Hospitality
The Fun Factor Audit for Your Vacation Rental
By Jillian Mood6 min read
Villa Foresta's listing carries a one-line tagline: "The house is part of the adventure." It reads as a promise to guests. It also works as a test for owners, and this article is how I run that test.
Fun is half of a pillar
The D in the Mood Method stands for Details and delight. Details is the spotless, everything-works half. Delight is "something fun that could only happen in that house." A clean, well-run home earns trust. The fun is what a family is still talking about in the car on the way home.
The people arriving are rarely alone. Airbnb said in its 2024 Summer Release that more than 80% of its bookings are group trips. Groups come in mixed ages, with mixed energy, and with one shared hope: time together that feels different from a Tuesday at home. In the Unpack '25 trends report from Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo, 62% of travelers said "JOMO" getaways (the joy of missing out, usually in a private rental) reduce stress and anxiety, and nearly half said these trips enhance quality time with loved ones.
Guests also search for fun by name. Airbnb's list of the amenities guests want includes pools, hot tubs and BBQ grills among its ten most-searched. Those are the big-ticket items. This audit is mostly about everything smaller.
The grid
Draw a table. Down the side, the people who stay with you:
- Little ones (under 6)
- Kids (6 to 12)
- Teens
- Adults
- Grandparents
- Dogs, if you welcome them
Across the top, the conditions a stay can throw at them:
- A sunny day
- A rainy day
- After dark
- A snow day (hello, New England and Québec)
- The first hour, when everyone is tired from the drive and dinner is not ready
Now fill every square with what your house offers today. Be honest and be specific. "Wi-Fi" does not count. "A shelf of picture books at toddler height" does.
Here is the grid for our Southborough home, from memory. Teens on a rainy day: a pool table, pinball, and a media room with a 100-inch projector. Adults after dark: a patio under string lights, a kamado grill, a chess table. Grandparents on a sunny day: garden paths inspired by Japanese design, a pond with fish and frogs, and a library of more than 1,000 books for the afternoon. Kids on a sunny day get my favorite photo caption on the listing: "Secret backyard stairs to secret rock seat in the forest."
At Villa Foresta the grid reads differently, because the land does. A fire pit with s'mores supplies. Binoculars for watching the woods. Walking sticks, beach cruiser bikes and a picnic backpack for Lac Lyster, which is less than five minutes away. For the rainy day: fondue, a popcorn maker, and a table of new and retro board games and puzzles. The dogs have their own square, with treats and beds waiting.
Read the empty squares
Every home has blanks, and they cluster in predictable places. Rainy days for the under-sixes. Teens after dark. Grandparents, any time the plan involves a hike. The blanks are where a weekend sags, and where a small purchase does the most work.
You do not need to fill every square. A couples' retreat can leave the toddler row empty on purpose. The audit's job is to make each blank a choice.
Fill them, low-cost first
I sort ideas into three tiers, and I start at the top.
Tier one: the cost of a takeout dinner
- A deck of cards in every room where people sit. Two decks where they sit longest.
- A jigsaw puzzle left started on a side table, with the box propped up beside it.
- Sidewalk chalk, bubbles, a frisbee and a soft ball in a basket by the back door.
- A scavenger hunt for your own property, printed on one page: find the frog, the rock seat, the tallest pine.
- A bird and wildlife card for your region beside the binoculars.
- Flashlights for a night walk, plus a star chart if your sky earns one.
- A "rainy day" page in the house manual with ten things to do inside these walls.
- A guest book that asks one playful question. "What did you name the moose?" works if you have a moose. We have a plush one at Villa Foresta.
Board games belong here too, and they are less common than you might guess. In a July 2025 Airbnb report on family travel in Europe, 30% of family-friendly listings offered board games. That figure is European, so treat it as a hint and not a benchmark for your market. Still, a well-chosen shelf is an easy way to stand apart.
Tier two: the cost of a nice dinner out
- Lawn games that suit your ground: bocce, cornhole, croquet, a badminton net.
- A fire pit kit: long forks, a lidded bin of s'mores supplies, a lighter that works.
- Snow day gear: a few sleds, a snowman kit in a box (carrot not included).
- A popcorn maker and a drawer of seasonings for movie night.
- A record player with twenty good records, or a speaker with a house playlist.
Tier three: real investments
Game tables, a projector room, bikes, kayaks, a hot tub. These can define a listing, and they come with real homework: insurance, maintenance, storage and sometimes local rules. Talk to your insurer before you add anything that floats, bounces or heats, and follow your local codes.
The "only here" test
Generic fun is fine. Signature fun gets photographed. For every idea, ask what version of it could only happen at your address.
A scavenger hunt is generic. A hunt that ends at a secret rock seat in the forest is ours. S'mores are generic. S'mores at a house that looks toward Mount Pinacle, with Québec maple treats for dessert's dessert, are Villa Foresta's. I go deeper on this in signature experiences for a vacation rental, and the purchasing filter lives in low-cost upgrades.
Guests do not remember square footage. They remember who won.
Make the fun findable
Fun that stays in a closet does not exist. Three fixes:
- Stage it. Games on the table, not in a cupboard. Binoculars on the windowsill that faces the woods. The chess set laid out and ready.
- Write it down. Our house manuals suggest how to enjoy the home, not only how to operate it. A page called "Spaces to Explore" does more than a paragraph of rules.
- Show it. Photograph the fun and caption it with a wink. Guests book the weekend they can picture.
Keep it fun at stay 50
Delight decays faster than drywall. A puzzle missing one piece is a small heartbreak. So the fun goes on the turnover checklist: count the pieces, check the batteries, pump the ball, restock the s'mores.
Then ask. The M in our method is Make it better, every stay, and guests are generous with ideas when you invite them. "What did the kids wish we had?" is a question that tends to pay for itself in goodwill, and it is how a grid keeps filling in, one square at a time.
Sources
Want this done for your home?
Everything in this article is part of what Jillian does for the homes she hosts. Tell her about yours and she will tell you, honestly, what she would do with it.
