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If you’ve got friends or family who live far away, once in a while, it’s likely that you will host guests in your apartment. But preparing an apartment for guests and being a warm and gracious host involves more than agreeing for someone to stay in your guest room or crash on your sofa. Making your overnight guests truly comfortable involves a bit of preparation, but it will definitely make the experience a more enjoyable one for everyone involved.
Top 5 Tips for Preparing an Apartment for Guests
1. Clean Everything Up
If you tend to be a messy person, it’s time to get off the couch and start scrubbing. Even if you tend to be more tidy, having a guest stay with you means that things need to be extra clean. This especially includes areas such as a shared bathroom. Visitors should be able to use the restroom and take a hot shower without feeling the need to scrub the toilet or pull hair out of your shower drain first.
This also applies to people who have pets in their apartment. While you might be used to your dog’s hair being all over the sofa or there being cat litter strewn across the bathroom floor, your guests might not care for picking Fido hair off their pants every time they stand up. Get out the vacuum and go to work!
2. Make a Spot for Their Stuff
From suitcases to purses and toothbrushes to medication, all houseguests come with a certain amount of personal items. When preparing an apartment for guests, take time to clear out a space for their belongings. This could be a closet for them to stash their suitcase, a drawer for them to unpack, or an area on the bathroom counter. This is a must whether they’ll be staying with you for just a few days or a few weeks.
3. Shop for Snacks They’ll Enjoy
As excited as your guests will be to see you, it can also feel odd being away from home. Make your guests feel at home by shopping for things you know they’ll enjoy while they’re staying with you. Even if you plan to take them out to experience all your favorite restaurants, it’s a great idea to have things ready for them to be able to enjoy a cup of their favorite coffee or tea first thing in the morning or have their go-to chips or cookies in the pantry as a snack.
4. Consider Their Comfort
Everyone has different preferences when it comes to sleeping temperature, noise level, and need for privacy. Keep this in mind when preparing an apartment for guests, and offer up any items they may need to make themselves more comfortable during their stay. Access to extra pillows and extra blankets are a must; you might also consider a portable heater or a fan so your guests can alter the temperature in their sleeping spaces.
Speaking of sleeping spaces, if you’re turning a non-bedroom into a bedroom by putting a guest in your living room, try to find ways to make things non-disruptive for them. A foldable screen is a nice touch that can help give them a bit of privacy in the midst of a living area, for example, and earplugs can help shut out noise if they like to sleep in and you like to enjoy a 5 a.m. cup of joe.
5. Fill Them in on the Rules
Whether guests are dropping in for a few days or a longer period of time, make sure they’re well aware of any rules that may apply to your household or to the apartment in general. You might have smart home devices that take a bit of knowledge to operate or a toilet that’s prone to trouble and that must be handled with care, for example. If they’re a guest that likes to make noise or do aerobics in the middle of the night, educate them on any personal rules (“I have to be at work early, so can you keep the noise down”) or apartment community regulations.
Having guests can take planning and sometimes some compromise, but with a bit of preparation, preparing an apartment for visitors can be easy and you can be a true super host when your guests arrive.
