Best indoor plants for your holiday rental
Discover how to use indoor plants to your advantage
November 2024
Want to spruce up the interior design of your holiday rental? One of the quickest and easiest ways is by adding a bit of life, literally. Plants are a great way to liven up your holiday rental, giving it colour and fresh air. Here are some of the best plants to choose from, along with ideas for placement and care.
Why should you choose plants for a holiday home?
If you’ve been paying attention to the decor scene, you’ll know that plants are huge at the moment, so they’re a great way to quickly bring your property up to date with trends. They will look fabulous in the photos you use to advertise your holiday home online, as well as in your guests’ Instagram pics. However, plants are so much more than just a passing trend.
Plants are wonderful if you’re trying to tie a theme together. For example, a cute little sago palm or dieffenbachia is ideal if you want your property to have a tropical vibe. Brightly coloured African violets can add a much-needed pop of colour to a corner of a room.
Another reason to choose plants is simple: they’re an inexpensive way to improve your decor. New furniture is expensive, and changing the colour of the walls can take a lot of time as you literally wait for the paint to dry. However, plants are highly affordable and can instantly transform a room from drab to stylish.
Research has also shown that indoor plants can reduce pollutants in a room, so your guests can enjoy fresher air. There are so many reasons to add indoor plants to your holiday rental — why not get some today?
How to choose the best plants for an Airbnb
Obviously, as a holiday rental landlord, you won’t be entering the property every day. As such, you generally want to look for hardy plants that don’t require constant watering. Aside from that, there are a few more things to keep in mind:
- Choose plants that are easy to maintain and won’t die quickly. Flowering plants like orchids look beautiful at first, but they’re very delicate — and as the flowers are so lightweight, they’ll scatter all over your floors as they rot, leaving a terrible mess.
- Go for similar types of plants. You don’t want to have to take on a complicated plant-care regime. As a landlord, you have enough on your mind without remembering that some plants need to be watered once a week, while others require watering every 10 days.
- Choose plants that match your existing decor. Cacti are a very popular choice as indoor plants because they’re so hardy, but they will look extremely out of place in a rustic log cabin in the Alps.
- Think about the environment inside your property. Do guests usually have the heating or the aircon on? Choose plants that can cope.
- Is your Airbnb pet-friendly? Then you have an additional consideration to think about. When choosing plants, check carefully to make sure they are non-toxic to dogs and cats. There are many common plants that don’t affect humans but can be fatal for our four-legged friends.
What about fake plants in a holiday rental?
Fake plants offer a lot of advantages: they’re non-toxic, require no maintenance, and are easy to replace if you get fed up with them. There’s no chance of wilting or shredding, so you don’t need to worry about making a mess. Even if your holiday rental is locked up for a few months, fake plants will still be going strong when you open back up.
However, life isn’t all a bed of plastic roses when it comes to fake plants. First, they offer none of the benefits of real plants when it comes to freshening up the atmosphere and cleaning the air. Furthermore, some guests feel very strongly about them and might be disappointed to see them in your property rental. That’s particularly true if you try to advertise on holiday rental portals as an eco-friendly property. Green-conscious guests want to see real plants, not plastic versions. If you want your property to be a sustainable, environmentally friendly choice, then forget the fakes.
How to place plants in your holiday rental
Once you’ve chosen your favourite plants, it’s time to think about placement. In general, most plants thrive with bright light, but it must be indirect. You don’t want the sun’s rays to hit the plant’s leaves directly, especially in summer or if your property is in a hot area. An east-facing window is a good choice.
You also don’t want your plants to be too close to either air conditioners, heaters, or radiators. Aircons can strip moisture out of the air, causing your plants to wilt. Heaters make them uncomfortable, as the temperature gets too hot for their liking.
Finally, consider the way your guests will use the space when they rent your house for holidays. If you place a plant right beside a doorway, children might run into it and knock it over. A large pot in the middle of a corridor could be a tripping hazard. Plants on kitchen worktops can look great in your holiday rental website photos, but make sure you’ve left enough room for your guests to actually do some cooking.
Once your plants are in position, make sure to take some new photos and add them to your listings.
Taking care of plants in a holiday rental
If you’ve chosen your plants wisely, then taking care of them will be easy. Give yourself a watering schedule, or tell your cleaner if you have one. Remember that, occasionally, you’ll need to change the soil or trim your plants, and every so often, check for pests and remove any dead leaves. That’s all. Your new plants can become an exciting, appealing feature, encouraging more people to rent your holiday flat and enjoy spending time in your home.
