Happy Guests Mean Happy Holidays: Tips in Guest Comfort
The holidays are coming and your challenge is to create a comfortable home away from home for your guests. Even though (or perhaps because) they are family and old friends, you want to make a good impression. You want the house to look great, the meals to be faultless; it’s easy to forget that if your guest room isn’t comfortable, nothing else matters. If your guests include parents or grandparents, just remember, “if Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” Let the hospitality experts at BedandBreakfast.com, the leading online B&B directory and reservation network worldwide, provide tips for ”B&Bing” your home. A few thoughtful touches can make all the difference in everyone’s comfort levels.
Sandy Soule, BedandBreakfast.com’s editor and former B&B guidebook author, has visited more B&Bs than anyone else in the country, learning hospitality tricks from innkeeper experts. “As hosts, we focus so much energy on making the house look picture perfect that we lose sight of what is means to be a great host,” explains Soule. “Instead of obsessing about decorative details, consider the key factors that will make your guests’ overall experience a great one.” Here are five great tips from BedandBreakfast.com on creating a B&B environment for your guests this holiday season:
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Make your guests’ sleeping quarters as comfortable and inviting as possible. When you’re setting up the room, create some space in the closet (including empty hangers of decent quality) for them to hang their clothes, as well as a few empty drawers or shelves for folded clothes. The more you can distance them from their suitcases the better. Make sure their sleeping quarters offer a place to get away when needed.
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“Comfortable bedding is always a top priority because over-tired guests are not happy campers. For many people, adjusting to a different bed or pillow is difficult, so ask ahead of time whether your guests are allergic to feathers, sleep with one or two pillows, and so on. If your pillows are flat or your mattress is sagging, invest in new pillows and ideally a new mattress, or at least a bed board.
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“If needed, add a bedside table by simply using a TV tray table next to the bed with a clock radio and reading lamp. Special touches like extra blankets for sleeping, handy throws for reading or naps are equally thoughtful touches.
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“If your guests are sharing a bathroom with other members of the household, provide fresh towels and make hooks or a rack exclusively available for them to hang wet towels If possible, providing robes is a thoughtful touch. Be sure to provide a place for guests to put their toiletries. If guests are flying in (or tend to be forgetful), fill a basket with toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioners, and lotions, so they won’t have to worry about airport security.
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“Remove personal items that have piled up in your guest room, then add a bud vase with fresh flowers and a dish of candies to create the welcoming feel of a B&B.”
“In the end, you want to make guests feel at home while avoiding some of the stress involved with holiday hosting,” says Soule. “It doesn’t take a lot to make the people you care about feel appreciated and welcome, just a few thoughtful gestures and a good night’s sleep.”
If there’s simply no room to accommodate all the guests coming for the holidays, or they’d rather stay nearby, choose a B&B to accommodate them. It’s the next best thing to being in your home – and some would say it’s better!