Aaaah AirBnb! At the tip now of every South African’s tongue and more fashionable than a pair of crocs in a flea market…with Uber being everyone’s favorite ride and voice notes taking over actual communication, kind of makes you wonder what we every did before there was such a thing as Airbnb….“what, you stayed in a hotel? How positively bourgeois of you!”
So, with every Tom, Dick and Aunty gearing up their homes for Airbnb while we flee the cities, we thought we would compile some hot tips from veterans of the industry….
- Touches to bedroom
Make your guests feel special with thoughtful gestures. Little chocolates or sweets next to the bed or on the pillow, water jug and glass, some handpicked books or magazines and a fresh flower or two should do the trick nicely. Click here for more bedroom inspiration.
2. Fresh flowers
Make your home feel loved with fresh flowers or green leaves in vases. Click here for tips on styling with plants.
3. The bare necessities: Kitchen
Make sure the fridge is stocked with basic essentials like milk and butter. Go one step further and leave some fresh fruit in the bowl, a bottle of wine and some festive xmas cookies for the win. Salt, pepper, sugar, tea and coffee are nice pantry fillers too.
4. Keep it fresh
Make sure there are fresh towels and linen on all the beds. Check your linen and towels, and make sure they are in decent condition….you might not mind your hard, threadbare towels but your guests might.
5. More bare essentials: Bathroom
Toilet paper, handwash in all the toilets and soaps in the shower…not rocket science here.
6. Some hot house and hood tips
If you aren’t going through an agent, make sure you leave some basic guidelines for the house and hood. Think about what your guest would use and need to know e.g how the alarm works, Emergency numbers, where the DB board is, “… kick rusty door gently on side to open..”, …that sort of thing. Go the extra mile by recommending great restaurants and bars nearby or interesting walks and activities to do. With water restrictions at an all time high its a good idea to highlight this to your guests, with some advice on how they can save water or at least assist you in keeping your grass alive.
7. Get your DIY on
Do a basic maintenance sweep of the house or flat and make sure everything is in good working order. Check electricity meter, WiFi, light bulbs, gas, firewood and matches for braai etc.
8. General spring clean
If you missed the good old de-clutter in September, now is the perfect opportunity to discard chipped plates, mugs, broken lampshades etc.
Enjoy…and happy (almost) holidaaaaays.
