20 Guest Room Essentials for Your Next Guest
You can have a wide range of reasons for wanting a guest room. Whatever you have in mind, you need to furnish it carefully. After all, you have limited space, particularly since most people feel uncomfortable in cluttered rooms.
As a result, you should choose items based on their usefulness relative to their size. Please remember you aren’t choosing these things based on your needs and preferences. Instead, prioritize your guests’ needs and preferences.
Consider these guest room essentials:
1. Air Freshener
An air freshener is a must-have for a guest room. Simply put, people don’t like constant exposure to unpleasant smells. As a result, you need to do your best to keep your guest room smelling as nice as possible. Generally speaking, you don’t want something with an overpowering smell. Subtle scents tend to make better choices.
2. Blackout Curtains
Windows are useful. That is because they let in air and light to make even the smallest rooms seem more open and spacious. Unfortunately, that isn’t always a good thing. For instance, the CDC states that light causes people to wake up, which can be an issue if your guest prefers to sleep in.
Fortunately, this is a simple problem with a simple solution. A good set of blackout curtains will give your guest more options. Better still, Howstuffworks claims blackout curtains can improve insulation, so there are potential energy savings as well.
3. Chair
A good bed is comfortable. Even so, that doesn’t mean your guest will want to sit on it throughout the day. As a result, a good guest room should also have good seating.
The easiest way to add seating would be to put in a chair. However, you should know there are other options. For instance, some people like to put a bench at the end of the bed, which can also serve as storage space.
4. Charger
The Pew Research Center makes it clear that the overwhelming majority of American adults own a phone. Despite this, people still forget to bring their phone chargers with them from time to time. They could buy one when they head out.
Phone chargers are now everywhere, so much so that interested individuals can find them in supermarkets and other strange places. Still, that means a bit of avoidable inconvenience. You can save your guest time, effort, and money by putting a phone charger in your guest room.
5. Cleaning Supplies
Some people don’t care much about the state of their surroundings. In contrast, other people are much more attentive in this regard. Of course, you should try to keep your guest room as clean as possible.
Despite such measures, you should still leave some hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and other cleaning supplies in your guest room for your guest. They are the ones who know what they like the best, so they are the ones who can put these cleaning supplies to the best use.
6. Clock Radio
The near-ubiquitous ownership of phones means alarm clocks aren’t as ubiquitous as they once were. Nowadays, people default to their phones if they need to wake up at a specific time. Still, clock radios retain some measure of usefulness. If nothing else, many people enjoy listening to the radio.
7. Closet
Closets are always good to have in guest rooms. Chances are good that your guest is bringing a fair amount of stuff. Yes, they could leave their possessions in their luggage. The issue is that doing so would be inconvenient for them. Due to this, you want to make sure that your guest room has enough storage space.
Closets are an effective and efficient solution to this problem. That is particularly true because they tend to be tall, meaning they let interested individuals access vertical space than would otherwise be unusable.
With that said, you should remember that there are other storage space solutions. This Old House and other resources offer no shortage of suggestions in this regard.
8. Drawers
For instance, drawers are another popular storage space solution. A wide range of furniture can accommodate drawers while serving other purposes. As such, you should use that to make sure your guest won’t run out of storage space in your guest room.
9. Extra Blankets
What is fine for one person isn’t necessarily fine for another person when it comes to blankets. As a result, you should give your guest extra blankets. Some people have higher body temperatures than others. Similarly, some people have poorer blood circulation than others.
The sheer number of factors that can affect blanket preferences makes it impossible or next-to-impossible for you to guess what your guest would like best. Giving extra blankets is the easiest solution because your guest can make their choices based on their knowledge of themselves.
10. Extra Pillows
On a related note, you should also give your guest extra pillows for the same reasons. Besides that, pillows have one more potential use. They make their surroundings seem more comfortable, which is critical for getting your guest to relax in your guest room.
11. Extra Towels
Extra towels and washcloths are also must-haves. If your guest is staying overnight, they are going to need them for washing up.
12. Fan
Fans can be surprisingly useful. For starters, if you don’t have air conditioning in your guest room, a fan can give your guest more control over the temperature of the space. This is critical in places with hot, humid climates, but this is helpful even in places with milder summers.
Besides this, fans are also great for a room’s ventilation. Thanks to that, they can prevent your guest room from feeling musty, which is one of those things that can easily make people miserable.
13. Full-Length Mirror
Mirrors also serve more than one purpose. First, they serve the practical purpose of letting your guest see how they look at any moment. Yes, it is possible for someone to be too obsessed with their appearance. However, people are greatly influenced by how we appear to one another.
Thanks to that, checking our appearance in a full-length mirror is just good sense for anyone who wants to put their best foot forward for whatever reason. Second, mirrors are excellent decorations. Apartment Therapy and other sources agree that their ability to reflect light enables them to make spaces seem bigger and brighter than otherwise possible.
People might not mind feeling cozy and comfortable, but they do mind feeling cramped and closed-in. Putting in a full-length mirror is a relatively easy way of preventing the latter from happening.
14. Hamper
Anyone who stays a while is going to wind up with dirty clothes. Once again, they can put their dirty clothes in their luggage. Still, most people find that rather unpleasant, meaning they would rather have some kind of readily-available alternative.
Fortunately, this is one of those things that are very easy for you to help your guest with. After all, you should have no problem finding a hamper, which shouldn’t take up too much space in your guest room.
If your guest cares about where their dirty clothes go, they will have the hamper on hand. Otherwise, chances are good that they can still find a use for such a convenient container. The need for more storage space is one of the near-constants of our species.
15. Luggage Rack
Speaking of which, you would also do well to put a luggage rack in your guest room. This is for you as much as for your guest. Yes, a luggage rack means a convenient place for your guest to put their luggage, thus freeing up other surfaces for other uses.
However, you should remember that you can make a decent guess about where your guest’s luggage has been, even if you don’t know the exact details and don’t want to know the exact details.
Having a luggage rack encourages your guest to put their luggage on top of it rather than on top of the bed. Something that can be distressing if you are concerned about keeping your guest room as clean as possible.
16. Mini-Fridge
People can get hungry and thirsty at inopportune times. It seems safe to say that you wouldn’t want to be woken up in the middle of the night by a guest asking you for something to eat or something to drink.
Similarly, it seems safe to say that you wouldn’t want to leave your guest feeling uncomfortable because they didn’t want to impose. Luckily, you can solve these issues by making sure that your guest room is fully stocked.
A mini-fridge can contain everything your guest needs if they feel hungry or thirsty at inopportune times. Alternatively, if you don’t want to go that far, you have plenty of easier solutions.
A guest room should have plenty of places where you can put some non-perishable, ready-to-eat snacks. Water is just as easy because you can leave a full carafe and a glass on a table.
17. Spare Key
Spare keys can do a great deal to make guests feel more comfortable. Essentially, they let their holders go in and out of your home whenever they want. In contrast, if your guest doesn’t have a spare key, they are going to be reliant on you to open and close your door for them.
Giving someone a spare key is a huge show of trust. As a result, you need to make sure you can trust your guest before giving that far.
18. Toiletries
Some travelers bring their toiletries with them. Alas, not everyone is so well-prepared. That can be a huge problem because most people like maintaining their hygiene, meaning they can get very uncomfortable when they can’t do so for whatever reason.
Providing a set of travel toiletries is an easy way to ensure your guest will be fine without having to pay a quick visit to the pharmacy or some other retailer. This is a wonderful way to show your care for your guest. If you know your guest, that is critical for keeping your relationship strong and healthy.
Alternatively, if they are someone to whom you are renting out your guest room, showing your care increases your chances of getting a good review. HGTV points out that word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful strategy, meaning you would do well to work for those ratings within reason.
19. Trash Can
People can produce a great deal of trash. As such, they need a place to put it. Your guest is no exception to this rule. Trash cans are a simple solution to this problem. Still, you shouldn’t just go for any trash can. Instead, the best trash cans are step trash cans for two reasons.
First, you want a cover because the trash is often unsightly looking. Never mind the potential for bad smells. Second, you want the option to open the cover without needing manual contact. Without that, a cover can be as much a problem as a solution because most people don’t like touching trash cans for very understandable reasons.
20. WiFi Password
Most people have become reliant on the Internet for work, entertainment, and other purposes. Chances are good that their phones have some data. Unfortunately, chances are also good that their phones have limits, reduced speeds, or other issues that make them incapable of meeting the full extent of their Internet use.
Due to this, it is no exaggeration to say that a WiFi network is one of the most important things you can have in your home if you are planning to host guests. Your guests shouldn’t have to ask you for the WiFi password. The better thing to do would be to leave the WiFi password out in an easy-to-see place.
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