Every little detail

Yup, it's a picture of a mattress - not just any old mattress, but a Memory Foam Mattress.

Just one of the little details which a self-caterer has to think about when getting a property prepared for the arrival of her guests. A good night's sleep is very important on holiday, and we take the provision of comfort very seriously. So today, I thought I'd just blip the details of the mattress so that one of these days when I actually remember to do so, I'll add it to some 'FAQ' or other about why people should choose our cottage to stay in as opposed to someone else's.

It's a tough competitive world out there in the land of holidays, and the days when you just placed an advert with the local Tourist Board and waited for the guests to contact you are long gone. It's all social networking, multimedia presentations and quality standards, not to mention guest feedback - yes, it's a bit of a theme at the moment for me.

Had lunch with a friend who I used to work with years ago. We chatted about such matters and he mentioned how he liked to give feedback when his opinion is sought - and about how some questionnaires are too complicated for words and he just gives up.

So somewhere there is a happy medium, between asking simple questions and asking complex ones - neither of the extremes is going to get you a useable answer. And we've already ruled out the 'tick boxes' piece of cardboard.

I'm thinking that maybe I'll devote some wall space in the cottage to a pin board. Then people can write a postcard and leave it on the pin board for the next guests with notes about things they'd recommend doing. Do you think that would work?

Oh, the mattress is very comfy by the way - we did lots of research about what the best hotel chains bought when choosing mattresses for their beds before we ordered it.