Stocking Your Vacation Rental
How you stock and supply your vacation rental can make the difference between a one-time guest or a returning customer. Sure, there are tons of list that are provided on the internet that break down everything you will need in your vacation rental. By all means you should use these lists to get you started. But how you stock your vacation rental is a great opportunity to put your personal flare on your listing!
Typically, people pick a vacation rental over a hotel because they want the benefits of being in a home over just a 1 room hotel. They are looking for a home away from home, so your rental needs stocked with everything you would have in your own home. Everything from the obvious bedsheets down to the bottle opener need to be provided. With such an extensive list of things to provide It can be easy to miss something, so how do you make sure you have everything.
Before you ever host your first guest try staying at your vacation rental yourself, or even better have an honesties trustworthy friend stay at your property for a few days. Its not till you stay in the property will you realize little things that may have been forgotten. And its much better to catch things before your first real guest and low rating.
Spend the extra money on some key impact items. Figure out what guest are going to be interacting with extensively and invest the extra money on that inventory! There are some obvious answers here like bed sheets, towels, and mattress toppers. Other things might be unique to your specific listing. For example, if you have a massive commercial grade kitchen and use that as a major selling point don’t fill it with the cheapest pots or pans. Get high quality cooking utensils or maybe stock that kitchen with extra seasonings rather then just salt and pepper.
Whether your operating your first short term rental or you have 100 properties putting systems in place will help your rental generate more income while easing your personal stress level. Controlling your rental inventory is no exception to this rule. Before you ever get started find a place (typically a closet) that can be locked from your guest. Side note make sure you don’t pick a place that will greatly inconvenience your guest. Your owner closet should be kept well organized and easily display all the inventory. Now is a great time to get that cosco or sams club membership. Set standard inventory counts for what should be in your closet and how much is left out for each guest down to that last role of toilet paper and hold yourself to it. Creating a standard inventory count not only helps guarantee that every guest gets the same great experience in your home but also means you can get some turnover help and still know guest are getting short changed. Putting a list on the back of the closet door with all this information can be a easy way to make sure the process gets done.
Creating the home away from home is the goal. When picking your home supplies try your best to predict everything a guest could need. There are a lot of personal preferences out there so you may not be able to predict and satisfy 100% of your guest all the time with your choices. Do your best to cover as many needs/wants as you can but feel free to show a little personality with your inventory choices.