Posts Tagged ‘linens’
With the immense popularity of Marie Kondo’s Netflix series, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,” more people than ever are choosing a neater, more minimal lifestyle within their homes. It turns out many of us have a lot of unused (and useless) stuff just taking up space. What does this have to do with vacation rental homes, you ask?
Well…smart vacation rental homeowners have been doing this type of “tidying” on their rental properties for years! Vacation rental homeowners newer to the industry are using this tidy approach right from the get-go, setting up and stocking their vacation rentals in the least cluttered and most efficient way possible.
What Does Your Vacation Rental Home Really NEED?
There is much to be said for minimalism in a vacation rental home. Let’s face it, more stuff = more stuff to clean. More stuff also = a greater potential for damage (or theft) of that stuff. Two areas in many vacation rental homes which tend to be outstanding in the “too much stuff” field are the kitchen and the linen closet.
Moxie Girl has posted two blogs you may find helpful! Whether you are actually just setting up your vacation rental home or determined to make an improvement to an existing situation in your vacation rental, check out “How to Set Up A Vacation Rental Home Kitchen” and “Laundry 101 for Vacation Rental Homes” for some excellent tips!
The Benefits of “Kondo-ing” Your Vacation Rental
Vacation rental home guests have a tendency to use whatever is made available to them, so if your vacation rental home offers an abundance (especially an over-abundance) of usable items such as towels and dishes, chances are there will be much more to clean (and organize) once the guests depart. While you always want your vacation rental guests to have everything they need, don’t over-do! Having fewer stock items (such as sheets, towels and kitchenware) available to your guests will also help you – or your vacation rental cleaning crew – keep an eye on the inventory and condition of your items.
Don’t forget to extend your tidying to the decorative items in your vacation rental home, too. With cleaning in mind, how “rental-friendly” are your decorations? Moxie Girl recommends durable decorative items with smooth surfaces for your vacation rental. You know, things that don’t break easily, but can be easily dusted or wiped clean. (That awesome Native dream-catcher isn’t going to look awesome at all once it starts collecting desert dust and cobwebs – which are nearly impossible to remove. A PAINTING of a dream-catcher would make a vacation-rental-friendly alternative!)
Choosing the right items for your vacation rental home helps avoid the overuse of resources as well as dramatically cutting down the time needed for between-guests turns!
Folding Fun
Well before her Netflix series, Marie Kondo became famous for her folding techniques (Google her YouTube videos!) With all of the bath, bed and kitchen linens in your vacation rental home, consistent folding and storage will keep your vacation rental beautifully organized.
Moxie Girl loves creative folding, too! It’s not a Kondo thing, but several of our Moxies really know how to put the fun into it. Creative folding, especially with bath linens can give your vacation rental a look that’s a step above standard staging. Our Moxie, Rebecca, is known for her bath towel elephant displays. Now THAT sparks joy!
Moxie Girl Can Help!
Moxie Girl, your vacation rental specialist services successful vacation rental properties throughout the Phoenix area – even offering same-day turns to our valued clients! CLICK HERE to take the first step in putting your vacation rental home in the care of our local team.
Interested in becoming a vacation rental specialist? We are always looking for thoughtful, caring individuals to join the Moxie Girl team! Please TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF!
Ready or not, summer is on the way! If you’re a vacation rental home owner there are definitely more than a few things to think about. Summer in the Valley of the Sun does bring some special needs…
Dry or Not, It’s Still HOT!
First and foremost on everyone’s minds in summer here in the Phoenix area is air conditioning! Most people – especially those visiting from cooler climates – would find Phoenix absolutely uninhabitable at it’s natural temperature.
If you haven’t scheduled an annual maintenance service for your vacation rental home, it should be first on your to-do list today! There are oodles of heating and cooling service companies in the Valley, but even the biggest and the best of them are booked solid days – even weeks – in advance.
Regular maintenance of your cooling unit keeps it operating at its most efficient and can identify issues before they become emergencies, extending its life, overall. Extremely important, too, is changing the air return filters in your vacation rental home at least every month. A few crazy haboobs can really gunk up a filter!
For more tips on making your vacation rental home and systems safer and more efficient, check out our blog, “How to Prepare Your Phoenix Vacation Rental for Summer.”
Your Vacation Rental Home Oasis
If your vacation rental property boasts a private swimming pool and/or spa, you probably realize those features have their own set of challenges, year-round. But a vacation rental home with a pool is likely to be considered much more desirable by potential guests, especially in the Phoenix summer, so that’s a plus!
As a vacation rental home owner, hiring a professional pool maintenance service can reduce your headaches tremendously. Moxie Girl recommends Aquaman Pools. Aquaman has extensive experience in all phases of pool and spa care here in the Phoenix area, and services many of the vacation rental homes owned by Moxie Girl clients!
Moxie Girl has posted a plethora of tips regarding your vacation rental home pool! Check them out here:
5 Sizzling Summer Tips for Vacation Rental Home with Pools
Pool Perfection – Fireside Chat with Chad Nikkel of Aquaman Pools
Pool Maintenance 101 (for you DIYers!)
Towel, Please
Summer laundry, believe it or not, can bring some special challenges as well – more so if your vacation rental home has a pool or spa, private or community property. As we’ve previously noted (see our blog, “Laundry 101 for Vacation Rental Homes”) if you’ve got a pool, you NEED pool towels! You’ll also need to make sure they are visible and convenient to your guests.
We’ve also mentioned previously that it’s a great idea to provide your vacation rental guests with disposable make-up removing wipes. Guests tend to take advantage of “amenities” and a few pennies spent making disposable wipes available can really save your linens in the long run.
Since it’s summer, you may also want to consider providing larger, disposable body wipes for your guests to remove self-tanning and bronzing products. If you think a little mascara on a pillowcaseis a problem, just wait until you see what a body or two covered with sparkly bronzer can do to a whole set of towels and sheets! I have and it’s devastating.
Summer Fresh
Changing out a few decorative items in and around your vacation rental home can really give it a fresh look for the season. Summer is also a great time to visit your own vacation rental property and see firsthand what may need updating or repair. Read our blogs for some Moxie Girl thoughts on these subjects. (Yes, we know it says refresh for spring, but you can refresh for any season!)
Visiting Your Own Vacation Rental Home?
Refresh Your Vacation Rental for Spring
Could Your Vacation Rental Property Use a Vacation Rental Specialist?
Moxie Girl has a stellar reputation in Phoenix area vacation rental home care – even offering same-day turns to our valued clients! Find out how to make our caring team YOUR caring team – a FREE CONSULTATION is just a click away!
Did you know many vacation rental home owners periodically book stays in their own vacation rental homes? Whether it’s just to “check on things” or take advantage of their Phoenix “investment” during perfect weather, these visits are never bad idea.
And regardless of your the reason, it’s always a good idea to mentally prepare yourself for an “in-between-guests” visit to your operating vacation rental home. In other words…various and multiple virtual strangers have been almost continually occupying your home since your last visit, so it may not look exactly as you left it last time you staged it yourself.
Loved, But Also Lived In
Moxie Girl, your vacation rental specialist, makes a point of alerting our clients immediately to theft, es or anything in obvious need of repair when we turn a home, but everyday wear-and-tear in a busy rental home is quite different than that of the home you live in full time.
Paint may seem a little dull compared to last season, and throw rugs and sofa pillows might look less than brand new – bed and bath linens could feel slightly less than luxurious to you this time around. Wow, it’s a good thing you dropped in! Now could be the perfect time to replace your soft goods and maybe even consider planning some more extensive updates such as paint, flooring or window coverings (during “off season” of course!)
A “Turn” Clean is Not a Deep Clean
Moxie Girl services many vacation rental homes that offer back-to-back availability, limiting the time we can spend making the home guest-ready. Our “window” to completely turn a home, including laundry, is often a matter of a few hours. So, while we certainly don’t skimp on the cleaning – we want your home looking top-notch, too! – there simply isn’t time to get to “deep cleaning.”
Things such as hard water build-up, stained grouting and other issues that slowly become an issue over time really SHOULD be addressed, whether it be during your visit or by scheduling a deep clean with Moxie Girl as your property’s schedule allows. But the point here is, yes, you might see some things that need attention, but they will generally be the type of things that would fall under the deep cleaning category.
Why is This HERE???
Are you sitting down? And is your chair exactly where you left it last? If so, great! But if you’re walking into your vacation rental home for the first time in a while, this may not be the case. We’re not sure why, and the reasons may be many, but brace yourself for this bit of news: GUESTS MOVE THINGS!
Weird, right? And yet, it’s absolutely not uncommon. Moxie Girl, being who we are, takes care to beautifully stage your vacation rental home as soon as we’re done cleaning, but even WE sometimes just don’t know where a chair (or a nightstand, or a this or a that) actually belongs according to your original plan. So, we do our best.
And you know if guests are relocating furniture, chances are the items in your kitchen cupboards and drawers have definitely been moved! Again, Moxie Girl does take care to make sure these areas are clean, neat and organized, but maybe not exactly as YOU would have them arranged.
P.S. You’re absolutely welcome to arrange them as you wish during your stay!
What Can You Do?
As a vacation rental home owner there are steps you can take during your visits that will help you (and us) keep your investment looking its best for your guests. Remember, proper maintenance of your vacation rental home and its contents help keep your ratings high…which helps keep your calendar full…which gives you higher return on your investment!
Meredith Willis of Arizona Getaways, a Phoenix vacation rental management service, understands that between-guest attention, even by professionals, is on a strict time limit and advises vacation rental home owners to visit their properties regularly to check out the wear-and-tear and make needed repairs and provide routine maintenance to household systems.
As we mentioned in our blog “Minimizing Your Liabilities as a Vacation Rental Homeowner” keeping your home in good repair not only LOOKS better but greatly reduces the chance of accident or injury to guests, and ta-da! – minimizes your liability. Brilliant!
Meredith says this is also a great time to check all the linens! Even if your property rotates multiple sets of sheets and towels, these items are heavily used and laundered much more so that in regular residential use, and everything from kitchen towels to duvet covers are bound to take some mild abuse.
In short, nobody sees things in quite the same way you do, so it’s best you make it a point to do regular inspections of your vacation rental yourself. If we’re not doing things quite the way you’d like, let us know and Moxie Girl will make an effort to accommodate all reasonable requests.
Contact Us!
Looking for reliable, professional vacation rental service? Moxie Girl is here to help with everything from converting an existing home to a vacation rental to in-between-guest turns, including same day services! Contact us today for a FREE CONSULTATION!
