Equipping your holiday property, part one
February 20th, 2009 by Rachel Newcombe
So you’ve invested in a foreign property and are intending on letting it out for short holiday rentals. Now comes the important task of equipping it with all the essentials that holidaymakers will need – and a few added extras that they’ll appreciate.
It sounds easy, doesn’t it? But it’s not always a doddle. When you’re trying to kit out and provide the perfect accommodation, there’s an awful lot to think about and do and it’s remarkably easy to miss out on the essentials (for example, I’ve stayed in a holiday property that had been kitted out with the best technology and music on demand in every room – but they’d forgotten the basics in the kitchen, like a tin opener and cooking equipment. It was the basics we needed much more than the music).
It helps to write a list of everything you can think of that people would need when staying in your holiday property. Try doing it room by room, to break it into chunks and think about all eventualities. Consider whether you need things like:
- Bedside lamps
- A hook on the back of the bathroom door
- Bath mats
- A bedside table
- A coffee table or smaller tables in the living area
- Somewhere to hang washing or dry off beach towels
- Somewhere to leave ski equipment after a day on the slopes
- A ledge in the shower to put your soap or shower gel
- Extra clothes hangers
- Electrical equipment – a TV, DVD player, CD player etc
Getting it right in the kitchen is important, as it’s frustrating to find yourself without essentials like a tin opener, especially if you’re in a foreign country and aren’t up to scratch on the lingo. Although people will be on holiday and may well eat out some of the time, part of the reason why self-catering is chosen is so they can cook for themselves and eat at the property, so a full range of cooking equipment is required.
There are likely to be the occasional breakages too, so when you’re choosing crockery or glasses for the property, then it’s best to opt for something that can be easily replaced and matched. It’s even helpful to have some extra supplies ready in case breakages do occur – they can be kept in storage in the property and, if you’re using a letting agent or management company, they’ll hopefully be able to add the replacements so future guests are not suddenly short of plates or glasses.
