Required Amenities in Your Vacation Rental

Generating Media has been involved in the villa rental business long before Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway. With each passing year as more people have included the villa rental product as a possible vacation product, the features and amenities have expanded.

Air-Conditioning Changed the Market Place

Can you imagine today anyone ever renting a villa in the Caribbean without air-conditioning? It really was not that long ago when air-conditioning was only available in the high-end villas. Property owners decided to make the investment, but it was generally only in the bedrooms. Today this is often still the case. However, the more expensive villas now have air-conditioning throughout the villa. This includes separate climate controls for each room.

Guests can be very wasteful because they often open all the doors and windows yet leave the air -conditioners on. Eventually, the units freeze up and stop working. Then the calls come pouring in to come to fix the units. No matter how many times guests are informed to keep the units off in the event they want doors and windows open, it seems to be an issue.

Addicted to Television

Guests continue to tell us they want to get away and disconnect, but televisions are a must. Not just one television, but television in every bedroom. No matter where in the world we send them with amazing views and settings the television is still required.

On one trip Barbados to inspect a series of villas to consider getting involved with we were in a taxi going to the first villa when we noticed there were photographs of nine children. We asked the driver if all the kids were his and he said yes. We could not help ourselves, but to be in somewhat shock of raising nine children. He asked how many children I had and I replied just two. He then asked if I had a television in the bedroom and I replied yes. He said, “No television in my bedroom.”

Kingsize Beds are a must

By an overwhelming margin, the number one requested bed size requested by villa renters is kingsize. Oversized queens don’t cut it. If your thinking about converting your personal villa to be part of the villa rental inventory the best decision you can make is to have king beds in all bedrooms. Also to have the option of at least one of the kingsize beds be able to convert to twins.

Fresh bed linens

make a world of difference

Fresh Looking Linens on every bed

Villa renters can not tolerate finding the linens to look tired and worn. Fresh bed linens and towels make the world of difference. They may not remember the name of the villa, but they will remember how the villa made them feel. Tired linens only make them feel they’re sleeping in a bed where hundreds of others have slept. Also, keep in mind to not go cheap on the mattress. If guests do not sleep well you will surely hear about it.

Interestingly enough we have an owner that highlighted he offered fine Italian bed linens that would be changed every night. After a few nights the guests complained that the linens were not being changed every night, but in fact they were being changed. The problem was the linens were all of the same design and color so the guests could not tell. The solution was new linens were purchased that were all the same quality but had a different color.

Small Espresso Coffee Cups or Mugs?

American guests prefer large coffee mugs, while European guests prefer small espresso cups. Owners often put pressure on us to generate European guests. We continue to advise them they must take into consideration the differences in the cultures.

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