How to Make Your Guest Room Feel Like a Hotel Room

When people are a guest at someone's home, they generally expect the bare minimum: use of a room or sleeping area and bathroom. A good host knows this and uses it to her advantage.

Any form thoughtful gesture will be appreciated by guests because these things are typically not expected. With a little bit of thought and effort, your guests may even prefer staying with you over their favorite luxury hotel.

To truly make your guests feel like they are receiving first class treatment, focus on comfort and hospitality. A great way to do this is by keeping your favorite hotel in mind when curating your guest space. Two places I like to think of are Villa Alceo in Viggiù, Italy and Hotel Emma in San Antonio, Texas. I will share my experience at these places in future blog posts. In the meantime, I will share how I have used these travel experiences to refine my hosting skills.

Scents. Some of the best hotels go so far as to create a unique smell for guests to experience when walking into the lobby. You can recreate this by spraying the room with a linen spray, using a diffuser, or lighting a candle right before your guests arrive.

The Story. Every good hotel has a wonderful story, Make your guest room memorable through art, design, or placing a unique item in the room. You want to be able to walk in and have something fun to talk about or inspire conversation. A guest room should be personal, although not too personal. For example, the guest room may not be the place to hang family portraits everywhere.

Bed Linens. Hotels spend a lot of money and time on making sure they offer the best pillows, linens, and mattresses to their guests. Sheets are generally crisp and white. Down pillows, down comforters, lux cotton sheets, and featherbed create the sensation of sinking into a cloud.

I understand that not all of us are on a hotel sized budget. Nonetheless, you can recreate the guest room sensation without spending a fortune. For some ideas on where to purchase some of these items at a variety of price points, check out my blog post on bedding and guest room essentials here.

Even if you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on bedding you can still make your guest feel like a million bucks by making sure you stock the right items. For example, use 100% cotton sheets and layer the bed with a soft quilt or blanket and a down alternative duvet and top the bed with a mix of soft down alternative and at least two memory foam pillows.

If you are going to spend a lot of money on one thing, spend it on the sheets. After that if you want to invest in something else, invest in pillows. The next item I would probably invest in is a memory foam mattress topper.

A Bottle of Water. After a long day of travel, a free bottle of water in a hotel room is a lovely sight. I think water is something so simple that people often forget about when hosting others. It is one of the simplest and least expensive things you can provide for guests.

The water does not have to be cold. Simply having a bottle or two in the bedroom will suffice. You could even go wild and get a fancy brand of bottled water for your guests.

Bath Products. While lush sheets and pillows are generally an investment, things such as pillow spray and wonderful smelling bath products are a much less expensive way to pamper your guests. When you walk into a hotel bathroom, there is almost always a tray of lovely products on display.

This is very easy to accomplish and will not cost a lot of money. For example, just stocking some essential items for guests will go a long way. Something as simple as leaving an extra toothbrush in the bathroom drawer can make a guest feel at home. Furthermore, leaving a pillow spray on the bedside table, along with a bottle of water will make your guests feel like you truly thought of everything,

Something Just a Little Extra. One of my favorite things about staying in a nice hotels is that they often do a little something extra for guests. An amazing hotel experience almost feels like you are being showered with gifts. When you walk into the room, chocolate on the pillow or a tray of welcome snacks. This varies from hotel to hotel, but the idea is that you feel like the hotel has provided you with something just a little extra.

Something I love to do is leave a little gift on the bed for guests. This could be something as simple as a note, candy, or bag of toiletries. The best part is you can be creative and customize this gift to the person. If they are from our of the country or state, a fun souvenir or pre-posted post card is also a lovely idea.

Let me know about your favorite guest room and hotel luxuries in the comments below!

As always,

Alli