As well as all the essentials you’ll need to include when equipping your holiday property, it’s always good to include a few added extras, home-to-home comforts or special touches that will make their holiday memorable. For example:

• Tourist brochures and leaflets of things to do are great, but if you’re really keen you could produce your own guide to what to see and do in the area. A personal touch like this makes a good impression.
• Suggestions for restaurants, cafes, where to eat the best ice cream, taxi firm numbers, public transport information and directions to shops for provisions.
• If the property is likely to attract families with children, then a few toys or DVDs for them to watch go down well.
• Candles and matches may be useful in case there’s a power cut.
• Bottled water is good for foreign climes, where they may be unsure if it’s okay to drink the water. You don’t have to supply their whole stay, just something to get them started with.
• A few snacks left in the fridge, some teabags, milk and a loaf of bread are good starters and appreciated after a long journey. Or you could include some local delicacies for them to sample.
• If you have equipment that may be tricky to use or windows where you need a certain knack to open them, then include operating instructions.
• If your property is in a hot country, then perhaps include a fan in case the temperature soars. If it’s a ski property or in a cold country, then maybe some extra blankets would be good.
• Wifi, so checking email is made easy.
• Emergency numbers, for example for hospitals or doctors, or even for the property management agency, should a problem occur.

Once your property is fully equipped, it’s a good idea to ‘test’ it out for a few days to see if you’ve got it right. If you feel too familiar, then find some friends who’ll try it out for you and be prepared to give a critical review. They may be able to highlight what works and what doesn’t (e.g. there would be more preparation space if the kettle moved to another work surface, you could do with putting the saucepans nearer the oven or another hook in the bathroom would be handy) and any extras that the property could benefit from.

Kit

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Letting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.