Home staging a holiday rental: the Altavista case

Home staging is the set of improvements that prepare a property to be presented at its best. It started in property sales, to sell a home faster and for a better price. In a holiday rental it has the same goal, applied to letting: more bookings, better reviews and higher rates.

It is not a renovation. Most of the work is small and targeted: colours, textiles, lighting, practical furniture, details that show up in photos and that guests actually use.

You do not furnish a holiday rental for the person who owns it, but for the person who will choose it online.

Altavista has one very strong feature: its view over Lake Garda from the balcony, with room to eat outdoors. It has two bedrooms and sleeps up to four. It has no pool and does not aim for the luxury of the big villas: its strength is peace and quiet, surrounded by nature.

The apartment was bought in early 2025 for around €230,000. The goal was not a major renovation, but to understand where small improvements could genuinely enhance the experience and the presentation.

These are the improvements made at Altavista before putting it on the market:

• a sofa bed, to sleep four guests;
• repainting throughout;
• artwork and new decorative pieces;
• coordinated bedspreads matching each room’s colours;
• a desk for remote workers;
• a dishwasher and a new bathroom cabinet;
• a new shower;
• fast WiFi and complete hosting equipment;
• a projector for outdoor films;
• organised restocking of supplies.

The bathroom: comfort you notice

A new shower and a cabinet with a built-in washing machine made the bathroom more modern and practical. It is one of the spaces guests look at most closely in photos and reviews.

A detail that makes the stay memorable

A portable projector lets guests watch a film on the outdoor awning with a lake view or on the bedroom wall. It is a small investment, but it creates an experience that ends up in photos, stories and reviews.

We did not simply furnish the rooms. We gave each one a colour and a story, linked to what guests experience there: the lake, nature, the warmth of time spent together.

Lake Blue

The double bedroom, linked to the lake and the view.

Nature Green

The single bedroom, facing the natural landscape and the mountains.

Warm Red

The living area, designed as a warmer, more convivial space.

The goal was not to pick colours, but to create a recognisable common thread. When someone browses the photos on Airbnb, Booking.com or Google, they should not just see a well-furnished room: they should start picturing their own stay.

Every home staging project is different, but it helps to have an order of magnitude. These are indicative market costs for a two-bedroom apartment like Altavista in Italy: they vary widely with location, quality of materials and labour, and should always be checked against quotes.

Indicative orders of magnitude, VAT included, not the actual costs incurred at Altavista. Building and plumbing work may require permits and professionals.

Where to invest first

With the same budget, start with what shows in the photos and gets used every day: beds and textiles, lighting, bathroom, a practical kitchen. Structural work only makes sense if it fixes a problem guests would notice.

Before starting, these are the points we always assess:

• Who your guest isCouples, families, groups or remote workers: furniture and equipment change depending on who you want to attract.
• The strength to put centre stageFor Altavista it is the lake view: furniture and photography should enhance it, not hide it.
• A recognisable identityConsistent colours, names and details help the listing stay in people’s minds.
• Function before decorationComfortable beds, space for luggage, good reading light, a desk if needed.
• Durable, easy-clean materialsWashable textiles, sturdy surfaces, colours that do not show wear straight away.
• Equipment and safetyCheck the requirements for holiday accommodation in your municipality and region, and always provide a fire extinguisher, detectors and a first aid kit.
• Maintenance and replacementsChoose items that are easy to replace: in a holiday rental, textiles and tableware wear out quickly.
• Professional photosHome staging is completed by photography: without good images, much of the work goes unseen.
• Measuring resultsBookings, reviews and average rate show whether the improvements have worked.

A holiday rental is judged long before the guest arrives. The first photo, the order of the images, the light and the way the spaces are presented all influence the choice. For Altavista, the main listing photo is the lake view.

The surrounding area is part of the product too. A holiday home on Lake Garda is not chosen only for what is inside: the landscape, the distance from traffic and the chance to experience the lake all count. That is why we presented the apartment and its surroundings together.

We are not just selling an apartment. We are selling a way of experiencing Lake Garda.

After the home staging, Altavista went on the market in April 2025. In its first year it recorded 27 stays and €24,363 in gross revenue; in 2026, with the same number of bookings, revenue was already up 14.5% by September.

Not everything is down to home staging: pricing, distribution and management matter too. But a well-presented home is the foundation everything else builds on.

The full figures, with costs and the owner’s balance, are in the case study: how much can an apartment earn on Lake Garda.