Luxury bedroom furniture retailer Feather & Black who conducted a study of 2,000 respondents to discover the top things house guests notice and what makes them feel most welcome when visiting someone else’s home.
The research revealed that it’s sensory stimuli that captures attention first and foremost, with the majority of people noticing a home’s smell before anything else. Following smell, visual stimuli such as interior design style and clutter around the home take over. Below is the full list of the top things that guests notice:
- Smell
- Interior design style
- Clutter
- Colour scheme
- Ambience
Feather & Black’s study also revealed what makes guests feel the most welcome in someone else’s house. Perhaps unsurprisingly, offering visitors a drink is the fastest way to make them feel welcome, with 43% of people stating this to be the case.Creating a welcoming ambience is an important factor for 41% of people, while 1 in 3 (33%) consider the cleanliness of a house to be pivotal in making them feel at home. Nearly 1 in 5 respondents (19%) stated that they feel welcome when the host cooks for them, while 16% of people appreciate being shown around the house.
When it comes to staying overnight at someone’s house, being offered a comfortable bed and bedding is what most contributes to a welcoming experience for guests, with 64% of people saying it’s important to them. An inviting ambience (36%) was the second most important factor, followed by being provided with towels and toiletries (32%). A quarter of respondents (26%) enjoy the host cooking for them during an overnight stay, and 1 in 10 (10%) feel most welcome when they are provided with personal storage space.
Other key findings from the survey:
- 1 in 3 people spend on average 2-3 hours preparing for house guests, while 1% of people spend as much as 11-15 hours making sure that their home is immaculate before guests arrive.
- 15% of Brits don’t spend any time preparing for welcoming guests.
- 16% of Brits never have guests.
- The majority of people (19%) have house guests only a few times a year.
- 1 in 5 (19%) of people have guests once a month.
- Guests find modern, classic, rustic, coastal and Scandi interior styles to be the most aesthetically pleasing.
