Be the Perfect Holiday Host Thanks to These 5 Guest Room Essentials

The guest room is the unsung hero of the holidays. It's where your guests go to relax after a day packed with holiday fun and lots of food. It needs to be a place of luxury that's stocked with all the essentials needed for quality sleep. 

It can be stressful to anticipate the needs of your guests. That's why we boiled it down to five main elements that your spare room needs to impress your holiday guests. 

Also, see why you should become an early bird and how to stay cozy at night without hiking up your heating bill. 

Best Mattresses of 2022 See at Cnet

5 guest room essentials for this holiday season

Choose the right mattress

It all starts and ends with the mattress. It's the whole reason the guest room exists. Depending on how often your guest room is used, you may not want to spend much money on a luxury mattress. Many people opt for day beds or sofa beds to avoid the cost.

However, if you want to offer your guests a mattress, you're in luck! There are plenty of budget-friendly mattress options that we suggest for guest rooms. We suggest mattresses like Tuft and Needle or Allswell as affordable guest room mattresses that will stand the test of time.

For cheaper mattress options for your guest room, check out our selections for the best cheap mattresses of 2022. If you have an old mattress that you want to breathe new life into, you can add a mattress pad or mattress topper to extend the life of the bed.  

Add some cool weather bedding

As the weather cools off, your guest room can turn into an icebox. You can add winter-ready bedding to your guest room to combat the chill without hiking up your heating bill. Maybe your style is layering a few holiday-themed throw blankets. Or maybe you want to keep it simple and add flannel or jersey sheets to the bed. Here's your chance to pull out your decorating skills and make your guest bed a cozy wonderland. 

Other cool weather bedding options to add to your guest room:

• Weighted blankets
• Heated blankets
• Duvet covers

Stock the bed with pillows

You can't have a good guest room without pillows. Pillows are essential for quality sleep and ensuring your neck and head are supported at night. The flat, ancient pillows you pull out of the closet for guests may be back for their sleep. The wrong pillow can cause discomfort or neck pain. There are pillows at every price point. So whether you're on a budget or ready to pay for luxury, there are several options. And don't forget the holiday throws -- 'tis the season.

Don't forget the curtains 

Blackout curtains are essential to a successful guest room, especially if you have family members traveling across time zones to visit. Blackout curtains can drastically improve daytime sleep quality by keeping out the sunlight. Our melatonin production, which controls our sleep/wake cycle, is based on our exposure to light. Our bodies stop producing melatonin when the sun is up, so we are alert. Then as the sun goes down, our melatonin production ramps up and we get sleepy. Blackout curtains offer traveling guests the chance to catch up on sleep. 

Add an oil diffuser

Once the perfect guest room is set up, you can focus on the extra things -- the holiday decorations, the sleep masks and the oil diffusers. 

Oil diffusers offer a way to make your guest room feel a little homier with aromatherapy. Scents like chamomile or lavender oil can help guests feel relaxed and rejuvenated. There are several types of oil diffusers, like reed diffusers or ultrasonic. Oil diffusers are an easy way to make your guests feel more comfortable and get better sleep along the way. 

Want more? Learn how to use CBD as a natural sleep aid and which foods to eat for ultimate sleep.