The Essential Holiday Guest Room

The holiday season is one of the prime times during the year when family and friends visit and since many of them are often coming from out of state it’s likely they’ll need to stay over. For this reason it’s important to make sure they are as comfortable as possible so they’ll want to come back and maybe even host you some time.

To do this means making sure there are a few essentials in the guest room. They are things which can help guests relax and give the host peace of mind that his visitors are enjoying themselves.


Some include the following:
1.      Comfortable bedding: Don’t just put any old bed in the guest room. It needs to have a good mattress, quality pillows, and a warm comforter for those cold nights. Also, make sure it has a night stand with a small lamp for reading. That way the guest doesn’t have to get out of bed to turn off the lights.

2.      Heating: The holiday season comes during winter which means many regions of the country can be quite chilly. Make sure home heating is working well and that filters and air vents on central air systems are cleaned. If central air isn’t an option for the guest room provide a safe portable heater guests can use at their convenience.

3.      Carpeting: Because it’s cold outside one of the things that can make a guest’s stay a bit more cozy is carpeting. It doesn’t have to be plush or expensive wool but should be enough to dampen the effect of a cold floor when having to get out of bed in the middle of the night or early morning.

4.      Small fridge: Sometimes guests get hungry at odd hours or suffer from jet lag after flying in. In order that they don’t worry about having to bother the host for food in the middle of the night the guest room should have a small fridge with a number of goodies to tidy them over till the morning.

5.      Toiletries: Make sure the bathroom is stocked with general toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, soap, and fresh towels.

6.      Decorations: It wouldn’t be a holiday guest room without proper decorations, would it? These don’t have to be strung across the entire room but can be as simple as a snow glow by the bed or a wreath on the door and flowers placed in a vase.

7.      A dresser: Guests staying one night don’t need to unpack and probably didn’t bring a lot of stuff. For others staying for a few days a small dresser is needed so they can get settled and find what they need easily.

8.      Tour books: Depending on your area and the amount of time guests are spending with you having some tour books available for them to look through helps them decide how to spend their time. This is especially important if the host cannot entertain them all day.

9.      A television: After a long day with family or out on the town guests will want to relax and watch some shows or a movie privately. For this reason a television is a great addition for any guest room.

10.     Wireless: In today’s digital age everyone needs wireless so make sure it’s working in the guest room and the password, if needed, is readily available.

Jakob Barry is a home improvement journalist for Networx.com. He blogs for pros across the U.S. like Mc Kinney, TX, roofers and Yonkers, NY, concrete contractors.