MyVacayHome Blog | Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist

As a vacation rental owner, you’ve got a lot of questions to answer:

Should I get vacation rental insurance? (Yes.)

Should I name my vacation rental? (Also yes.)

How do I decorate a vacation rental? (Like this!)

But once you’ve answered all of those big questions—and once you’ve determined how much money you can make from your vacation rental—it’s time to narrow your focus and get down to the nitty gritty stuff.

Compiling a vacation rental inventory checklist is a great way to make sure your rental is stocked with all the things guests might need, from condiments in the refrigerator to an alarm clock on the nightstand.

To do: Create a Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist

What is a Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist?

It’s pretty self-explanatory! A vacation rental inventory checklist is a personalized ledger that can help you keep track of everything related to your vacation home. The best part is that it’s totally customizable: you can use it to make sure your rental is properly stocked for visitors, or you can take it a step further and use it as an evaluation tool between stays. For instance, your vacation rental inventory checklist can help you monitor the condition of items in your home, such as the furniture and whatever else needs to be audited frequently.

No matter what you use it for, a vacation rental inventory checklist ultimately exists so you can provide your customers with a sublime guest experience stay after stay after stay.

Why is a Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist so Important?

Keeping your rental in tip-top shape while also keeping it stocked for travelers is a tedious task. You know this! A vacation rental inventory checklist makes your job a bit easier—at the very least, it helps you remain consistent from one stay to the next and provides a reliable reminder about the things you need to do, examine, replenish, fix, and so forth.

Many hosts use a vacation rental inventory checklist to make sure all of the items in their home are where they need to be and in working order. Without a vacation rental inventory checklist, you run the risk of forgetting things from one stay to the next; with a thorough checklist, though, you can simplify turnover between stays and basically guarantee you’re providing every guest with the same magnificent experience.

How Do I Create a Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist?

Well, this is kind of up to you! The layout and depth of your vacation rental inventory checklist depends on your personal needs, as well as the complexity of your home. It can be a simple tool that helps you keep track of basic supplies, or it can be a miniature catalog of items and their condition before and after guest visits.

Some hosts choose the latter and ask guests to sign their vacation rental inventory checklist. In essence, the checklist becomes an agreement between host and guest, which could be an important document if anything gets damaged and an insurance claim is necessary. But really, a vacation rental inventory checklist doesn’t have to be a contractual measure; it can just be a straightforward list of things that makes your job smoother.

Vacation Rental Inventory Checklist: Room-by-Room

Okay, let’s go ahead and assume every space in your rental has the basic essentials. The living room has adequate seating, the kitchen is equipped with updated appliances, and the bathroom has a working toilet. Great! Since all of that is in order, you can use the vacation rental inventory checklist below as a jump-off for your own checklist. Be sure to customize your final checklist to fit your rental and needs. And if some of these items seem kind of “extra” to you, just remember: guests really appreciate the small details!