When first starting out with a vacation rental business, it can be a little daunting trying to figure out where everything should go.
Not only are you trying to figure out the “public areas” of your house but you’re also trying to figure out where to put your stuff, the spare equipment, cleaning supplies, spare linens, etc.
We’ll go through it a little here to help clarify where you can start and what to look for.
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Organizing Your Vacation Rental Public Space
By public space I mean all the areas of your vacation rental that will be accessible to your guests.
Getting the public spaces organized is really important.
It helps the guest’s vacation flow smoothly when they can easily find what they are looking for.
Organizing the space correctly will also make it easier for guests to put things back where they found them. Bonus!
If at all possible, place things in the areas they are going to be used the most.
For example, if you have a baby’s highchair, place it in an area where it would be relatively accessible.
If the kitchen is on the first floor placing the highchair in a bedroom closet on the second floor wouldn’t make too much sense.
Where To Start
The best way to figure out how to organize your vacation rental is by using it.
Spend a few days in the house and see what makes sense to have where.
Make sure to try each bedroom and bathroom, getting a feel for what improvements can be made.
As you go about the house and come across something that can be added or removed, jot it down somewhere.
We use a running list in our email but you can use just about anything.
The point is to commit the thought to paper (digital or otherwise) before it escapes you.
The Kitchen
Hands down, the room with the most to gain from being organized, is the kitchen.
The kitchen is where things can get ugly in a hurry if it’s not organized.
Pay attention to which cabinet you would expect to find the glasses.
How about the pots and pans?
What drawer would you expect to find the silverware in?
Wherever you’re initial answer is, is where that thing should go.
It would also be a good idea to use labels in the kitchen, letting guests know what goes where.
For tips on labeling, take a look at this article, 3 tips for keeping a vacation rental kitchen organized
The Living Areas
In the living areas, see if a table needs to be moved or added to make the space more comfortable.
While watching TV do you need a cocktail table to put your drink down?
Do you need a side table to put down a snack?
Does the space have enough seating for everyone?
The Bathrooms
Make sure to use each bathroom to get an understanding of what can be improved. Do you need more shelf space for toiletries?
Are there enough towel racks or hooks?
Is there a place to put your towel when taking a shower or bath?
The Bedrooms
For the bedrooms, make sure there’s a place to put your glasses, charge your phone, and enough storage for their stuff.
Are there enough hooks in the bedroom?
Do you need a side table to keep the phone next to you?
Are there lamps on each side of the bed?
Is there a place to charge your phone?
The Owner’s Closet(s)
No matter the size of the vacation rental, there should be at least 1 owner’s closet.
Maybe more if it’s a big house.
For both our vacation rentals, we have 3 owners closets. One for the linens, one for spares of things and one for extra cleaning supplies. They are both good sized houses (5 bedroom and 6 bedroom), and they had plenty of closets.
When choosing a closet, we select the closets that would not really be used by guests.
Closets in the hallways, or bathrooms are perfect owner’s closet candidates.
Listen To Others
Once you have your vacation rental the way you like it and it feels organized to you, invite others over for the weekend.
See what they feel is missing.
When we invite friends over we ask them to pay attention to their behavior and see if they can come up with something that can be move, added, removed or changed to make the experience better.
Also keep in mind that even if you’re a veteran vacation rental host, this process never stops for you. As time goes on there is always something that can be changed or improved… all you have to do is listen.
It’s important to pay attention to what guests tell you in their comments or reviews. Also look how they rearrange things to get a feel for what others like.
That’s a Good Stopping Point
That should give you enough to think about when it comes to figuring out how to organize your vacation rental.
We’ll write more articles on the topic, probably focused on the kitchen and owner’s closets… there’s a whole lotta details in both those topics that we can cover. 🙂
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