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Everybody wants power. Short term rental hosts who put power in all the right places are much more likely to receive five star reviews. We’re talking here about electrical power! And more specifically, easily accessible electrical power. In a newer home, this is pretty easy, because current building codes require a good number of outlets throughout the house and especially in the kitchen. In an older home, however, this can be a challenge, because there are often very few outlets and they are more often than not awkwardly placed.
We always suggest staying in your rental as a guest, to understand how your guests will perceive it. When you do this be sure and note where power is needed. Below are a few gadgets to fill in any gaps.
Do you have a kitchen where all the guests end up during the party? If so, you’ll want to be sure there are extra places for guests to plug in their laptops or charge their phones.
Be sure and have an easy to access for phone and laptop plug-in on top of your desk, so folks don’t have to crawl around on the floor to plug in their equipment. We like the design of this one.
In the living room and bedroom, there are clever lamp options, with usb ports in the base, which provides easy table top access to plug in a phone and avoid cord clutter.
If you get a lot of international travelers, you may want to have a power converter on hand, in case your guests forgot theirs or didn’t know they needed one.
The last piece to providing easily accessible power is making sure your guests know which switch powers which light or device and if a switch needs to be turned on for an outlet to work. We love the Brother P-Touch for this task! A short and sweet note will usually do the trick!
Guests will appreciate that you have thought about where and how they need to plug in. It’s a little detail, but little details add up to great reviews.
A note about safety: If you are renting out an older home and are uncertain about the condition of your wiring, it is advisable to have someone qualified, an inspector or electrician, check out the condition of the wiring before listing your property to be sure the it is in safe condition.