Last Updated on September 1, 2019 by Kimberly Crawford
Create the perfect guest bedroom retreat for your overnight guests. Include baskets of toiletries, personal items and luxury linens.
Entertaining is not just about hosting parties and serving dinner at your home. Another part of sharing your hospitality is the manner in which you welcome guests into your home.
Overnight guests should be made to feel welcome and you can accomplish that by creating a guest bedroom retreat. Imagine your favorite hotel and recall what accoutrements were placed in your guestroom. You can recreate that same luxury on a smaller scale in your own home, making your own guest bedroom retreat.
Room
If you can spare a room to be dedicated for a guest room – great! Otherwise, consider creating a double-duty room (i.e. guest room/home office or guest room/craft room or guest room/library).
Remember that a comfortable bed is your first priority. Don’t skimp on linens or pillows. It’s also a nice idea to include a small TV in the room, so that your guests can catch up on the news or their favorite late night talk show without taking over the family TV.
Also, include a small side table with a lamp and an alarm clock. With the advent of cell phones, a land line is no longer needed in a guest room.
Luxury Items
Put together a small basket of bath items and toiletries. You can include travel sizes of hairspray, soap, dental floss, deodorant, shampoo, lotion, toothpaste, talc, Q-tips, and even a new toothbrush.
Make sure to refresh this basket for each new guest (I pick up travel sized items when they go on sale at my discount store or use high quality skin care samples from my Arbonne products).
You can also put together a basket to keep in the bedroom, which will include the following items: some interesting and current magazines, a spiritual book, a fiction novel, several bottles of water, a pencil or pen, a notepad, and tourist information and a map about your general area.
Bathroom
The toiletries basket mentioned above could be placed in the bathroom, if this room will be solely for your guest’s use. Otherwise, place the basket in the bedroom.
Regarding the rest of the bathroom: one complete set of bath linens per guest (bath towel, hand towel and washcloth) should be provided. I purchased a set of simple yet fluffy bath linens that I only use for our guests. That way, I know that the linens will always look their best for our guests.
If your guests will be staying for more than 3 days, you can also place a small wicker laundry basket in the bathroom or bedroom. This feature is very convenient for longer-term guests, who may need to wash their clothes during their visit.
Follow these suggestions, and your guests will think that they’re staying at a high end resort!