Furnishing a holiday rental around your guests

In short. Furnish a holiday rental around what guests search for with filters. According to Airbnb, the most searched amenities in 2025 were a pool, free parking, wifi, air conditioning or heating and a kitchen. Then there are the essentials guests expect: toilet paper, soap, one towel and one pillow per guest, and bed linen for every bed. Style comes afterwards, and it is worth seeing it on the real home before you buy.

The amenities guests search for most

On Airbnb, guests filter results by amenity: something you offer but have not listed will not appear in those searches. These were the ten most searched amenities worldwide in 2025, according to Airbnb's internal data:

Not all of them can be bought, but several can: good wifi, air conditioning, a washing machine, a barbecue on the terrace, a lock that allows self check-in. When you add one, list it under amenities in your listing and show it in your photos.

Source: Airbnb Resource Center ('The amenities guests want').

The essentials

Airbnb calls five basic items essential amenities:

• toilet paper;
• hand and body soap;
• one towel per guest;
• one pillow per guest;
• bed linen for each bed.

For large groups or longer stays, Airbnb suggests providing more. Be careful with the Essentials option in your listing: according to the Airbnb Help Center, listings that select it without providing them may face penalties, up to removal from Airbnb.

Airbnb's ground rules for hosts also require every listed amenity to be genuinely available, with any restrictions disclosed: a pool open only in certain months has to say so.

For different kinds of guests

Furnishing with a particular kind of guest in mind makes choices easier. Airbnb lists what three groups appreciate:

• remote workers: fast, reliable wifi, a dedicated workspace, a laptop stand, good lighting, pens, paper and universal chargers;
• families with children: a high chair, a travel cot, safety gates;
• guests with pets: furniture covers, food and water bowls, towels for wiping paws at the door, extra cleaning products.

Guests with accessibility needs often look for a step-free entrance, grab bars in a bathroom and an accessible parking space: if your home has them, list them and photograph them.

A seaside home has the same priorities, with two items carrying more weight: air conditioning and outdoor space. A terrace with a table, chairs and a parasol is an extra room, and it should be furnished and shown as one.

Before you buy, see it furnished

Furnishing mistakes show once the furniture arrives: the sofa that is too big, the table that will not seat six, a style that clashes with the home. With virtual staging you see the real room with different furniture or a different style before you order. How it works and what can change is explained in Virtual staging: how your home could look.

Virtual staging images are for deciding. Your listing needs photos of the home as it is really furnished: the platforms require guests to find what they saw.

Then the photos

A well-furnished home only shows if the photos show it. When you change the furniture or add an amenity, update your amenities, description and photos, as Airbnb also suggests. How to prepare the rooms before the shoot is in Staging a holiday rental for photos; the photo sizes are in Photo size and format for Airbnb and Booking.com.

Our packages include Virtual Restyling, to see your rooms with different furniture before you change them.