One crucial aspect to consider when furnishing and maintaining your holiday home is safety. As the host, the well-being of your guests should be your top priority. Your guests want to feel safe and enjoy their holiday without worrying about possible hazards or risks in your holiday home. Therefore, we provide you with an overview of the safety measures that no holiday home should be without!
Prevent accidents
With a few simple but effective safety measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of accidents in your holiday home. Here are our tips:
- Have professional maintenance of pipes and connections carried out regularly to ensure that everything works smoothly.
- Before your guests arrive, check your holiday home for dangerous spots such as tripping hazards and store potentially dangerous items and pollutants, such as certain cleaning agents, out of the reach of children.
- If necessary, install corner protectors on sharp edges to prevent injuries, especially to children. For more tips on how to childproof your holiday home, check out our article on making holiday homes family-friendly.
- Secure dangerous areas outside your holiday home and make sure there is enough lighting so that your guests can find their way around easily even in the dark. Lighting systems that you can control from your smartphone or set using a timer are ideal for this.
Measures for emergencies
If an accident does happen despite all the safety precautions, your guests must be able to treat injuries provisionally themselves. A first aid kit is therefore a must in every holiday home. Check regularly to make sure it is still full and stock up if not. Place it in an easy-to-find location in the kitchen or bathroom. It is best to let your guests know exactly where they can find the first aid kit at the start of their stay and also make a note of this in the guest folder.
It is also important that you provide your guests with all the relevant information for various emergencies. This includes providing a contact person in case you cannot be reached yourself and all important emergency numbers. You should also state what to do in the event of a power or gas outage, for example. It is best to collect all relevant information in your guest folder and ensure that it is available in all languages relevant to your guests.
Fire protection
One of the biggest dangers in holiday homes is the outbreak of fire, which can
can cause serious damage. Unfortunately,
sometimes all it takes is a forgotten candle, a cigeratte but or a lack of experience in handling fireplaces. If there is a fireplace in your holiday home, be sure to instruct your guests on how to use it correctly. In any case, it is important to be proactive when it comes to equipment and to take the right fire safety precautions. Fire extinguishers and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are required by law in holiday homes. You should regularly check whether the smoke detector is still working by pressing the test button and replace empty batteries. It is ideal if your fire alarm system is directly connected to your smartphone or even directly to the fire brigade, so that valuable time is saved in the event of a fire. Please also remember that there may be special fire protection regulations that you must observe, depending on the federal state.
Prevent break-ins
Since holiday homes are empty more often than regular houses or flats, they are unfortunately particularly susceptible to break-ins. Therefore, make sure that all doors and windows can be locked securely, ideally with deadbolt locks, to protect your holiday home from burglars at all times. Smart locks are a modern solution that work with an individual numerical code. Be sure to change this code after each guest stay! Surveillance cameras and smart doorbells with video functionality are also an option, although you must inform your guests about this for data protection reasons. A motion detector can also deter burglars. The most effective way to protect your holiday home is with an alarm system that is directly connected to your smartphone or the police. For added security, you can also provide your guests with a safe for their valuables.
Accessibility
To expand your target group, you might decide to make your holiday home accessible. In this case, you need to take additional safety measures into account, such as ramps and special lighting systems. You can find more information on how to make your holiday home accessible here.
If you take these measures into account and take the appropriate precautions, you can minimise potential hazards and significantly contribute to the safety of your holiday home. This way, your guests will feel comfortable at all times and can enjoy their holiday to the full. Tip: Mention special safety measures in your listing – this can be a real plus!
