How to save space in your holiday rental
June 2026
Tiny homes may have become a trend in recent years, but a tiny holiday rental is still awkward for landlords to manage. Maximising space is crucial if you want your guests to feel comfortable in your rental. Here are some tips to make the most of whatever space you have.
Remove all clutter
You don’t need to go full Marie Kondo on your space, but decluttering is generally one of the quickest and easiest ways to make a small room feel bigger.
As you find more and more ornaments to add character to a room, clutter can easily build up in a holiday rental. Little by little, your items stop being decorative and become cluttered.
If you want to create more space at home, invite someone else to take a look at it. You may be so familiar with it that you don’t even recognise clutter for what it is. A third party who hasn’t seen the space before will do a better job at identifying clutter and helping you realise what you can cut down on.
Invest in multi-purpose furniture
Space-saving furniture for the home is a blessing for anyone with tiny spaces to fill. One of the best ways how to save space at home is to look for multi-purpose furniture — for example, ottomans with lids that flip open to reveal hidden storage spaces or coffee tables with drawers underneath.
A set of nesting tables is an excellent choice, especially if you want to rent out your holiday home to large groups of guests. This way, the tables can be neatly tucked out of the way until your guests want to eat, giving them more space to enjoy.
The one piece of multi-purpose furniture to be careful about is a sofa bed. These are often a great way to optimise space at home, but in a holiday rental, there are three potential pitfalls:
- How do you advertise your holiday home if it contains a sofa bed? Do not list the sofa bed as a bed, or you will disappoint guests. Instead, you should only mention it as a bonus.
- Do you have enough bedding for guests to use your sofa bed? Some landlords just leave blankets, but guests will also want sheets.
- Can you show guests how your sofa folds out into a bed? Some sofa beds can be tricky to operate, as there are so many different kinds of mechanisms. If you’re not around to show your guests how yours works, then make sure to provide a step-by-step guide in your welcome book.
Use your space creatively
Older buildings are often low on space due to unusual blueprints —you may have odd alcoves and peculiar nooks. At first glance, these can seem impossible to use. However, with a bit of creative thinking, you can transform them.
One of the best ways to manage space in holiday rental homes is by using built-in furniture in these oddly shaped spaces. You won’t be able to find commercial furniture that fits, so hire a carpenter to make purpose-built shelves that can provide storage.
An added bonus of this strategy is that it will lend more character to your holiday rental, making the space seem truly unique.
How to save space in holiday rental homes: space-saving bedrooms
Bedrooms are particularly important when it comes to saving space. Guests don’t want to feel unhappy spending their nights in a small, cramped room. Here are a few tips:
- If your room has a double bed, ensure the bed is accessible from both sides. Nobody wants to scramble over their partner to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Plan your space-saving strategy around that.
- Bunk beds are a handy way to save space in a room designed for kids. Just make sure to advertise bunk beds clearly on your holiday rental website, as few adults want to sleep in a bunk bed.
- No space for bedside tables? Look for beds with headboard shelving instead. This is a simple, elegant solution that looks great in modern homes.
- Use wall-mounted lighting wherever possible. This will cut down on the need for lamps to take up space.
- Place large mirrors strategically. Okay, they won’t actually help you save space, but mirrors can certainly give the illusion of a larger, airier bedroom.
Don’t be overambitious
One of the best ways to save space in a holiday rental is to work with what you’ve got. Trying to place too much furniture is a bad strategy.
You might think, for example, that installing a bathtub will win you some brownie points with guests and allow you to charge more to people who rent your holiday flat. However, if your bathroom is so small that the tub means people have to twist and turn awkwardly to get past the toilet, it’ll actually have a detrimental effect.
The same goes for furniture in other areas of the home, like the living room. More does not mean better. When you’re laying out your interior plan, always remember to keep enough negative space for guests to get around comfortably, even if that means opting for one fewer sofa.
Be honest with your guests
The photos in your listings on holiday rental portals should always be an accurate reflection of your space. It can be awfully tempting to use wide-angle lenses and camera distortion techniques to make the rooms of your holiday rental seem bigger than they really are — it’ll just backfire when guests arrive. You may end up with bad reviews complaining about how cramped your rental is.
Even worse, photos showing “expectation” vs “reality” have a tendency to go viral on social media. It’s very hard to recover from people online laughing at your rental.
Make future plans to maximise space
For now, you can optimise the space you have in your rental, but is there room for development in the future? It’s worth thinking about room for potential expansion. For example, if your holiday home has high ceilings, you may be able to put in a mezzanine or loft. A mezzanine bedroom is a startling, dramatic touch that many guests love.
Can you expand into the garden? You don’t want to use up all your outdoor space —that’s an important part of your rental— but you may be able to create a paved patio where guests can eat, use a hot tub, and so on. Remember, an outdoor dining area must be covered if you want it to replace an indoor space. Nobody wants to be rained on while they eat.
Saving and maximising space at home is one area where it’s worth planning ahead. Having a larger holiday rental with more open space is an excellent way to expand your business in a few years’ time.