This year we are expecting a boom in holiday rentals in Spain. The rating you have will mean that your house will appear on rental portals, like Airbnb, above the others. You need to make sure that you get those five-star reviews. The most recent reviews are going to be the ones that count more. If you own a holiday home now is the time to prepare for a busy summer – literally putting your house in order!
Owners and managers of holiday villas and apartments on the Costa Blanca can access a variety of online tips and advice sites. From landscaping to bedroom decor, every possible aspect of improving the guest experience (and the host’s rating) has been considered.
At The Bed Centre, we do not own or operate any guest apartments, although we have stayed at a few. We are, however, experts in hotel-quality bedding at affordable prices, so we summarized the advice out there for hosts as it applies to bedding.
In a review of holiday host forums, unprotected mattresses are a recurring problem; hosts simply cannot afford to leave mattresses unprotected. Inexpensive mattress protectors that do not distribute or moderate body heat are also a significant guest satisfaction issue. This is especially true when the night temperature doesn’t fall below 25 ºC!
In fact, spills, stains, and unidentified substances create such an uncontrollable risk of total damage to a mattress, that many experienced hosts use a system of double protection.
In addition to the mattress protector and mattress pad, they add an additional waterproof mattress protector. While leaving the mattress pad and bottom protector in place, offers maximum mattress protection, while also allowing the host to easily change or launder the top mattress protector. Additionally, we recommend having two waterproof toppers for each bed – one on the bed and one to swap for laundry. This will ensure there is no downtime when accidents occur. You should keep the replacement mattress pad in the closet next to that bedroom to make housekeeping tasks faster for guests arriving the same day as the previous guests have left.
The Bed Centre offers a hotel-quality mattress protector that addresses just about everything a host could ask for in a mattress protector.
- Thermal-regulating mattress pad/protector
- 100% thermal-regulating cotton fabric
- Regulates body temperature
- Machine washable
- Especially recommended for those that suffer from overheating at night.
Let’s move on to the mattress pad. Short-term villa hosts report the need to launder mattress toppers frequently and that a good mattress pad is helpful to achieving a five-star rating. The Bed Centre offers a variety of mattress toppers, including waterproof, hypoallergenic, cooling and other styles.
In general, holiday rental hosts seem to be in favour of using duvet covers to protect comforters and blankets, as well as washing the covers after each guest’s stay. Consider these The Bed Centre duvet sets.
Protecting your pillows is essential. Careful hosts wash them after every visitor and typically have two sets on hand. The Bed Centre’s pillow protectors, available for under €10 each, have all the features a budding five-star host is looking for:
- Outer cover fabric: 100% Outlast® cotton
- Inner fabric: 100% cotton
- Thermal-regulating pillow pad/protector
- Size 50 x 70 with outlast on both sides
- 100% thermal-regulating cotton fabric
- Regulates body temperature
- Machine washable
- Especially recommended for those that suffer from overheating at night.
The topic of pillows is commonly discussed in short-term rentals forums – by both guests and hosts. The first impression you get upon arriving in a hotel, at a friend’s house, or in a holiday rental home is a good, fresh pillow in a clean, fresh pillowcase. The consensus seems to be that pillows should be replaced every two years, with some variation depending on the pillow’s quality and style.
The Bed Centre offers a comprehensive range of high-quality soft density pillows that will nicely stock your rental villa or apartment and satisfy nearly every type of sleeper. It’s also considered an excellent practice to have extra pillows in the nearby wardrobe for accidents or guests who prefer more pillows.
When recommending pillows to our hotel customers, we often recommend choosing a classic soft, medium, or firm pillow.
The Mash Pillow is a unique pillow that is durable and hypoallergenic, anti-dust mite, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and has a zip-off outer cover in 100% cotton. This pillow delivers the perfect sleep, regardless of the sleep position, and can suit any guest.
Ideally, you should provide at least two pillows per guest, so if your home sleeps six, you’ll need at least 12 pillows, with extra pillows on hand and “ready to use” in the wardrobe. This is one of the most important recommendations that Airbnb makes.
Hypoallergenic bedding is yet another issue that hosts need to be aware of. You may notice that many holiday rentals now indicate whether there are feathers and down products on the premises or not. Hosts sometimes offer hypoallergenic or other specialized bedding for an additional charge.
We recommend keeping a spare set of bedding for hosts anticipating the occasional request for unique bedding.
To all the aspiring Leona Helmsley’s reading this blog, we advise you that a five-star rating is first and foremost based on the quality of your bedding.