Living in Kelowna, Canada’s Riviera means that we receive frequent house guests and that puts our hostess skills to the test. Traveling the world, while we shoot my TV show, Let’s Shop gives me ample opportunity to learn from the best hotels and resorts the world has to offer. Undoubtedly, I have picked up a few tips and tricks along the way.

Summer sees all of us hosting more out of town guests, here are some ideas to help make having house guests less stressful and ideas for improving your hosting skills.

The first thing that all great hosts understand is that being a guest in someone else’s home is stressful. Therefore, our first objective is to help alleviate the stress and tension of invading someone else’s space. Conversely, it is just as important to be a good guest and to know how long to stay with out over staying your welcome.

Having house guests is never easy or without effort. Both host and guest need to be conscientiously aware of this but good hosts have an uncanny knack for making it appear effortless.

The first step to perfecting your hostess skills is too sleep in the guest room. Don’t wait for a fight with your spouse to try out this bed do it tonight. This is the best and most effective way to analyze a guest room. Since I seem to sleep in hotel beds more often than my own, my first question as I spend the night in my guest room is to compare the bed to my favorite hotel. If possible invest in a good mattress set, don’t let the guest room be the dumping ground for replaced mattresses.

Next, look at your linens, are these hand me downs or are they good quality linens? Generally the best linens are white with a thread count of at least 300. The dyes in darker fabrics tend to make the fibers rough and irritable. How about the pillows? Are there extra blankets and pillows in the closet?

When I travel, I often need to read before bed in order to help me fall asleep. A guest room needs bedside lights, an alarm clock and even a few good books or magazines left on the dresser. I try to leave a few that I know a particular guest will enjoy.

Do the window treatments block out the light. Studies prove that the best sleep is only found in dark rooms. Drapery treatments also offer privacy which will help to make your guests feel safe and secure.

Fresh flowers and a couple of treats incase any one gets hungry in the middle of the night are a nice treat left on the dresser. When decorating the guest room aim to make the room neither too feminism or too masculine. Stick to middle ground so that everyone feels at home.

Cheryll Gillespie is a nationally syndicated Design and Décor columnist.