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.

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.