Preparing your holiday home for letting.

• Essentials - Items such as toilet roll and soap are essential to provide your guests, but also provide cleaning products, so guests can keep your holiday home spic & span throughout their stay. It's also a good idea to stay in your property for a a least a week just before you let it to make sure that you have all of the basic essentials in place.

• Facilities. Check that everything is working properly each changeover, e.g. kitchen appliances, shower heads, TV's, DVD, and barbecue.
• Get to know the neighbours. Introduce yourself to your neighbours and let them know you are letting your property. They may be able to recommend local services or help with key holding, and genreally keep an eye on the place! Getting to know them now will help avoid problems in the future.
  
• Welcome hamper. A welcome hamper including milk, tea, coffee and sugar will really be appreciated. Some holiday home owners extend their warm welcome to include a sample of local produce or a bottle of wine. Either way, enough to get late-arriving guests through the night will go down a treat.
  
• Extras. Some extra touches your guests will appreciate are rainy day items such as board games, books, DVDs, a Wii etc. For sunny days beach toys, deckchairs and a windbreak are great additions.
  
• Emergency contacts. Compile a list of emergency contact details for your guests to refer to during their stay. Also make sure you have a fully stocked first aid kit available (excluding any medicines/drugs).
  
• Local information. Create a file to leave in your holiday home containing a list of good restaurants and things to do (collect local attraction leaflets and guides). 
  
• Lock it up. Remove any irreplaceable and personal items that risk being damaged by guests - designate a closet or cupboard for storing your personal items and extra supplies.
• Ask for feedback. Leave a guestbook in the house so your guests can leave feedback comments as this will help you get an idea of what needs attention for improvement. For positive feedback ask guests to leave reviews on your advert online, e.g Trip Advisor

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