The Airbnb welcome book is one of the most important amenities for your Airbnb property. However, it can take significant effort to put together. Not only does it need to be visually appealing, it needs to contain all of the critical information that your guests will need.
Some hosts get confused when crafting their welcome book, and they include check-in information. Anything to do with check-in needs to be sent to your guests beforehand, as they can’t read your welcome guide if they can’t access the property. Make a note to send out your check-in information the day before your guests are due to arrive. Be sure to also send your business VoIP phone numbers.
Be sure to place your welcome book in a conspicuous location like a coffee table. You can also include a personalised welcome letter which should provide answers to basic questions like how to lock the door, the wifi passwords and emergency contact numbers. Most guests will appreciate a step-by-step guide to the more complex things within your property.
Here are some tips to help you create an effective welcome book or an exciting Airbnb guestbook for your guests.
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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 Airbnb 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.
To Introduce Your Guests to Your Listing
Staying in a new place can be confusing and an Airbnb welcome book can ease your guests into their time staying in your property. We usually recommend a printed welcome book, but a digital Airbnb welcome book can also provide a warm welcome for your guests.
A welcome book helps explain how things work in your listing, as well as your house rules, for your Airbnb guests.
Starts Their Experience Off on a Good Note
Your Airbnb welcome book makes your Airbnb guests feel at home. It allows them to have an easy guide to help them find exactly what they need. Whether your Airbnb welcome book is printed, emailed or a digital Airbnb welcome book, you’ll need to ensure that your Airbnb guests read and understand the important stuff, like your house rules.
This will also give you a chance to state your wifi password and communicate the location of nearby attractions, grocery stores, local restaurants, and local emergency numbers.
Teach Them How to Use All of Your Amenities & Appliances
An Airbnb welcome book functions like a guide to both give your guests a warm welcome and ensure that an Airbnb host has given them all of the logistical information that they need. It improves the guest experience and ensures that you’re giving them the best chance of enjoying your property.
Be sure to include your contact details, local attractions, the details of local businesses, and so on. Future guests will appreciate the effort and it’ll enrich your guest’s arrival.
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 First Page of Your Welcome Book
Make sure that the initial Welcome Page of your Airbnb 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.
Include the most important information on the first few pages of your welcome book. It’s a nice personal touch to add the names of your guests and create an overall positive guest experience.
Also, be sure to remind guests who to contact in an emergency. Including the details of the nearest hospital is another great idea. Emergency information should always be included in your welcome guest book.
2. House Rules
You’ve likely already provided your guests with house rules before 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. There may even be some local businesses that can deliver certain services.
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 guest 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, ensure 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
- Air conditioning
- The entry process for the 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 and enrich your guests arrival, 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’s longevity. A welcome book can also help in encouraging direct bookings with personalized discounts and enriching your guest’s stay which could lead to positive reviews.
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:
- Synchronizing reservations across multiple platforms to eliminate the risk of double bookings
- Managing multiple accounts and listings on the top OTAs from a single interface
- Organizing messages into a single feed with a unified inbox
- Improving communication with automated templates and triggered messaging
- Creating and coordinating cleaning tasks with live tracking to completion
- Creating your own direct booking website
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