Guide
What to stock in an Airbnb
A well-stocked property answers a guest's question before they have to ask it. These are the categories we work from. The list itself, what belongs in each room and how deep to carry it, took us seventeen years to settle, and it lives in the book.
Kitchen
A guest decides whether your kitchen is real or decorative within a minute of opening a drawer.
The categories are obvious. What you carry, and how deep you carry it, is the decision, and that is the part guests review you on.
Bathroom
The bathroom is where generosity is felt and meanness is remembered.
Do you stock this room for the bed or for the booking, and do you know which one your reviews are judging?
Bedroom
Sleep is the product. Everything in this room either protects it or interrupts it.
How deep does your rotation need to be before a back-to-back weekend stops being a risk?
Laundry and cleaning
This cupboard is stocked for your cleaner, not for you.
Is your cupboard stocked for the turnover you plan, or for the one that runs late?
Safety and utility
Guests should never notice this category, and should never be without it.
If a guest needed something here in the middle of the night, would they find it without messaging you?
Welcome extras
Extras are the only category guests mention by name.
Which single thing in your property would appear in a review by name, and is it there on purpose?
The gap this list leaves on purpose
Naming a category is easy. The operating layer is the itemised list behind it, the depth you carry, and what resets to full every single turnover rather than getting topped up. Get that wrong and you feel it in messages, laundry and reviews rather than in a spreadsheet.
Do you know your standard for every category above, or are you guessing and finding out at checkout? Appendix B of The Guest Before The Rest gives you ours.
See where your property stands with the Guest-Ready Score.
Frequently asked questions
What should every Airbnb have as a minimum?#
Work in categories rather than lists: sleeping, bathing, cooking, cleaning, safety and welcome. The useful question is not what the categories are but how deep you carry each one, which is where most properties quietly fall short. The full itemised standard is Appendix B of The Guest Before The Rest.
How much should I budget to stock an Airbnb?#
Budget by category rather than by a single number: durable goods you buy once, linens you buy in multiples, and consumables you reset every turnover. Costs vary by market and property size, so start from the category list above and price it locally.
Do I need to provide food in an Airbnb?#
Somewhere between nothing and a full shop there is a line that guests notice when you cross it in either direction. Where that line sits, and what belongs on your side of it, is covered in the book.
How many towels and sheets should I supply?#
Enough that a longer stay never runs short and a turnover never waits on a wash cycle. The working numbers we have used for seventeen years are in Appendix B of the book.
Keep reading
Related next guides
- How to set up an Airbnb rentalThe decisions a first short-term rental faces, in the order they arrive.Read the guide
- Guest-Ready ScoreTake a few minutes to look at your property through the same 12 areas we consider when preparing ours.Check your Guest-Ready Score
Appendix A
A useful place to begin.
Our two-page printable introduces the 12 Guest-Ready Principles and the supply categories we consider when preparing a short and mid term rental.
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Revision 1.5 · updated 17 August 2026, the same stamp is printed on the PDF.
The Cheat Sheet
The one page we carry to every property: entry codes, utilities, Wi-Fi, the details that keep a stay seamless from the first hour. Yours on request.