? From basics to luxury treats - we want to make it a real home from home for the whole family and obviously want people to recommend it and want to come back. What would do it for your family? Thanks for your thoughts.

I caretake a holiday cottage..

Owner has a policy of having the best appliances and utensils within the cottage

White china dinnerware/luxury table linen/glasses
Decent size saucepans/several roasting trays
100% White cotton bed linen (pita for me to iron!)
Baking equipment ie..caketrays/sieves/scales/wire racks
Decent white goods (washer and dryer)
Thick bath sheets/bath towels/hand towels
A handbook with instructions and emergency local numbers (along with OS maps and leaflets to various local attractions-up to 50miles away)
Games room with Pool table (for older children and adults)
Outside Dog kennel
Tea/coffee/sugar and milk and bread and eggs on arrival (sometimes homemade marmalade or a cake aswell)
I leave all cleaning products (including dishwasher tabs and washing powder-all eco)
Travel cot,highchair and stairgates are provided.
Logs are including in price for open fire.

Had loads of fab visitor comments and it's only the second season!

Wilbur - your house is amazing!!!

Please tell me honestly though - as otherwise I'd be very interested in booking it for a long weekend late May ( not bank hiliday) - one of the rooms looks as if it opens out on to lakeside area making it risky for adventurous chldren. Is this the case/

Somewhere to hang up towels to dry!
Welcome pack included in the price. Offer to wait in for online grocery order to be delivered.
Don't stick up do's and don't signs all round the place.
Info pack.
PDF of directions, pref with photos of landmarks if defficult to find.
Info on what to do on arrival.
be available but give them space

What will your chidlren say when they see other children playing with their toys?

Would be greatful for any thoughts on our properties www.devonholidayhouses.co.uk . Also i was reading in the paper that the tax situation on holiday lets is changing from April 10 and they will no longer be classed as a business I was wondering if anyone could explain the implications of this.

Definitely offer a welcome pack. Visitors to our apartment really appreciate having food & drink to see them through the night (those arriving in the early hours) or save them having rush on their first morning when they want to take things easy.

Include all linen/towels/beach towels, these things significantly reduce on your guest's packing.

Include all utilities in your price.

Make sure there's plenty of cutlery / pots etc. Base this on your maximum occupancy plus extra.

Certainly include lots of pictures. I would always be suspicious of adverts that do not show an external view of the property and pictures of all internal rooms. If an owner has a quality product they will want to show it off! www.akbukholidays.com

When we stayed in a farm in Suffolk we had a small welcome pack, fresh eggs and a homemade victoria sponge. It was lovely and a great start to the holiday.

We manage holiday cottages on Conwy Marina and one of the owners wants to remove the tumble dryer, bearing in mind no washing lines are allowed, so only maidens to dry clothes. Would this deter you from booking?

For me a large cot (cot bed) is always a bonus in a self catering place, rather than those little tiny things or travel cots. DS is a big 2 1/2 and still in a cot at home and sleeps so much better if he has a similiar cot when away.

I guess its difficult to balance all needs. Kids stuff is great but perhaps in a contained area. I have children but dont want to arrive at a place which is packed to the rafters - its nice to be in an uncluttered space.

We are at a cottage in cornwall at the moment which is particularly comfortable and relaxing, main thing I liked was extremely clean when we arrived ( nothing worse than pubes in the bathroom etc. ), fresh flowers which was nice, a relaxed phone call from the owners to check we had everything we needed on the second day and teabags, dishwasher tablets, books and DVDs. At other cottages we have rented toys, games and books for the children have gone down really well as well.

For me though, high standards of cleanliness, fresh bedding, clean towels, clean floors most important thing for me to be able to relax.

I have holiday homes in France and have a lot of repeat guests from the UK and France, especially with children. My prices are all inclusive, I wouldn't stay anywhere if I had to pay extra for heating. The pool is heated to 28°C, the beds are top quality and king size doubles, and I always provide condiments and olive oil, sunflower oil, balsamic vinegar, flour, sugar, herbs, coffee and tea, a litre of fresh milk, bottle of wine, cold beer, a homemade cake. I always email people the week before to make sure they know the opening hours of shops and if people are arriving late I will get provisions in for them. There is a visitors book with lots of comments about what to see and do and a file of brochures. I supply bed linen (100% cotton) and good quality towels. I also have a lot of bikes that are free of charge to use (and are well maintained). I accept dogs but the floors are all tiled and therefore easy to clean. I have cots, travel cots, high chairs, stair gates, toys, books, a play area, tramploline, baby carriers and buggies, all of which are free to use if required.
It works for me

Information in advance so that people know that salt, pepper, dishwasher tablets etc are provided or not.

A folder that gave details of local:

resturants
take a ways (also ones that deliver)
taxis
galleries
parks
swimming pools
places of interest
supermarkets
nearest petrol stations

A key.

I agree with others about information in advance about what is actually provided in the way of loo roll, salt, pepper, tea bags, dishwasher tabs etc.

Also:
Is is dog friendly, I need to know immediately (to save wasting time) so please don't hide the 'no dogs' info at the end of the T&C
Exact availability & price
Local Ordnance Survey maps

No flowery nylon bedspreads!

When you think it's set up, try staying in it yourself for a couple of nights and you might realise some missing things (hooks on doors, sufficient cutlery, whatever).

Decent mattresses, please!

We stayed in a cottage in France last year, and the owners had futon mattresses on the beds. I'd have had a better night's sleep on the beach.

As an owner of family friendly holiday cottages in France for the last 14yrs I would say the most important thing is having a comprehensive web site with accurate, detailed and honest information. There is absolutely no way you can cater for everyones differing tastes - dogs, no dogs, smokers - non smokers, alpacas vs pygmy pigs and chintzy vs modern duvets. You need to decide what sort of place you want to provide and tell people exactly what you do provide. If you love chintzy then go chintzy, there's loads of chintzy lovers out there, you just have to make it obvious that's what you are so its the chintz lovers that book and not the 'all white bedding' crowd.
People are never happier than if the accommodation they have booked is what they thought they were booking ie no unpleasant surprises like a futon rather than a bed - if you only have futons then that's absolutely fine - just make sure people know they will be sleeping on a futon before they book. If everything's as expected then the little extras like coffee, herbs or huge cream cake on arrival are just pleasant surprises and will generally add to the feeling of satisfaction but you will always have the person who is allergic to cream and wants a different type of cake ! A million cream cakes, fresh herbs or freshly ground coffee will not make up for the motorway that runs through your garden that you forgot to mention.

Our best experience was at a cottage where we had had to fill in our children's ages on the form and I said our daughter was currently [whatever] but would be [a year older] the day after we arrived. There was a home made cake waiting for her on the table!

Have only read the first post so I am probably duplicating everyone else but...

Please, please, let it be safe. That sounds so obvious but unguarded fires/stairs and unsecured kitchen cupboards full of breakables/sharps/poisons really make for a miserable time for me and my active little baby scamps. Please just childlock the dangerous cupboards and ask people if they want stairgates and fireguards included. My heart is leaping even just remembering how much nearly happened to my littlest last time we went away! Optional cots, bedguards, highchair (with straps!) and baby bath are all nice, but don't tend to insipre mortal panic when not available.

And the other thing is can there be tea, coffee, sugar and pint of milk waiting? Please? Not in manky old jars full of lumps though. Just enough for a couple of rounds of hot drinks while we get the vomit off the car seats, return all stolen toys to thier rightful owners and finish that row about the map reading would be lovely.

this is a very old thread! hopefully the cottage is up and running nicely now

• no pets allowed (am allergic and would have a horrible holiday otherwise)
• clean no damp/musty smell
• bedding and towels provided
• clean and safe outside
• "starter pack" in the fridge (loaf of bread, cheese, butter)
• safe inside, stairgates, secure bunk beds...
• basic cleaning stuff (mop, bucket, all purpose cleaner) awailable

This is a really useful thread! We recently took over running four cottages and i was about to start a thread asking for similar advice. There are some great ideas here and although we already do lots them (welcome basket with biscuits, local apple juice, fudge; milk, tea, coffee, sugar, toys, books, DVDs, towels, linen, olive oil, etc.) I will definitely steal some of the other ideas!

We currently have a games room which has snooker but it's a full size antique table that costs a fortune to have recovered if it gets damaged so we ask that only over 16s use it. There is also table tennis and darts though. Do you think that the age request thing is ok? Or comes across badly?

What about play space for younger children. We font have this at present but could find space to make one. we have enclosed gardens but I guess space to run about on a rainy day might be good?