Stocked Kitchen

[Leslie697]

Hi everyone. I've been a new host for three months now. I have the typical starter condiments and essentials in my kitchen. What is considered a  stocked kitchen? 

Thank you

Leslie

[Huma0]

@Leslie697 

It's up to you, really, and it also depends on the type of listing, the market you are targeting and the price you are charging. There is no standard.

You can either offer the basics, which it sounds you are already doing. To me, this normally means tea, coffee, sugar, salt, pepper, cooking oil. There should of course be a means for guests to wash their dishes, clean counters etc. so dishsoap, scourers, tea towels, some sort of surface cleanser and cloths, bin liners and if you have a dishwasher, detergent for that. If you host long term stays and you expect guests to do more cleaning up after themselves, you will need to include more cleaning materials.

Or, you can offer a bit more but, depending on the market you are trying to attract, sometimes it's best to underpromise and overdeliver. For example, I list the basics, but I add to that many different types of tea, different coffees, sweeteners, honey, hot chocolate, some cereals etc. as well as some different oils, condiments and spices for cooking. The extras may vary slightly from time to time, but it doesn't matter, as I haven't advertised it and so most guests just see it as a bonus. I do not supply milk as it's just too complicated these days and I hate wastage.

If you are charging a higher price or it is normal amongst your competition, you might go all out and have different snacks and drinks, a welcome basket with local produce, home baked goods, fresh fruit (I don't bother with this one anymore as it mostly went to waste), different types of milk and the list goes on...

A lot of hosts include bottled water, but for environmental reasons and, because the water here is safe to drink, I have stopped providing that. I haven't noticed guests having a problem with it. They either refill their own water bottles from the tap or they buy water depending on their preference.

There is a huge variety in terms of what hosts provide. The important things are to assess what constitutes value for your market of guests, i.e. what they appreciate v what they don't care about and also what is economical for you according to the prices you are charging.

[Leslie697]

Thank you @Huma0

I agree about the milk and fruit being a waste. Under-promising and over-delivering is a good rule of thumb. I will be using that mindset moving forward. 

It's good to know I'm on track with things. This has been very helpful information.

@Leslie697

[Huma0 · Accepted solution]

@Leslie697 

People have so many different preferences for milk these days that it's a bit of a minefield. Unless you ask them in advance, it's hard to know what they would like. Even then, I've noticed that milk is one of the things that guests most commonly leave behind when they check out. By that, they buy a carton/s of whatever kind of milk they prefer but end up hardly using it and I have to throw all of that away because they other guests don't want THAT type of milk. Plus, it's hard to know if it's still fresh. So, if you did supply the specific type of milk that the guest prefers, there is no guarantee that they still won't use it.

I tried out the whole fruit bowl. Most guests did not touch the fruit. They seemed to think it was for decoration, even when placed in their room. It's funny actually what some guests think is for decoration. I place a carafe of drinking water and glasses in the guest bedrooms just before check in but some guests have assumed that it's decorative and a vase for flowers. This baffles me. Why would you fill a flower vase with water and no flowers and then put it in the bedroom with matching glasses??

[Huma0]

@Leslie697 

By the way, you might find this thread interesting: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Picky-picky-picky-How-do-you-handle-THOSE-nitpicking...

Although I didn't start it specifically to talk about what to stock in the kitchen, it kind of went off on a tangent so there is a bit of discussion there about that subject.