Airbnb Welcome Book: How to Create a Comprehensive Guide for Your Guests

The Airbnb welcome book is one of the most important amenities for your Airbnb property. However, it can take significant effort to put together. Here are some tips to help you create an effective and exciting Airbnb guestbook for your guests.

Why Do You Need An Airbnb Welcome Book?

For hosts, a guestbook offers a great way to impress guests. It shows that you want them to experience the best that your area has to offer. It also demonstrates to guests that you’re a helpful host and you want their stay to be as comfortable and stress-free as possible.

For guests, the Airbnb guestbook is the perfect place to find all of the information that they need for staying at an Airbnb property. Since every rental is different, guests need to know all of the particulars once they arrive and your guestbook is the first place that they are likely to look.

How to Write an Airbnb Welcome Book

So now that you know why an Airbnb welcome book is so important for your property, you need to know exactly how to write one. The good news is that most of the information can be printed out from the internet or obtained from the local visitor center in your area.

Here is a step-by-step guide that covers the most important things to include in your welcome book:

1. The Welcome Page

Make sure that the initial Welcome Page of your welcome book contains the most important information that your guests need to know upon arrival. Think of this page as the onboarding guide to your property.

Some vital details that you should make sure to cover include:

• Parking Information
• Access Code Needed for the Front Gate
• Guest Wi-Fi Password
• Your Contact Info
• Emergency Services Contact Info

Even if your guests don’t end up reading most of the other information that you included in your Airbnb welcome book, you should make sure that they have access to this information. Otherwise, they will probably contact you for help.

2. House Rules

You’ve likely already provided your house rules to your guests prior to arrival. However, make sure to reiterate what you already shared in your Airbnb welcome book so that your guests can access them at any time during their stay.

3. Local Transportation Information

Make sure that your Airbnb guestbook also includes contact information, schedules, directions, and other related to local transportation in your area. Some options you might want to consider include:

• Taxi & Airport Shuttle Services
• Bus and Train Schedules
• Maps of the Local Areas

This information is especially helpful if you are located outside of the city where cell phone service might not be readily accessible. It also helps to share any tips that only locals would know about getting around your area.

Finally, consider also including check-out information in this section since guests are most likely to take a look at this section when deciding their departure plans.

4. Things to Do

When guests stay with Airbnb, they miss out on the concierge services that hotels generally offer. In order to make things easier for them, you can provide this service with your Airbnb welcome book.

All travelers love to receive recommendations from the locals. Although your guests probably have their own plans, they’ll likely change them once they see your personal recommendations.

Make sure that you include a wide variety of activities in your Airbnb guestbook that can appeal to all types of guests. Above all, make sure that you include the website, address, and phone numbers of each of the recommended places or activities so that your guests can find them.

Some suggestions to include are:

• Restaurants
• Tourists Attractions (local parks, museums, historical places)
• Shopping
• Tours (bar crawl, ghost tour, trolley tour)
• Fairs and Festivals (Sunday street fair, farmers’ markets, annual events)
• Nightlife (bars, breweries, clubs, playhouse, live music)

You should also let your guests know which recommendations you’ve personally enjoyed. That way guests won’t hold you accountable for the quality of the experience if they go to something that you haven’t personally attended.

“Let your guest know about local experiences. Yes, you want to provide your guests with the practical information on how to turn on the television or that fancy rain shower. There are logistics to include, of course. But the main reason guests open the manual is to go to your recommended restaurant, bar or even nail salon. You know your neighbourhood and your guest wants to get to know it as well.”

— Evelyn Badia, The Hosting Journey

5. How-to Instructions for Appliances and Electronics

You already know how to use all of the items installed in your home, but what about your guests? Don’t leave your guests feeling frustrated because they can’t figure out how to adjust the thermostat.

Here are a few important items to write instructions for:

• Thermostat
• The entry process for property (front-gate entry method, how to use smart locks)
• Washer and Dryer
• Kitchen Appliances
• Wi-Fi
• TV Remote and/or Netflix

By including how-to instructions for all of the various appliances and electronics on your property, including any weird quirks needed to get things to work, you can avoid having to answer repeated phone calls from confused guests. It will also help you to avoid a surprise bad review for a problem that could have been easily resolved.

Organizing Your Airbnb Guestbook

Given that this information might come in different formats, you should use a binder or scrapbook to keep all of the different flyers, printed pages, and brochures organized. Make sure to include section markers so that guests can access the parts of the Airbnb guestbook that interest them faster.

Where to Store Your Airbnb Welcome Book

To ensure that guests always have access to your Airbnb welcome book, leave it in a highly visible location, such as the kitchen table or coffee table in the living room. You should also tell guests where they can find the welcome book once they arrive and remind them that they should read it.

Conclusion

Not only is a welcome book a great way to elevate your guest experience, but it also comes in handy to outline rules that guests need to follow when staying at your property. Keeping your rentals in good condition while enhancing your guest experience is essential for your business longevity. 

However, vacation rental management can turn into a real headache when you have too many tasks to tackle. To cope with your daily operations more efficiently, consider using automation software. For example, iGMS vacation rental software will ease your workload by helping you to:

• Handle your vacation rentals and sync your multiple accounts on Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo/HomeAway. Manage your listings on other channels by adding them via iCal. 
• Get your guest messages organized within a unified inbox and create automated replies to be sent on preset dates and times.
• Automate the process of leaving reviews for your guests;
• Use direct booking management tools to manage bookings that you receive from your business website, messengers, or other channels;
• Manage payments by integrating your Stripe account with iGMS;
• Create automated cleaning schedules and coordinate your team more efficiently;
• Generate professional reports to track your business performance.
  Start Automating Now