Best ways you can make your holiday cottage stand out
03/02/2021
Holidays revolve around making sweet memories. It is time to relax, go on sightseeing, spend quality time with loved ones and family, enjoy great meals and partake in adventures. These are some of the unique experiences that holiday cottages offer. Your holiday cottage gives families a fantastic opportunity to make the most of their holiday.
The holiday cottage is becoming increasingly popular in the United Kingdom. There is a surge in the number of bookings yearly. So there is a need to keep your holiday cottage in excellent condition and equip it with architectural treehouses, huts, tents, outdoor areas with quality deck materials, locally produced foodstuffs, farm shops etc.
Let’s explore in detail on the ways to improve your holiday cottage and make it stand out.
Welcome pack
Guests are always on the lookout for a welcome pack as soon as they arrive at your holiday cottage. You can create an inviting and relaxed atmosphere by giving a beautifully written and helpful welcome park.
This will allow your guests to feel welcomed when they settle down immediately. This is a precursor to creating a fantastic experience for them. The welcome pack should give insight about your holiday cottage and what to expect. You can also leave a nice beverage (like coffee, milk, chocolate), cake, biscuits and other treats. It will be a pleasant surprise for your guests and help you get positive reviews.
In summary, your welcome pack should contain:
- A short introduction and appreciation to the guests for visiting your holiday cottage.
- Contact information in case of emergencies or crises.
- Procedural instructions on how to operate electrical appliances and other essential information.
- Vital information about the localities and surrounding areas — information about catering services, fun activities for your guests, amenities and facilities to enjoy etc.
Know your guests
To understand the type of guests who will likely visit your facilities, start by identifying those who have visited your facilities earlier. You can analyse and categorise your guests to understand the things your prospective customers would want in a holiday cottage. After analysing and categorising these previous guests’ needs, you can make some adjustments or improvements or customisations to your cottage to match their needs.
A good example is to find out if your guests usually come with their pets. This will give you an identification that your holiday home should be more pet-friendly.
Some other factors worth your consideration include:
- The security of the garden.
- Quality of the deck material or outdoor flooring.
- The layout of the garden architecture.
- Pet-friendly welcome pack, pet-friendly facilities.
- Pet toys.
- Pet territory indoor.
If your facility has always attracted families with kids, then you might want to make the place more child-friendly. By including the following:
- Outdoor and indoor play facilities and toys.
- Bed guard rails and cots.
- Baby high chairs and booster seats.
- Feeding chairs.
- Children safety gates.
Adequate Maintenance
To make your holiday cottage stand out, it has to be in top-notch condition. This can’t happen without adequate maintenance. You can hire a skilled and dutiful housekeeper and a handy worker to achieve this. Guests shouldn’t experience anything short of a clean house with facilities in excellent condition. Here are some tips that will guide you on keeping your holiday cottage in a fantastic shape.
- Modern, up-to-date furnishings will create a positive impression in the minds of your guests. This can help in bolstering your reputation. Ensure old furnishings are replaced.
- Keep soft, fluffy and luxurious towels. Musty linens are very unattractive, make sure your guests have fresh, sweet-smelling towels.
- Always air out the room by opening the windows. This permits fresh air to enter the room and prevent cleaning chemicals from lingering and smelling around.
- Ensure surfaces are dusted, from the ceiling to the floor, including areas that are frequently missed when dusting such as the top of cabinets and wardrobes, headboards and light fittings.
- Ensure you frequently inspect mattresses for damages and change the pillowcases, sheets and cushions.
- Always take customer reviews and complaints into consideration. Try as much as possible to address them.
Invest in popular features
A distinctive feature of some successful holiday cottages is that they have many appealing features for guests and visitors. Features such as internet facilities and private gardens can create a ‘home-away-from-home’ atmosphere. These features will easily captivate guests and create memorable experiences for them.
Other luxury or costly features like fitness areas, swimming pool, spa, hot tubs will give your cottage a competitive edge. For instance, cottages with swimming pools, are well patronised and have high booking value. This means more revenue and profit.
