Five things we've learned designing rental villas on the Croatian coast

Nina Ninčević, dipl.ing.arh. · Arhitektura Plus

Almost every client who comes to us with the idea of a “holiday house I'll rent out occasionally” already has a picture in their mind — a place where the family will spend their summers, with the rental income as a nice bonus to that dream.

Completely understandable. But from experience, we know the story usually turns out much better when we think about it a little differently from the start.

We don't design a house that will be rented out for the owner alone. At the same time, we design it for the guest who will stay there, the owner who wants to use it, and the people who have to maintain it. Each of them has their own needs, and a good design has to reconcile them within the same house.

Part of that story is also the categorization of the accommodation. The requirements a house must meet depend on the type and desired category of the property and can affect a whole range of spatial and functional decisions. That's why it's much smarter to think about them before we draw the first line on the floor plan, rather than once the house has already been designed.

The requirements are set out in the Ordinance on the Classification and Categorization of Facilities Providing Hospitality Services in Households and its amendments, but our job is to translate them into a space that still functions as good architecture.

VILA ACTIVIA

1. The design brief changes depending on how you'll manage the house

For a house you live in yourself, we ask: how do you live, how many of you are there, what do you like, and how do you spend your day.

For a rental house, the questions are a little different.

How many guests do you expect? Are you primarily targeting families with children, a few couples, or a completely different group of guests? Will you use the house yourself as well? Who will clean it, maintain the pool and grounds, change the linens, and restock consumables?

And then come the questions investors rarely think of at the start: where does the person maintaining the house keep their equipment? Can they access it while guests are in the house without disturbing them? Where do the towels, cleaning supplies, spare linens, garden tools, and pool equipment end up?

These may not be the most exciting topics when you're picturing your future villa, but they can change the entire floor plan.

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2. A house for eight guests isn't just a house with eight beds

The capacity of a house isn't determined by the number of bedrooms alone.

If we design a house for eight guests, eight people need to be able to have a normal breakfast at the same time, sit in the living room, spend time on the terrace, use the pool area, and store their belongings.

You need to think about the size of the fridge, the amount of storage, the number of bathrooms, parking, space for suitcases, towels and beach equipment — but also about what happens when eight people actually start using the house at the same time.

In other words, the house's capacity has to function as a whole.

That's one of the big differences between drawing enough beds and actually designing a quality holiday house.

3. And where do you store your own things?

If you'll be using the house yourself as well, this is one of the first questions to settle.

The moment you rent out the house, part of it stops being yours — if only for a week.

Where will you store your own clothes, personal belongings, children's toys, documents, or things you simply don't want left accessible, before guests arrive?

A single locked owner's closet or a separate storage room on the plan may seem like a small detail. Without them, every guest arrival can turn into a small move.

And no one wants to repeat that all summer long.

VILA KARLA

4. You're not selling a bed and a view. You're selling an experience.

A guest who pays for a week's holiday by the sea isn't just looking for a place to sleep and, if they're lucky, a nice view.

They're looking for a reason to want to spend the whole day right there on that property.

That could be a second living room or a playroom for kids, a small wellness area with a sauna, a pool, an exercise space, a covered terrace, or an outdoor summer kitchen with a bathroom.

But that doesn't mean every villa needs a sauna, a gym, a jacuzzi, and a playroom.

It means having a clearly designed experience for the guest it's intended for — and that experience needs to be part of the architecture, not a list of features we try to add once the house has already been designed.

Because a good holiday house design doesn't come from adding as many features as possible. It comes from choosing the right features for the right guest and connecting them into a space that functions as a whole.

VILA CALMA

5. With a rental house, there's no “we'll do that next year”

In a house you live in yourself, sentences like “we'll do that next year” or “we can do without that for now” are perfectly normal.

The house grows together with you. One year you landscape the garden, the next you build a pergola, the year after you replace the furniture.

For a rental house, the situation is a little different.

The guest is paying for a finished product from day one. They don't care that the terrace is a "second phase," that the shade sail is coming next year, or that you're "still planning something" around the pool.

That's why the house has to be complete as a whole before the first guest arrives.

And that means the investment also needs to be planned as a whole — from design and construction, through the interior, grounds, and equipment, all the way to the final details and the professional photographs that will introduce the house to future guests for the first time.

This is exactly where we get to the question investors almost always ask us:

How much budget should you actually plan for the whole process?

We cover that in the next article.

Planning a holiday house you'll be renting out?

Before the first sketch, it's worth defining who the house is for, how it will be used and maintained, what level of accommodation you want to offer, and how much realistically needs to be invested for the whole story to work.

These are exactly the topics we go through with investors before design work begins.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does a holiday house for rent need to be designed differently from a family house?

Yes. Beyond the owner's needs, you need to consider the expected number and profile of guests, how the house will be maintained and managed, the desired accommodation category, service areas, and the amenities that will give guests a quality stay.

When should you start thinking about categorizing a holiday house?

Already while defining the design brief, before the first floor plan variants are drawn up. The requirements for the desired category can affect individual spatial, functional, and technical decisions, so it's better to include them in the project from the start.

What should you consider when designing a house for eight guests?

The number of beds is only the starting point. If the house is meant for eight guests, the shared spaces — the living room, dining area, terrace, and pool area — as well as the bathrooms, storage, and parking, all need to be sized for eight people. The house's capacity has to function as a whole, not just as a count of people who can sleep in it.

What extra amenities should a rental villa have?

There's no universal list. A pool, sauna, wellness area, playroom, gym, or summer kitchen only make sense if they match the target guest group, the location, and the house's overall concept. The goal isn't to have as many amenities as possible, but to create a quality, recognizable experience.