When you have a holiday home that you rent out to other people you have to decide how best to furnish it.

The most important thing to remember is that you can’t count on others to look after your possessions in the same way that you would. Most people will be careful – if for no other reason than to ensure they get their full security deposit back at the end of the holiday – but there will be some people who are careless when staying in another person’s home.

So, the furnishings you choose should be solidly built and difficult to scratch or damage in other ways. For example, a dining table should have a surface that can withstand hot pots and pans being placed on it, and if it’s extendable, make sure that the extension isn’t flimsy. Folding chairs may be practical if space is limited, but are more likely to get broken than permanent chairs with four solid legs.

Similarly, there’s no point putting in a sofa bed if you have enough beds in the holiday home. For a start, a sofa bed will encourage people to fill the house beyond its stated capacity, which puts pressure on all the other fixtures and fittings in the property. Secondly, a sofa bed has more moving parts than a standard sofa, so is more likely to get broken or damaged.

If you have cabinets in the living room or dining room, you should avoid glass fronted doors as these are more likely to get broken than wooden fronted doors.

It’s also a good idea to not overfill the holiday home with superfluous furniture. Stick to the basics to make it a comfortable place for people to stay without it being crowded with excess pieces of furniture that doesn’t actually serve a purpose. This will also cut down the time it takes to clean and arrange the property between guests.

At the beginning of every season, check over all the furniture in the holiday home and replace anything that has been damaged. The better the condition that everything is in, the more likely the people staying there will be to look after the place.