Your best tips for creating a guest-friendly space

[Stephanie]

Hi everyone,

Much like anything, hosting knowledge and experience comes with practice. When you’re just starting out as a new host, it can be a bit difficult to know how to organise and decorate your space in a way that’s both appealing and comfortable for guests.

Whether you’re unsure about what decor style to go for or how to make a room feel decluttered and still homely, you’ve certainly come to the right place! 

The Community Centre is filled with amazing advice on how to get started - from recommended types of bedding to special touches that make guests feel welcome.

Here are just a few of the many helpful threads on the subject:

• The great bed size debate
• Cozy or Sterile
• Budget ways to spruce up your place
  
  

How did you create a guest-friendly space? What would you say are the basics for getting started?

Thanks,
Stephanie

[Sarah977]

@Michelle1851  Good advice- staying in the guest space yourself is important. 

I recall one host saying that guests had moved one specific piece of furniture so often, she finally realized it was obviously more practical where guests had put it. 

Hosts may arrange furniture only considering the visual, rather than the practical.

Then there are things like cleaning usually being done during daylight hours. If the host sleeps there, when the lights are turned on at night, the host may be horrified to see that the overhead light fixture is full of dead bugs and dirt. You wouldn't notice that if you weren't lying in bed at night with the light on.

[Laura2592]

@Michelle1851I agree so vehemently with this. We try to stay at our space once a month. It makes a huge difference. I have had guests comment that they can tell we care a lot about the way its maintained and  that we know it really well. We bring our pets, we hang out and enjoy it just like our guests. You see what is getting worn, what "fixes" guests might have made, what is about to run out, what creaks,  etc. Also imperative is to stay during different seasons if you have weather that changes. Our cottage is a different place in the winter than it is in the summer. Totally different feel. Even the angle of the sun in the afternoon in the yard is different. We have a whole list of things that change from season to season and we keep an eye on them.

[Debra300]

@Stephanie,

Keep Cool and I really try to monitor/know what's in the food that we eat, and prefer to make many of our meals even while on holidays.  When we built our rental spaces, we included all of what I would consider to be the essential fixtures besides the cooking appliances (e.g., sharp knives, cutting boards, mixing bowls, measuring spoons and cups, food storage containers, full set of cookware, tea kettle, coffee maker and Nespresso) and some extras (e.g., coffee bean grinder, milk frother, hand mixer, waffle maker, blender) for a suitable small space kitchen.  Our guests have the amenities to make standard home cooked meals, and store the leftovers.  The furnishings are mid-priced, but I bought almost everything on sale, and stored it in my basement in Atlanta until we shipped the items to the island.  To save shipping space and for easy storage until ready for use, we purchased mattresses in a box that are hybrid memory foam/springs, and have frequently gotten compliments regarding comfort.

Like other hosts, we put labels on the wall switches and posted signs with appliance instructions. The décor of the spaces is purposely simple with no knickknacks or tchotchkes so there is less to clean or get broken, but we are starting to put up more wall décor.  In the past during the holiday I made homemade rum 'n raisin ice cream and pastries, or brought local bread and fruits for guests.

[Lawrene0]

I noticed something as a guest awhile ago, @Stephanie  -- a place to put things is really important. I stayed in a lovely place with lovely hosts, but every surface had something (something nice, but still something) on it that kept me from putting my own things there. My own things had to stay on the floor for the week. No stars were lost, but here's me still remembering it...

[Sarah977]

@Lawrene0  I was going to post something similar. Hosts should resist the urge to over-decorate. I always figured guests basically appreciate bare surfaces, and not feeling like they are living with someone else's knicknacks, which they probably don't find nearly as attractive as the host does.

They aren't impressed with the host's dried flower arrangements and "collections"- they just want to have adequate space to put their clothes, their books, their laptop, etc. without having to move things.

Art on the walls, color and pattern in furniture and pillows, cool paint jobs on the walls, some small throw rugs, can all be used to keep the space from feeling barren. 

Aside from the lamp on the bedside table, a very small vase of freshly cut flowers and greenery from my garden, and a few local travel books, there is nothing on any surface in my guest bedroom. Their bathroom counter is much the same- a pump container of liquid soap, a hard plastic container to keep their own products in, so they don't slime all over the counter, and that's all. There's a small basket of "help yourself" products on the shelf with the clean towels.

When I lived in Canada, I had lots of houseplants, but living in the tropics now, with lush green views out every window, I don't do houseplants anymore. Watering chore off the list.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Stephanie 

Since we used to host a lot of long-term guests for entire semesters, we purposely kept the guest room shelves and walls bare - so that each guest can personalize and make the space their own during their stay. We always left a roll of wallpaper-safe tape in the guest room (and pointed it out to them during check in) so that guests could attach posters or notes on the wall if they wanted 😀 Shelves were left empty for the guest's school books and family photos. It was quite interesting to observe how different guests *lived* in and decorated the same space differently. 

Henry and I both don't like clutter, so our personal spaces and the shared areas reflect our style. We tend to store things in cabinets or drawers, so for items that guests may also need (first aid kit, office supplies etc) we moved them to locations that are more visible - and have a friendly reminder posted that if they don't *see* what they are looking for, to just ask us, instead of opening up every single door/drawer rummaging through to find something. 

[Stephanie]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 , I hear you on the clutter but I'm living in a nightmare with the other half and his mantra of "hold on to it, you never know when we might need it."

I remember when I lived in a room near my university, shared with an older family - she did not afford me such niceties and opportunity for personalisation. I hope your guests appreciate the efforts 🙂

[Christine615]

Lol! Our In-law apartment/Airbnb is relaxing because it’s neat and tidy so we sometimes go over there to relax while we try to Marie Kondo our own place 😂

[Christine615]

We decorated the space for our family's needs and tastes because we use it part time. We call our place "mother-in-law" approved. A number of people wrote in our guest book that it felt like being in a home instead of a rental space. Here's some tips:

1. Decorate to please yourself. I have booked sterile (but attractive) Airbnb's and they don't feel comfortable. Just feels like a Residence Inn or an Embassy Suites.  I much prefer the ones that feel like you can sink into a couch and be "at home" temporarily.

2.Don't scrimp on high quality items. They hold up better to abuse and use than low budget stuff. If it's particle board or MDF - you'll eventually be sorry. They break easily and are susceptible to moisture. Go for high quality fabrics and hardwood furniture frames when possible.

3. My secret weapon? Estate Sales from upper income homes/neighborhoods. Shop the ads and look at the photos. If you see something that fits your needs and it's in your budget buy on first day. Designers will be competing to get the best things for their clients. If not, see what is left on the last day of the sale (half-price day). Be first in line (In the U.S. you can put a marker down then go sit in your car).  If the house is packed sometimes things are marked down 75% on the last day since the remains will be sold for pennies on the dollar to liquidators.  Do not forget to poke around in the garage or basement for odds and ends you didn't know you needed until you saw it. Many times you can find things with the tags still on them.

4. Decorate - Put pictures on the wall. Or mirrors. Or clocks. Those things make it feel like a home.

5. Use IKEA or other stores for things that are less important (plates and silverware, for example). Although we found bone china by Mikasa at Costco on clearance for less than IKEA was charging for plastic dishes. We found a full set of Corelle dishes and bowls at a thrift store for $5 total.

6. IKEA has reasonably priced curtains. Use white sheers beneath them - they'll cast brighter light into a room.

7. Keep tinkering. As you find better things, donate what you have been using and trade up.

8. Sheets and towels from Costco have lasted for a long time. When they go on sale we buy multiple back-up sets and put the extras away in case of accidents on existing inventory.  We keep an iron and an ironing board on site because iron the pillow cases to look more crisp after they come out of the dryer. (we hang them in the closet for the next time they are needed.)

9. Games, books, DVD's are helpful. We took over games we liked to play but were not attached to (in case pieces were lost) and supplemented with others we found when thrifting. A number of families left notes about being able to play board games at the dining room table.

10. Whiteboard you can use to greet guests. We write the names and a welcome on the board. Sometimes people erase it and leave us a note of thanks when they check out.

11. Put a patterned rug inside the door to catch muddy boots and shoes.

12. Put security cameras on your front and back door. You'll thank me later.

[Stephanie]

Hey @Christine615 , this is an AMAZING reply. Do you think it would be already for me to share it as a "Getting your listing guest ready" as a new host guide?

Thanks

[Christine615]

Hi @Stephanie absolutely! Feel free to use 😊

[Kym6]

 I went through my house and made note of what I would need or would enjoy having if I lived there. So now it's well furnished with everything right down to peeler and paring knife and the bed is so comfortable. It’s worth spending extra on the mattress. Comfort and user-friendly are key.

With all the Furnishings it was inexpensive and can easily replace. Our place is very comfortable.

I have a lot of returning business guests that come back every month for them it is clean/tidy and comfortable and accessible to where they need to be. I so enjoy hosting!

[Joe527]

I have a lot of foreign visitors to my home in Las Vegas Nevada.  I always whip out my free Google translate app a day before and learn how to say “welcome” or some typical greeting in their language.  with private rooms in my house, they say the ratings are as much about the host as the space, so I find a little goes a long way toward making them feel comfortable especially these days.  Although there’s not much international travel at the moment, i still get Chinese from NYC or LA and use the app.  In fact, the app lets you store phrases so I can walk them around the house and click the one that speaks in their language saying “the hot water kettle will turn off once it boils” or “the water dispensed from the refrigerator is filtered.” And stuff like that.  I have now memorized about 5 sentences in Mandarin too.  It’s really hard!  You have to sort of sing it.  But it blows their mind a little so I start with a spoken phrase and then use the app.  You can write it phonetically if it helps : “nee how” is hello.    “Whan ying” is welcome and  “shay shay” is pretty close to thank you.  I have a Moka pot for Italians to make coffee and an electric water kettle for Chinese.  Drinking Hot water is considered a health thing for them, not just a beverage.