Lay My Hat

I'd be really grateful for tips on what to include in a Welcome Pack, anyone happy to share theirs or have any suggestions please?

Em

As I am an offsite owner I arrange for the cleaners to supply fresh milk, tea, coffee, and locally made biscuits, plus fresh flowers in the lounge. Most of my visitors do a big shop on the way (I give them details of the nearest supermarkets) and we are lucky that the village shop is only a few minutes away and opens 7 days a week until late in the evening.

I know that a number of onsite owners here supply yummy home made food and/or produce from their garden. I think that's a lovely touch.

We're off-site too so we provide tea bags, instant coffee, brown & white sugar in small kilner jars which I make up each time we go so there is a fresh set for each changeover. Also a pack of biscuits, local if I can get them.

Our cleaners then leave semi-skimmed milk in the fridge. In one house they also leave fresh flowers because there's a shop 2 minutes away that sells them. In the other we don't leave flowers because there's nowhere local to buy them so it's simpler not to.

The cleaners also put out 2 tea towels, a couple of cleaning cloths, a new scouring pad and a box of dishwasher tablets (enough for their whole stay).

Also, a few toilet rolls in the bathroom - enough for a short break.

We tell guests what will be there so they know what to bring with them. I've experienced both extremes - arriving at a cottage late at night and finding no toilet paper, washing up liquid, salt & pepper, etc. Another time, arriving to a generous welcome pack which duplicated lots of things we'd brought with us so we ended up guiltily throwing some food away because it went off before we could eat it.

Like others we are off site so have to stick with something the cleaners con do blindfold. Its a shame as if we were local we would love to do more.

We leave a quality family packet of crisps, biscuits, some fruit juice like J20, bottle of wine milk. Plus some basic spices, oils, tin foil and cling film.

The other consumables area is an area for discussion, We leave 3 dishwasher tablets, 3 washing machine tablets, 2 toilet rolls per bathroom. Our issue here is we are non on site and it is SELF CATERING. We feel if we leave more then they would assume endless free fill ups for toilet roll, soap tablets etc. We are not there to manage that.

What we don't do but should is send a message that states clearly what to expect before they travel. I am sure that would help a great deal in them not packing things they don't need. This extends across kitchen pans, serving plates etc. How do you do that in a nice way without sending out some huge inventory list?

I think first of all you have to decide where you feel you fit in the market....if you're at a budget rental then leaving lots of things will eat in to your profit.

If you're mid range and want to impress your guests then leave the basics as has been described (tea, coffee, milk, juice, condiments, washer tablets etc) plus a treat (cake, biscuits, snacks, wine etc)

If you're high end then it will be expected, so leave plenty of everything. ...and perhaps bubbly or wine/quality snacks.

We're mid range for Ibiza but I supply lots of everything for guests; I don't want them buying loo/kitchen roll, dishwasher tabs etc.
I then leave cava and chocolate truffles for the adult guests (and orange juice to make bucks fizz if req'd) and for the kids I leave a little box of sweets plus a kinder egg.

I never get thanks......but I often get told that our place 'has everything' or 'is very well equipped' so I do think people appreciate it.

Mousie
x

I sometimes get thanks though not always, but agree with Mouse that it makes a nice first impression which is worth a great deal.

People usually turn up a bit tired and kids especially are hungry.

I tailor it a bit now to who is arriving but usually
- wine (or champagne for the big weeks)
- pitcher of chilled water with lemon and mint (summer)
- OJ or apple juice for kids
- Tea bags
- Milk
- Frozen OJ or apple ice lollies (really great for kids)

and then I add according to what's good, and the make-up of the group. EG if there are likely to be lots of hungry kids I make sure there's cake, bread and jam, maybe some sweets. If it's all adults I go more for olives and nibbles.

Basically so that if you turn up starving and thirsty, you can relax a bit before going out for a shop.

I also provide bin liners, 3 rolls in each loo, Kitchen roll, hand soap and all cleaning products. Spices, cling film and tin foil seem to be pretty much self-topping up in the season.

I put a little tiny arrangement in each room in a small ceramic pot - a pine cone, some fresh pine sprigs and a little of the very pretty pale green lichen that we get here. This takes 10 minutes max (I only have to change the pine sprigs)
and really makes a difference to the look of the rooms.

I also suggest a shopping delivery before arrival but actually not that many people do this.

Everything the guests need for first night / breakfast

Eggs, milk, butter, cheese, grated parmesan, ham, yogurt
cornflakes
crackers, breadsticks, bread
pasta, pasta sauce, freshly prepared meatballs from a local chef
teabags, coffee, still water, sparkling water, fruit juice
wine, beer
savoury snacks, sweet biscuits, crisps, chocolate, olives
tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, garlic, fruit
home made lemonade. limoncello, lemon marmalade, jam and chutney

We get loads of great feedback on the Welcome Basket