7 Professional Housekeeping tips to impress your guests this Christmas

Who’s starting to feel festive? Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to spend time with family and friends, and for many of us, that will at some point involve hosting guests. We therefore thought it to be a fun idea to ask our professional housekeepers what they do to make their guests feel extra special for Christmas. Whether you’re trying to impress the new in-laws or reuniting with old friends, we’ve compiled what we believe to be the top 7 home touches that will help create a Christmas-stay to remember (and win you big brownie points!).

1. Toilet Roll Orogami

The first thing many of our housekeepers’ mention is that they fold the toilet roll on their dispenser. The reason we love this so much is firstly, it’s absolutely free and secondly, once you get the hang of it takes practically no time at all. Yet, this small touch helps create the feel of a nice hotel or B&B. Marta, one of our End of Tenancy specialist housekeepers, commented ‘There are many more fancy types of fold that you can do but, honestly, I think the basic triangle one looks the best and, just as importantly, is the easiest to do.’

For those of you that want to go the extra mile, there are some very cool Christmas-related patterns you can do. Just have a look at YouTube and you’ll be able to find a whole range of toilet roll origami designs.

2. Incense or Candles

Another common recommendation from our Housekeepers was to buy some incense or candles for the guest’s room and/ or bathroom. Depending on your budget, you can buy some nicely smelling incense for just a few pounds on Amazon, or if you’re happy to spend more many department stores like Selfridges and John Lewis sell some lovely-scented candles. Given the festive theme, why not try scents such as cinnamon, pine and fir? If you want to go the extra mile, you can buy some Christmas themed decoration to place the incense inside.

3. Chocolate on the Bed

A classic touch that most B&B’s and some hotels use to leave a small gift on their bed pillow. 

For our Housekeepers, the most popular choice was chocolate! If possible, it’s always nice to pick your guests favourite chocolate but if not, celebrations, Lindt or Ferrero Rochers are almost always well received. Note, do be careful to check that your guests don’t have any allergies and if they do, choose accordingly!

4. Cook Something for their Arrival

When guests arrive you’ll want them to feel as settled as possible. A lovely way to do this is to offer them a drink and snack. If you have the time to cook it from scratch even better! There are plenty of easy recipe’s guaranteed to make your guests feel extra taken care of. Bonna is one of our longest standing housekeepers and she loves cooking. Her go-to are some Cinnamon and Raisin cookies. They’re delicious and take no more than 10 minutes to prepare. A very similar recipe to Bonna’s can be found here.

5. Decorations! 

Nothing creates a festive mood like Christmas decorations. A Christmas tree is a must but why stop there? There are so many quick and easy decorations that can really help give a home the festive feel. A few nice candles provide some nice ambience while also creating a lovely aroma, ticking off two of our seven points in one! A Christmas Garland was what Maria, one of our AirBnB specialist housekeepers recommended. ‘They’re perfect because you buy them ready made and look great. At home, we have one wrapped around the stairwell or another on top of the fireplace. Guests always take note of them more than our other decorations, which winds my husband up who spends hours doing the lights!’ Finally, no Christmas decoration is complete without lights, with a variety of great options easily found online, no matter your budget or time availability.

6. Blankets in the Guest Room

Every year the Christmas season feels colder and colder, with this year forecasts suggesting it might even snow – fingers crossed! Although this can be enjoyable, It usually means that extra help is needed to make sure everyone stays warm and cosy inside. For our housekeepers, ensuring there are blankets in the guest bedroom is a must! But why not also have some available in the living area for people to grab as and when needed? Another benefit of doing this is that your heating bill can be kept down. Most people will already have blankets but if not, why not get some Christmas themed blankets?

7. A welcome gift

The final item on the list is a trusty welcome gift. We think the more personable you can make it the better. If you have shared a fun experience recently why not buy something related to that? Stefan, one of our newly appointed Deep Clean Team Leads, had in-laws over and made a lovely hamper with all their favourite things. Otherwise, a bottle of wine or bubbly is a safe bet. For the non-drinkers, flowers, which can be brought up to the guest room for the duration of the stay, are also widely well received. 

Of course, the best thing about Christmas is spending quality time with loved ones, and if you don’t have time to prepare these things then don’t fret, your company is enough! That being said, if you do want to make an extra effort to ensure your guests feel really well looked after then these 7 tips will be sure to do exactly that!