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I wanted to ask the hosts here that have entire homes/apartments for rent if they think it is a good idea to have a Christmas tree & decorations set up for the holidays?
I suppose if the property you’re renting out is in the US or UK, it’s a safe bet to do so. However, my property is in South East Asia, a big tourist area and my guests are from all over the world and all sorts of religions. Do you think some people might take offense to this or would it be a good thing to help them celebrate the festive season?
Put it up - I don’t think people would take offense. I mean, lots of hotels put up trees, too, so I don’t really see a problem. If you want to be safe you could always contact the guest beforehand, but really, it’s not like you are trying to convert your guests as they walk through the door. Unless you are, then control yourself
I don’t know if anyone would take “offense” but it might be a strange thing to encounter while visiting South East Asia unless the locals there put up Christmas trees. I rent out a home in North Carolina and I won’t be putting one up. I sure hope my guests don’t expect it. I think I will get a wreath and leave it at that.
Now I know areas like the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee…it is expected to have the cabins decorated for Christmas. My Christmas guests last year from Florida put up their own tree and then took it down when they left.
The thing to take into consideration is that Christmas time is not a festive/happy time for everyone. For some it is a very painful time (sad memories) and they choose to go on vacation to “avoid” Christmas back home.
Sorry I couldn’t be of more help but I have never been to South East Asia
I have wondered about hotel rooms being decorated for Christmas. I know lobbies (general areas) are, but are the individual rooms decorated? I just think about when someone is renting a home it is kind of their own private space to get away from it all. Can you tell I don’t get out much?
Thanks, you all made good points on the subject, which still leaves me 50/50 on the matter…
Most hotels do have decorations put up but it’s usually in lobbies only, which is a common area but never in the room (at least not in my traveling experiences) so you don’t necessarily have to be around it all the time.
And indeed for some folks, Xmas could be tied to sad memories that they want to avoid by going on vacation. But then again, they put up street decorations and the malls here are covered with them.
I suppose the best thing to do in this case would be to ask the guests before they arrive if they want it or not. Now I just need to make sure they know I’m talking about a simple medium sized tree with lights and ornaments before they go expecting something spectacular and leave me a mediocre review for getting their hopes up.
We’re not because we always fly out to somewhere nice and warm for a holiday on xmas day lol I’m not that mean though, I’ve put some ferry lights outside.
We went to Morocco a few years ago and in all the shopping malls there were xmas trees and fake snow. It was the strangest thing ever (as they are a mostly Muslin country).
Its less hassle for you if you don’t have a tree, but I don’t think anyone would be offended if you had one. Even if they did have a different religion. A tastefully decorated tree is lovely in any culture. Do you know who is renting xmas day yet? Be careful not to have dodgy fairy lights due to the fire risk!
That’s funny you should mention it. I had never though to put up a tree before, but we have a new villa manager and she has been with us for 6 months now, yesterday she found our old tree in the storage and started putting it up and got really excited about it… she is actually Muslim!
She looked really disappointed when I told her to hold on before finishing since I needed to think about whether it was a good idea to have it up or not.
Thanks for the tip!
There are 2 groups coming just around xmas period, the first is a group of 8 expats living in Hong Kong, and the 2nd is a group of 9 arriving right after boxing day from San Francisco. The 2nd group I’m not so worried about, I don’t think they’d mind a tree. It’s the first one that’s hard to gauge…
Definitely never in the rooms - not only are there religious matters to consider, but also allergies, bugs, etc - I think putting a tree in the room would be a bad idea. As i said before, I think you’re good as long as you don’t try and push your own religion on them. For example, I am Jewish - I got the funny jewish magnets on the fridge, but I would not forbid my guests to bring crosses into the house, or reprimand them for doing something I don’t necessarily do myself.
