i don’t know about you, but summer is our busiest season for overnight guests.  colorado is such an amazing place that our friends love to visit, and of course, we love to show off our great state.  i thought i'd share some tips on how to make overnight guests feel welcome in your home. 

most of these tips i've learned through business travel, but before i get to the tips, i want to first share the most important lesson i've learned from business travel. the non-traveling spouses/partners of many of my former colleagues who travel frequently for business seemed to think that business travel was one big party--five-star hotels, expensive dinners, late nights at the bars, etc.

while it is true that those are components of business travel, i assure you that the majority of business travel is work, not fun. you constantly are expected to be "on," there isn't any down time, and no matter how nice the hotel, it is difficult to sleep in a foreign bed with a used pillow, particularly when you know thousands have slept there before.  with rare exception, most business travelers would much prefer to be at home, sleeping in their beds with their own pillows, and eating peanut butter sandwiches for dinner.

now, onto the tips..

the tips fall into four basic categories: (i) comfort; (ii) sustenance; (iii) organization; and (iv) bathroom necessities.

for comfort, start with laundering the bedding the day of or day before the guest arrives. i used to launder the bedding after the prior guest left so it would be ready for the next guest, but then i thought about how much i love getting into freshly laundered sheets and wanted my guests to have the same experience.

another comfort tip is to have a bedside table in your guest room with a reading lamp and a box of tissues.

and of course don't forget the reading materials. i keep about a years' worth of a local magazine called 5280 in our guest room so that our guests can see what has and is going on in denver.

next tip: sustenance. i have been on countless business trips where i've been too busy to eat during the day and end up in my hotel room starving. room service is overpriced and creeps me out, so if i am desperate, i start picking through the mini bar offerings. now, these items are overpriced, too, but usually not as pricey as room service and generally there are some healthy items in the mini bar.

i create a mini bar in our guest room that includes bottled water, crystal light single-serving packages, nuts, mojo bars, and assorted candies, cookies, and crackers. i place everything on the dresser in a nifty feathergrain wood bin that i purchased at the container store.

next tip: organization. every business traveler knows that there are never enough conveniently-located outlets in a hotel room for all of the electronics that are required for a business trip, i.e., laptop, blackberry/iphone, ipad, ipod, clarisonic, and bluetooth. i have been known to move furniture in my room just to get easy access to the outlets.

so that my guests can avoid the inconvenience of moving furniture, i put a 6-outlet surge strip behind the sustenance box for their charging needs.

in addition to providing an item to organize electronic devices, it is important to also provide items that the guest can use to organize their clothing, shoes, and other stuff. i purchased this chrome luggage rack at the container store for $40, and it gets a lot of use.

it also is helpful to provide a number of different hanger types for your guests.

and don't forget hooks for their purses/bags/belts/robes as well as a full-length mirror so they can get a head-to-toe view before venturing out for the day.

final tip: bathroom necessities. this used to be less important prior to the post-9/11 carry-on restrictions, but due to our new reality, i stock the medicine cabinet with toothpaste, dental floss, face wash, eye-makeup remover, sunscreen, lip balm, lotion, shaving cream, razors, toothbrushes, fingernail clippers, qtips, cotton balls, ibuprofen, tums, and bandaids.

i also make sure to plug a night light in the bathroom outlet so that the guest can find the light switch in the middle of the night.

also important due to the post-9/11 carry-on restrictions are shampoo, conditioner, and liquid soap in the shower. ever since i encountered a "situation" when staying in a corporate apartment in chicago, i have refrained from putting out bar soap for guests unless it is a new bar. while i won't go into details, let's just say that the prior occupant had left a piece of himself/herself behind on the soap bar.

the items in this picture have nothing to do with the post-9/11 restrictions, but nonetheless are important for a guest's comfort--extra toilet paper so they don't have to ask, matches and a candle when they might need to cover up an undesireable smell, a hairdryer, and extra washclothes.

and of course a plunger. i know it doesn't look good, but i guarantee your guest would rather have it there than have to ask for one.

and finally, i stock extra towels, kleenex, toilet paper, soap, and blankets in the linen closet next to the guest room just in case.

those are my tips. i hope they were helpful. let me know if your guests get too comfortable, and you need me to give you some tips on how to get them out of your house. i have some of those, too.