Have you ever been lucky enough to stay in a fancy hotel? You know, the kind with all sorts of luxury amenities like pillow menus, turn down service and club lounge?
I admit that we’ve been really lucky to stay in some fabulous places over the years and, whilst it’s sooo easy to get used to all of these luxuries, it’s also something that doesn’t happen too often (for us at least).
Although we may not be able to quite compete with the 5 star luxury of these hotels, and I’m pretty sure my cooking skills aren’t anywhere close to Michelin standard, it is really important for us to provide our guests with the best possible experience in Berlin that we can.
There are lots of guest bedroom essentials that will help make your guests feel comfortable and welcome in your home and we’ve put together a helpful checklist of the 11 guest bedroom essentials that you can download at the end of this post to help you create a perfect guest bedroom for your guests to enjoy!
Here are the top guest bedroom essentials to make your guests feel welcome in your home
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Bed, Bedding & Bed Linen
A comfortable bed is the most important thing in any bedroom. Having somewhere to cuddle up and get a good night’s sleep after a long day of work or sightseeing has got to be at the top of any guest bedroom’s priority list.
Choosing a mattress is difficult at the best of times as there are so many options to choose from. Everyone has different preferences but a good all-round option is an out-of-the-box mattress like the one we have on our guest bed. Luckily our guests agree and everyone raves about the mattress as it’s super comfortable.
I’ll admit it. We’re the worst hosts ever because we don’t offer a full-on pillow menu. Okay, so we may not have 10 different pillow options to choose from (I once saw a hotel with an anti-ageing pillow!) but our guests do have the choice between a large soft feather pillow or, for those who prefer a bit more support, a memory foam pillow.
For me, the most important thing in any bedroom is the bed linen. I love luxury bed linen and it’s always something I’m happy to splurge on. The bed linen on our guest bed is actually hotel bedding that fancy hotels like the Kempinski, Swissotel and Hyatt use. Fancy, right? The only bedding we ever iron is in our guest bedroom.
In our master bedroom, we have equally lovely bed linen by Christy (which was a gift a while ago). There’s honestly nothing I love more than crawling into a freshly made bed with gorgeous bedding.
Fluffy Towels & Bathrobes
Our guest bedroom doesn’t have an en-suite which is one of the reasons we provide our guests with fluffy bathrobes to make them feel comfortable while zig-zagging back and forth between their bedroom and the main bathroom.
Bathrobes are, of course, not a necessity but it is nice to be able to give our guests something to snuggle up into and relax.
Something that clearly falls into the guest bedroom essentials category is towels.
We’ve been buying the Supreme Hydra range towels by Christy for as long as I can remember and even our oldest ones are still lovely and soft. Best of all they come in all different sizes (although I admit that we generally keep the super large bath sheets for ourselves, just don’t tell our guests!).
Sockets, Adapters & WiFi
No modern guest bedroom is complete without lots of places to charge things like phones, cameras and computers. We always travel with more gadgets than I care to admit, which is why I especially appreciate lots of sockets to charge everything.
Whilst our spare room generally has more than enough sockets, we went a step further to ensure that the desk area, in particular, has enough places to charge things, and bought a multiple outlet power strip which sits on the desk and has two regular outlets as well as a couple of USB ports to charge things, too.
Having the sockets right on the desk means that no one has to crawl around on the floor trying to plug things in.
It’s also a good idea to have a couple of travel adapters handy for people who are visiting from other countries where the plugs and sockets might be different. There’s nothing worse than not being able to charge anything just because you’ve left your adapter at home (trust me, I’ve been there more often than I care to admit).
It probably goes without saying but another must-have guest bedroom essential is the WiFi password, Ours is clearly displayed in a picture frame so that it’s easily visible for all of our guests to see.
Storage, Mirror & Luggage Rack
Although not everyone has enough space for a dedicated guest bedroom, it’s always important to provide your guests with at least some space to store their clothes and possessions. A drawer or two along with some wardrobe space and a couple of coat hangers is a must.
Along with ample storage space, your guests will also appreciate somewhere to place their luggage while unpacking. It doesn’t have to be a dedicated luggage rack like the one we have, a great alternative would be an ottoman or a bench which could both double up as additional seating or storage, too!
Your guests will also appreciate a full-length mirror is perfect for guests to be able to get ready before going out.
Furniture, Lighting & Art
Along with a comfortable bed, there are some other items you’ll have to include to create a functional and cosy guest room.
Nobody likes having to jump out of bed to turn off the light, so don’t forget to include bedside lamps that your guests can easily switch off.
Other guest room basics include bedside tables, a clock, a notepad and pen as well as bin. We have this pretty Umbra bin under our guest room desk which looks stylish and is the perfect size for our guest room.
Including art by local artists or art that reflects where you live is a great way to personalise your guest room.
We have lots of Berlin-themed art in our guest room and it’s always a talking point. I particularly love the Berlin Skyline Print by MehaArt and our Berlin cushions on the bed which both add a splash of colour to the otherwise quite minimalist room.
Reading Material & Maps
Given that we live in the middle of Berlin, our friends and family that visit usually want to do at least a few touristy things which is why we have lots of travel guides and a couple of maps for them to use during their visit.
No matter where you live, a couple of guidebooks, local magazines and a map or two are a great way to help your visitors get to know the city you live in.
I also pop into one of the tourist centres to pick up some brochures and flyers of events going on in the city before our guests come to visit.
Somewhere To Sit & Work
Obviously, being able to create somewhere to sit and somewhere to work in a guest bedroom will very much depend on the size of your room but your guests will appreciate any small spaces to work and relax that you can create.
You don’t have to have a full desk and lounge area, think about how you could double up the space to make it work. A storage bench could be used as additional seating and you could have a space-saving wall-mounted desk with shelving which will not only give your guests a place to work and recharge their gadgets but also somewhere to put all of their belongings during their stay.
Great lighting – we love our gorgeous Tom Dixon floor lamp – is essential, too.
We’re lucky to have really large rooms which is why we’re able to have both somewhere to sit and relax and a dedicated desk (you can see how we built our herringbone desk here) to work.
Blackout Blinds, Curtains & Eye Mask
Ensuring that your guests have a good night’s sleep is obviously the most important thing. Along with a super comfortable mattress, lots of pillows and some luxury bedding, you’ll want to make sure that you have curtains or blackout blinds that give your guests privacy and block out any light.
I’ll be the first to admit that our guest bedroom curtains are extremely dodgy. They really don’t block enough light and are only half-finished! I’d always planned on extending them but it’s something I’ve just never seemed to get around to doing (it’s on the list!).
Because our curtains are rather questionable, to say the least, we also provide our guests with some eye masks (I bought these basic ones from Amazon which I personalised a bit) that they can use if they’d prefer the room to be darker.
Water Bottle, Glasses & Snacks
Your guests probably don’t know their way around your home as well as you do, especially not in the dark (or possibly after a couple of drinks) so it’s nice to provide them with a bottle or decanter of water and some glasses.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Our glasses and decanter are both from Ikea and the marble tray is from H&M but they look great and do the job, too!
It’s also nice to include a couple of snacks for your guests to enjoy, especially if they’ve had a long journey.
If you live somewhere with local specialities, like for instance Cornish pasties, Bakewell tarts or stroopwafels, why not include them in a guest room welcome basket?
They’d make perfect little gifts and are ideal if your guests are a bit peckish.
Extra blankets, A Throw Or An Electric Blanket
A cosy guest bedroom has to include lots of things to keep you warm during chilly winter nights. With our high ceilings, our rooms can quickly get cold which is why we always provide our guests with extra blankets in case they need them.
We also always place a throw on any bed we ever make. In our master bedroom, we have a gorgeous textured charcoal-coloured throw by Christy and in our guest bedroom, there’s a black and white patterned throw which we bought at Urbanara.
Apart from these throws looking pretty, they’re perfect for ensuring that our guests feel comfortable and warm at all times.
We recently also added an electric blanket to our guest bedroom bed. It’s always nice to be able to crawl into a lovely warm bed, especially during the really cold Berlin winter nights!
Random Things & Little Touches Of Luxury
Try to anticipate your guest’s needs. You probably know what your friends and family like and need so it’s nice to be able to provide them with things that will make them feel more comfortable.
There are also lots of other little touches that will help make your guests feel well looked after, too. It’s always a good idea to have a spare umbrella for your guests to use (this may be a relic of our Manchester days but it does occasionally rain here, too) and I always make sure the room smells great, too.
You could add a scented candle or some fresh flowers to the room to make it both look and smell gorgeous. I always like to spray the room with this Rituals mist before our guests arrive because it smells amazing and makes the room smell fresh and inviting.
We also have this basic Nespresso coffee maker in our guest bedroom (we got ours on offer so it was only about £20 when you bought a lot of capsules). This is by no means something you have to include, but we figured it might be nice for our guests to have a cup of coffee in bed.
Whilst a coffee machine is probably total overkill, even if you are trying to create the ultimate guest bedroom setup, something we do like to add for our guests is a couple of travel tickets for public transport.
It’s also a good idea to have a small selection of toiletries to use, especially if you have guests travelling with hand luggage by plane where liquids can be a problem.
Almost all of our guests want to explore Berlin so it’s nice for them to have the tickets there to use without having to mess around at the ticket machines.
What do you think makes the perfect guest bedroom? What makes you feel welcome when staying with friends and family? How do you like to make your guests feel comfortable? What are your must-have guest bedroom essentials? Let us know in the comments!
PS. Don’t forget to download your free guest room checklist!
Kirsty Fletcher says
Our guest room is next on our list! Thank you for this! Loads of great ideas! x
Christine says
Thanks, Kirsty! There’s always another project, isn’t there?
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