Opening a holiday flat comes with a long list of tasks, and textiles usually get left until last. That is a mistake: they are the first thing a guest touches and the first thing that shows up in a review.
This guide answers what to buy and to what specification. The other half of the question — how many units of each — has a method of its own and its own sources, and it is set out in full in how many sheets and towels each bed needs. Work through this list first; the quantities come afterwards, and they come out better.
Three decisions before the list
Almost every order that arrives and turns out to be unusable fails on one of these three, not on the list of items.
1. Measure the beds properly. Not the bed's commercial name: the mattress. Width, length and above all depth, because depth is what decides whether a fitted sheet holds the corners or pulls off after two nights. A mattress with a topper is several centimetres deeper than the same mattress without one, and that detail appears on no bed's spec sheet.
2. Decide the bed system before buying anything. Flat sheet with a bedspread, or a duvet cover. This is not an aesthetic preference: it changes which pieces you buy, what gets changed at every departure and how much each load weighs. Deciding halfway through an order is how two systems end up coexisting in the same flat.
3. Choose the composition with the laundry in mind. 100% cotton has the better hand; a 50/50 blend takes more cycles, dries sooner and saves most of the ironing. And the fibre decides the process: the detail is in how to wash hospitality textiles, and how to read the spec sheet before deciding is in the fabric guide.
The bedroom, piece by piece
- Mattress protector. The piece that protects the most expensive thing in the flat. Ask for waterproof and breathable: waterproof without breathability is felt underneath and the guest sleeps badly.
- Fitted sheet. This is where fit is won or lost. Check the skirt depth against your mattress's real depth, not against the bed size.
- Flat sheet or duvet cover, according to the decision above. If you dress with a duvet, the cover does the flat sheet's job and changes at every departure just like a sheet.
- Pillowcases. The size is set by the pillow, not the bed: two identical beds with different pillows need different cases.
- Pillow and pillow protector. The protector extends the life of the pillow exactly as the mattress protector extends the life of the mattress, and costs a fraction.
- Duvet insert if you dress with a duvet, with the weight matched to the season you open in.
- Bedspread or coverlet. This is the piece that makes the photograph: it falls over the base and covers what does not look good. Ask for the width that lets you cut without a centre seam for your bed size.
The bathroom
- Bath, hand and face towels. All three, not just the big one: the small one is what stops the guest taking the bath towel to the basin. Which size goes with which use is in the towel size guide.
- Grammage decided per item, not per catalogue. Go up where the guest notices — the bath towel — and not across the board, because every gram is paid for in every load all year. The criteria are in the grammage guide.
- Bath mat. Not a towel and not bought like one: it works on the floor, it gets dirty differently and it washes differently.
- Bathrobes, optional. Only if your category justifies them: they are the most expensive thing in the bathroom to wash and dry.
- Pool towels, if you have a pool: stock kept separate from the room stock, never added to it.
The table and the kitchen
If your flat has a kitchen or a dining area — and almost all do — this is the part most often forgotten and the first to look bare.
- Tablecloth. Measure the table and decide the drop before ordering; a short cloth is worse than none. The measurements are in the table linen guide.
- Cloth napkins if the category calls for them, or none at all: there is no middle ground.
- Kitchen cloths. 70% cotton – 30% polyester is the working cloth, and 100% cotton the more absorbent one. If you want to colour-code by zone — one for dishes, one for surfaces, one for glassware — you need different colours from the first order, not later.
What almost everyone forgets
- A complete emergency change, stored separately and left alone, for the 11 p.m. surprise.
- Laundry bags or sacks. Without them, the dirty linen travels in the clean bedspread.
- Linen identification if you share a laundry: a heat-sealed or sewn label with your identifier. Without it, you lose any argument about missing pieces.
- Spare pillowcases. They stain far more than sheets — make-up, creams, hair — and they are the first item to leave the circuit.
Standardise before buying, not after
This is the decision that saves the most money and the one almost nobody takes in time. One bed size wherever you can, one white, one reference per item. The moment two different whites coexist, replacement stops being replacement and becomes redoing the whole room so nothing clashes.
And before closing the order, check that the reference you are buying will still exist a year from now. What it costs not to standardise is broken down in the hidden cost of not standardising.
Three expensive mistakes
Buying domestic textiles. They are made to be washed at 40 °C once a week, not at 60 °C with bleach and a dryer. They lose shape within months, and the price difference is gone at the first replacement.
Buying without doing the sum. "A few sets" seems enough until the first laundry delay. The sum has a method; it is in the quantities guide, and doing it before ordering takes ten minutes.
Ignoring the cost of washing. The purchase price is paid once; washing and drying are paid every week of the year. Go up in quality where the guest notices, not everywhere.
The order that works
- Measure mattresses and tables, depth included.
- Decide the bed system: flat sheet or duvet.
- Decide the composition, thinking about how you will wash.
- Standardise sizes, white and references.
- Do the quantities with the PAR method.
- Order everything at once, and keep the exact reference for every item.
In that order, one large one-off purchase lasts years. In the reverse order, you start the drip of replacements that ends up costing twice as much.
And if your property is seasonal and closes for several months, what decides the state it reopens in is not the purchase but the storage. We go into that in textiles for campsites and glamping.
The quick way
If you would rather not go item by item, our hospitality packs bring the above together by complete room: you choose quality and bed size and the pack includes the pieces the room needs. You can also buy separately in bed linen, bath textiles and table linen.