Flexible living layout in your holiday home

Arranging your holiday home flexibly is really important to secure the most possible bookings for your home when you’re not in it. And it isn’t hard either.

Here are a few tips:

Sofa bed!

Even if you’ve decided to cap the number of guests in your home you should still think about getting a sofa bed. That way when brother and sister refuse to share the same twin room your guests have the option to let them fight out the room or the lounge. There are plenty of examples we’ve seen where the guests would prefer to split out to sleep in individual rooms, such as a group of friends for example. A sofa bed doesn’t cost much and you’ll see the return.

Twins and Doubles

1 bedroom house – we recommend a double bed in the bedroom and a sofa bed in the lounge. For a large one bed put a z bed (compact folding bed) in the cupboard for use either in the lounge or bedroom.

2 bedroom house – we recommend a large double bed in the main bedroom (or the one with the best view). And twin beds in the second bedroom. You should try to buy matching twin beds that can be pushed together. We would be as specific to say that on your advert too. That way you’ll still appeal to two sets of couples. We would definitely include a sofa bed in the lounge and a z bed that can be used in any room. You should be careful to specific the maximum number of guests though.

3 bedroom house or larger – here we recommend you follow the rules of the 2 bedroom place. However if you have enough room we would recommend that your extra room contains a double and a single room. That would appeal to a couple with a small child travelling with friends. If all rooms are small we would recommend a small double in the third bedroom. Keeping one or two z beds in the cupboards.

Seating and extra bits and pieces

When you decide what the maximum number of guests will be for your holiday home you should think about what that number of people will need. For example we have a 3 bedroom property in Portugal that can sleep 10 – see it at http://www.rental-retreats.co.uk/rental-properties/properties-in-sao-martinho-do-porto/palm-tree which means we need more seating possibilities for our guests. Therefore we have 3 large sofas in the lounge and reclining chairs that can be brought through to the lounge. The dining table can seat 8 but there is enough space at the table to seat 10 by bringing in two garden chairs. We have also increased other equipment and facilities such as cutlery, placemats, towels, bedding and glasses. It will cost you more, and you need a good storage system, but it’s worth it!

Bathrooms

If you still have a choice about the home you choose or the facilities it has in its bathrooms then we would recommend the following…

1 -2 bedroom holiday home – needs one bathroom with bath and shower over (electric), WC and sink and preferably a separate bathroom with WC and sink.

3-4 bedroom holiday home – needs one full bathroom with bath and shower over (electric), WC and sink and an additional bathroom (even if it’s en-suite) with a shower, toilet and sink.

For anything bigger than 4 bedrooms we would recommend at least 3 bathrooms. 2 bathrooms with bath and shower over (electric), WC and sink and a third shower room with WC, sink.

By just putting a bit of thought into it you can make sure your holiday home is as flexible as possible for your guests and secure more bookings. Good luck.