A cosy look as winter approaches

In short. A cosy winter look comes down to four things : plenty of textiles, low lighting, a sensible temperature on arrival and the matching information in the welcome book. ADEME recommends 19 °C in living rooms while they are in use and 17 °C in bedrooms at night : decor goes on top, it does not replace heating. Allow half a day to switch your property from summer to winter, plus an hour to redo the photos. What follows covers each item in turn, including what we advise against.

The essentials : what the guest should find on arrival

Start from what comforts you, personally, on a November evening, when you walk into a property you have never seen before. Warmth, soft light, and nothing to hunt for.

Throws and duvets first. Provide enough of them : our rule of thumb is one throw per seat in the living room and one spare blanket per bed. Then comes the point almost everyone forgets : write down in your welcome book exactly where they are kept, the sofa storage box or the top shelf of the bedroom wardrobe. A blanket nobody can find warms nobody.

Check the number of cups as well. In winter people drink more hot drinks, and from bigger containers : mugs rather than coffee cups. The makings of a hot chocolate on the evening of check-in cost next to nothing and turn up in the reviews.

If you have a fireplace or a wood burner, stacking logs along a wall decorates the room without buying a thing. Two conditions : dry wood, and lighting instructions written down in black and white, otherwise the fire becomes a hazard rather than a treat.

What temperature should you heat to before check-in ?

Heat the living rooms to 19 °C for the stated arrival time, and leave the bedrooms at 17 °C. These are the benchmarks published by ADEME, which recommends 19 °C in living rooms while occupied, 16 to 17 °C when they are not, 17 °C in the bedroom at night and 22 °C in the bathroom when it is in use. Source : ADEME, the right habits for cheaper heating.

Room	Temperature recommended by ADEME	What it changes at check-in
Living room, lounge, study, during the stay	19 °C	The guest takes their coat off instead of messaging you
Empty living room, between two bookings	16 to 17 °C	The property warms up quickly without heating an empty home
Bedroom, at night	17 °C	Nobody opens the window at 3 am because it is too warm
Bathroom, when in use	22 °C	The morning shower does not end with a message

Heating accounts for 66 % of a home's energy spending according to ADEME : in a rental, you are the one paying the difference between a thermostat that has been set and a thermostat left open to interpretation. Display the setting, say where the thermostat is, and say what must not be touched. Our other tips for cutting heating costs in your property go further on this subject.

The bonuses of a cosy look : what really changes the mood

This is the fun part. Pinterest and interiors magazines are full of ideas, as long as you filter them through one question : will it survive forty stays a year ?

Here is what we suggest adding.

• A few lightly scented candles, or their LED equivalent, see below

• A knitted throw, machine washable

• Two or three warm light sources rather than a ceiling light

• Cushions and fluffy rugs, in fabrics that go in the washing machine

On colours, soft shades always work : white, cream, grey, pale wood. At Christmas, a little green and red is plenty ; we have written a whole article on decorating your property for the Christmas season.

Lighting does more work than textiles. Three low lamps beat a single ceiling light, and cost less than a new sofa.

The cosy touches that push your heating bill up

Some supposedly snug habits work against you. ADEME is clear on the main one : do not put furniture, laundry or curtains in front of radiators, as this blocks the heat from spreading. The heavy floor-length curtain in front of the living room radiator, the throw draped over it to hide it, the bench pushed up against it : three very common winter decorating mistakes.

The same logic applies to damp. A damp property feels cold at the same temperature, and ADEME puts the ideal humidity level between 40 and 60 %. In winter, the instruction fits on one line : open the windows for five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening, with the radiators off. Write it down, because a guest who is cold closes everything, including the ventilation grilles. The subject is covered in our tips against damp in a property.

Stacked logs make a lovely photo. Stacked in front of the radiator, they make a bill.

Candles and fairy lights : what we advise against in a rental

Up to date as of 23 September 2026. We advise against leaving candles freely available in furnished tourist accommodation. You are not there, you do not know who is sleeping in the bedroom, and a forgotten flame costs infinitely more than the mood it creates. Battery-powered LED candles now look perfectly decent. If you insist on a real flame, leave just one, on a stable holder, with the instruction to blow it out when leaving the room.

For fairy lights, the DGCCRF makes three points : buy a string carrying the « CE » marking, check before any outdoor use that it does not say « indoor use only », and never leave it plugged in unattended all day or all night, as the heat from the bulbs or a short circuit can start a fire. It also recommends plugging the lights into a socket on their own rather than overloading an extension block. Source : DGCCRF, electric fairy lights : precautions for use, factsheet written on 1 December 2025.

In a rental, nobody unplugs anything. The only measure that works is a mechanical timer costing a few euros, set to two time slots, that the guest never has to touch.

The safety counterpart to all this is the smoke alarm. The obligation to fit at least one approved alarm falls on the owner, who must make sure it works at the time of the condition report, including for a holiday rental ; the devices meet the NF EN 14604 standard and carry the CE marking. Source : DGCCRF, the smoke alarm (DAAF). This is the time of year to test the battery, at the same time as you get the throws out, and to check what your holiday rental condition report says on this point.

What your welcome book should say once the decor is in place

A successful winter look raises new questions : where are the throws, how does the wood burner work, why is the bedroom radiator only lukewarm, which day does the recycling bin go out when the Monday is a bank holiday. Better to deal with them before they arrive by text at 10 pm.

What you put out	What you write in the welcome book	The call or nasty surprise it prevents
Extra throws and duvets	Their exact location, room by room	« Isn't there a spare blanket ? »
Heating set to 19 °C	Where the thermostat is, the setting not to exceed, what must not be touched	The radiator cranked up to 24 °C with the window open
Wood burner or fireplace	Where the wood is, how to light it, what is forbidden	An improvised lighting attempt, and an insurer to notify
Fairy lights and candles	That they go off at night, and how	A whole night switched on, unattended
Recycling and bins in winter	Collection days, including bank holiday changes	The bin left full for the cleaning team

Internal observation : 91 % of StyQR welcome book views happen on mobile, and 40 % in a language other than French. A hand-lettered sign on the mantelpiece looks lovely, but it does not translate ; the welcome book, on the other hand, displays in 14 languages. A discreet poster with a QR code near the entrance settles the matter without spoiling your decor, and the content can be corrected online, which matters when the look changes three times a year. Our article on the information to update in the welcome book in winter sets out the full list.

When to put the winter decor up, and when to pack it all away

The switch from summer to winter happens between mid-October and All Saints' Day, before the first half-term booking. Christmas decorations go up in early December and come down with the first week of January : a wreath still on the door in mid-February gets noticed in the reviews, and not in a good way.

Once the new look is in place, redo the listing photos. It is the piece of advice in this article that pays off most, and the one least often followed : a guest booking in December is looking at summer images and arrives with the wrong expectations. Our tips for taking great listing photos apply in low light too. Take the opportunity to update the welcome book at the same time, since updating the welcome book takes a few minutes when it is digital.

Frequently asked questions

How many throws should you provide ? Our rule of thumb : one throw per seat in the living room and one spare blanket per bed. The number matters less than the information : state in the welcome book exactly where they are kept, otherwise they stay in the cupboard for the whole stay.

What temperature should the property be left at before a check-in ? 19 °C in the living rooms at the time of arrival, 17 °C in the bedrooms, according to the ADEME benchmarks. Between two bookings, 16 to 17 °C is enough for the property to warm up quickly without heating an empty home.

Can you leave candles out for guests ? We advise against it. An unattended flame in a property you are not looking after is a risk out of all proportion to the mood it creates. LED candles are now convincing, and a smoke alarm remains compulsory in every case.

How do you create a cosy feel without a fireplace ? Through lighting and textiles. Two or three warm lamps at mid-height, a knitted throw, a thick rug and lined curtains have the same effect as a hearth, with no maintenance and no lighting instructions to write.

Should you redo the listing photos for winter ? Yes, as soon as the decor visibly changes. A set of winter photos reassures the guest booking in November and avoids any gap between the listing and reality. Allow an hour, at the end of the day, with the lamps on.

Are fairy lights allowed in furnished tourist accommodation ? Yes, provided you choose a model carrying the CE marking and follow the DGCCRF precautions, in particular not leaving them plugged in unattended all day or all night. A timer solves the problem better than a written instruction.