They’re coming from somewhere else; they don’t normally live with you, so they may or may not be familiar with your space. Make sure everything is set up for their comfort.
The Guest Room
If you have a private guest room, get it ready for your guests. Wash all the linens that were on the bed to make sure they are fresh and clean before your guests arrive. If you have an extra or spare bedroom, I highly recommend washing the linens to make sure everything is clean and fresh.
A bonus hack for clean bedding: always go over all your sheets, duvet covers, and pillow covers with a lint roller after you make your guest bed; you’ll be surprised by how much lint and hair you pick up, even after your sheets have been cleaned. Doing this before guests arrive makes sheets and bedding look pristine.
Making Sure Your Home Is Ready For Guests
If you have a mattress that’s a little bit older, maybe a little more uncomfortable, don’t splurge on a whole new mattress; you can buy a nice fluffy mattress topper and place it on top of your current mattress, and that’s going to make it feel a lot more comfortable for your guests.
You can also hire a professional house cleaner.
The Bathroom
These people are going to need to take a shower, so make sure your bathroom is clean and ready for the guests. When we go to hotels, we like to see things we may have forgotten, like shampoo, soap, Q-tips, and maybe a shower cap.
Buy a spare toothbrush kit with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a little shower cap; buy 10 or 12 at a time. Always leave an extra razor out; lots of people forget their razors when they come. Make sure there’s shampoo and conditioner in every shower they are going to use.
When you spray the toilet, don’t forget the head of the toilet, the tank of the toilet, the toilet seat, behind the toilet seat, the rim of the toilet, inside the toilet, around the outskirts of the toilet, base of the toilet, and don’t forget the handle, because lots of people touch that handle every single time they flush so there are lots of germs on that handle.
The Kitchen
When guests come to your house, they’re going to be spending a lot of time in your kitchen. Tell them everything’s wide open; if they want something from the fridge, it’s theirs; if they want something from the coffee bar, it’s theirs. Have snacks out displayed so guests can have any of these snacks that they want, a lot of them in airtight containers like pretzels, cookies, chips, and little containers with trail mix. If guests don’t eat those snacks, they don’t need to be refrigerated; they won’t go bad. They’ll be fine for 2 or 3 days, or a week.
If you have a coffee bar, put all kinds of stuff there: different kinds of herbal teas, different kinds of coffee cups, and healthy choices like sugar, creamer, Stevia, and honey. Creating a coffee station with whatever their favorite drink is, whether it’s coffee or tea, having coffee pods ready and an easy-to-use machine, is something guests seem to really enjoy.
You can add a Keurig machine, a kettle with water, favorite coffee syrups, and maybe even some to-go cups.
Small Extra Touches
A small welcome gift basket doesn’t have to be expensive; include a few granola bars, some popcorn, a drink (if you know whether your guest likes wine, craft beer, or sparkling water), and toiletries like small shampoos and soaps.
An air purifier in the bedroom and living room helps clean the air between guests and helps guests feel more comfortable in the space. A contactless phone charger on the nightstand by the guest bed is a nice little extra since people tend to forget phone chargers.
Leave the Wi-Fi password for guests so they don’t feel like they have to ask; pop a little note in the guest basket welcoming them and including the Wi-Fi password. Bathrobes in either the guest bath or the bedroom, and slippers in the pockets of the guest robes, are especially helpful in the wintertime when floors are a little chilly.
You can hire a professional home organizer to make this easier.
Staying Flexible
Make sure that no matter what happens, you’re flexible. If somebody starts rearranging your stuff and making it just so, that’s okay; in a minute they’re going to go home, and you can put it back the way it is. Be flexible and be open-minded, and when they leave, you can put everything back where it was, the way that you enjoy it.