Holiday Let Guest Welcome Book Template
One of the easiest and most effective ways to set yourself apart and ensure your guests’ stay is as smooth and enjoyable as possible is to provide a comprehensive guest information book. Nobody knows your holiday home and the local area better than you, and a welcome book is the perfect opportunity to answer common questions and share your insider tips, making the guest’s trip all the more memorable and personal.
It will also make your life easier if your guests have all the essential information they need for their stay. Greatly reducing the amount of time you spend answering repetitive questions.
Your guests are also likely to reward your efforts with a great review, repeat visits and recommendations.
In this article, we’ve outlined some of the key things to include as well as some useful tips for creating the perfect holiday let guest book.
The benefits of creating a digital guidebook
Unlike traditional paper-based guest information folders that quickly become outdated and tatty, interactive digital guidebooks are accessible from any device, whenever needed.
One of the standout benefits of digital guidebooks is that they can be updated in real-time with the latest information. This ensures guests always have access to the most current information in one place. They can also include interactive elements like links to useful resources, videos, or maps.
What to include in your guest information book
The most essential pieces of information that guests need to know should be summarised first. Especially the Wi-Fi password, heating and appliance instructions.
If you include the key sections below in your guest manual, it will cover the majority of information guests need to know. If previous guests have asked you something more than once, then it needs to be added to your welcome book.
A friendly welcome note
Welcome your guests to your holiday cottage with a warm welcome message. Personalise your welcome letter by addressing guests by their name, and if you know they are celebrating a special occasion, for example, a birthday, suggest a couple of restaurants they might enjoy.
Express your gratitude that they chose your holiday let. Introduce your guidebook and explain its purpose, emphasising how it will enhance their experience at your holiday home.
The first impression is the lasting impression.
Directions
In most cases, you can simply provide guests with your address, and they can use their preferred map application to find you. If maps have a habit of sending people to the wrong location, you’ll need to provide further instructions, such as what3words and a photo of your holiday home, so the guests arrive at the right property.
Parking information
If you have a designated parking space, make sure your guests know where it is. If you don’t provide parking, mention the location of nearby car parks, the costs and any free parking áreas nearby.
Check-in instructions
As it’s likely you won’t be there to welcome arriving guests in person, you need to ensure they can easily access your holiday let. If you use a key safe or digital door locks, provide clear instructions (or even a video) on how to unlock/lock the door, as it could be the first time some guests have used these.
Emergency contacts
Provide your guests with your contact details or those of your property manager so they have a contact if they have problems or concerns during their stay.
Also, list details of the emergency services phone numbers, as it’s likely that some of your guests will be from overseas and may not know how to contact the emergency services. List phone numbers for the police, fire service, hospital, local doctors (public and private), dentists and vets too, if you allow pets.
Provide information on what to do if something goes wrong with the property, such as the lights tripping, heating failure, problems with appliances and so on. Outline the location of the fuse box, the mains water stopcock and the gas terminal so they can be located quickly in the event of an emergency.
Make it clear what guests should do in the event of a fire, where any fire protection equipment is located, how the smoke alarms work, the best way to evacuate the property and where they can find the first aid kit.
How-to amenity instructions
All holiday homes are unique, and spending valuable holiday time struggling to figure out how everything works is no one’s idea of fun. Equally, as a host, it’s annoying to be continually disturbed with ‘how-to’ questions.
Leave comprehensive instructions on where things are kept and how to use all the amenities, like:
- Connecting to the WiFi
- Operate the door code
- Heating the property and hot water
- The best programme for the dishwasher and washer
- Safely operate the wood burner
- Operate the hot tub
- Use the TV and entertainment system
- Operate the coffee machine
Write clear ‘quick how-to instructions’ in fool-proof bullet points to avoid guests pushing numerous buttons on appliances until something happens or breaks. You could even leave these laminated by the appliance itself, using photos with arrows to simply explain how to operate.
Take photocopies of the instruction manuals for all appliances guests might use and leave them in a drawer where guests can find them if needed.
Anticipate any potential problems or issues before they have a chance to arise. Let guests know about any quirks of your holiday cottage, so they know what to expect. For example, the phone signal is poor in the main bedroom.
If something is available to use, then instructions or how-to videos should be provided.
Holiday let house rules
Even if you present guests with the house rules when they book, it’s still important to reiterate them in your guest book. Guests will have a difficult time arguing that they weren’t aware of your rules if you do this.
Lay out any dos and don’ts, along with clear instructions for guests regarding what is expected of them during their stay. Not only can house rules help you to reduce guest damage and avoid accidents, they can also help you resolve misunderstandings and complaints.
One of the most important items on your list is the importance of reporting any problems, damage, breakages or if anything is not working or missing as soon as possible, so that you have the opportunity to rectify any issues.
Here are some ideas of what rules to include:
- If your house has a septic tank, what can and can’t be flushed down the toilets
- Safety and hazards
- Cleanliness
- Excessive noise
- Respecting the neighbours
- Rules regarding extra visitors
- Keeping the house secure
- Swimming pool or hot tub
- Smoking
- Pets
- No parties
For more tips, read our holiday let house rules template.
Local recommendations
Remember, your guests may never have been to your destination before. They will love it if you can remove the hassle of them trying to figure everything out on sites like Tripadvisor themselves. Share your expertise so they can experience what it’s like to ‘live like a local’ and immerse themselves in the location.
Guests like to feel they have experienced those hidden gems that few others know about, something you won’t find in a travel guide. With your ideal guest in mind, create an itinerary for the ‘perfect day’ based on your favourite activities and attractions (e.g. best local walks, family attractions, top 10 beaches) and say why you recommend them.
Make a list of local amenities such as supermarkets, markets, shops, bakery, delicatessen, spa, hair/nail salon, gym, post office, banks, ATM, petrol station, etc.
If there’s a local app that would be useful, don’t forget to recommend it.
Eating and drinking guide
Provide recommendations for your favourite restaurants, bars, lunch spots and take aways, along with recommended dishes to try. Which coffee shop makes the best latte and where serves the best ‘secret sauce’ chicken wings you have ever tasted.
Don’t forget to include telephone numbers, a website or TripAdvisor links and directions if it’s hard to find. This will help guests find them more easily and specify if reservations need to be secured before their stay.
Negotiate discounts for your guests at local pubs/restaurants and forge partnerships with local businesses so guests can skip the queues.
Transportation
Holidaymakers will appreciate it if you give them guidance on how to explore your area. Include maps showing where everything is in relation to your holiday cottage and the best way to get there by car or public transport. Include schedules and any other specifics that could be useful to visitors.
It’s also a good idea to provide phone numbers for local taxi companies.
Recycling and waste collection information
Holiday home owners and guests all have a responsibility to encourage responsible tourism, so let your guests know what they should do to follow the guidelines in your area.
Outline what guests should do with rubbish and recycling. What day do the bins need to be put out, and where? Consider providing separate coloured bags or boxes for different types of waste.
Include tips on saving energy in your holiday let, this will save money on bills as well as reduce your guests’ carbon footprint. For some reason, guests have a habit of putting the heating on full blast and then opening windows because it’s too hot.
Check-out instructions
To ensure a quick turnaround of the property for the next guests, tell your guests how your check-out works. When they should leave, and what their responsibilities are when departing.
For example, make sure doors and windows are locked, where to leave the keys, what to do with bed linen and towels, turn off the lights, take out the rubbish and dispose of perishable food.
Guest feedback
Leave a section for guests to leave their recommendations of restaurants and places they have enjoyed, so future guests can benefit from their personal experiences.
Also, provide the link to your online reviews page and ask guests to leave their feedback. Be selective with who you ask for a review. Avoid guests who have been ‘a problem’.
Provide a pad for children and encourage them to draw images of their holiday or comment on what they liked. It’s heartwarming to read what they enjoyed most.
How to create a holiday cottage welcome book
Digital welcome books
Several products have been developed specifically to create a digital welcome book.
They offer a range of easy-to-use templates, or you can create your own custom sections and tailor your guidebook to your needs. You can include instruction videos for appliances, links to local attractions and restaurants, and maps to pin your favourite local spots and businesses.
Digital guidebooks are easy to update, meaning your information is never outdated. Guests share a simple web link to your digital welcome book with other people in their group and access your information whenever they need it.
Digital welcome book solutions
TouchStay – https://touchstay.com/
Hostfully – https://www.hostfully.com/
YourWelcome – https://www.yourwelcome.com/ (includes a tablet that your guests use when staying with you).
Printed guest book
Some guests aren’t comfortable with technology, don’t have a suitable device or simply prefer going into a holiday home and browsing through a physical guest information folder.
Creating a Microsoft Word guest manual is a cheap and effective solution. It can be left in an easy-to-spot location like the kitchen counter for arriving guests. A copy can be emailed as soon as they book and re-sent 24 hours before check-in, so everything is nice and fresh in their mind.
A hardback ring binder with plastic wallets would also work, or you can buy professional-looking guest information folders from Out of Eden.
However, printed guest information folders go out of date quickly, can get tatty, and pages often go missing.
You could offer both options to accommodate the individual guest’s preference by attaching the guidebook link (and a QR code) to the front of your printed copy.
How to encourage guests to read your welcome book
There are some guests who wont read your guest information, and it’s these guests who are the most demanding and ask lots of questions which could have been avoided if they read the handbook provided.
So, how do you get guests to read the guest information? You need to give them a reason and outline the benefits of reading your welcome book. You can either do this by including sections on ‘must-book’ restaurants, and how to get money off attractions, or activities in your city.
Some of the digital guidebooks mentioned above allow you to see if your guests are viewing your guides. If you send it after they book and they haven’t opened it, send them a gentle nudge saying that if they don’t book your recommended restaurants before their stay, the best ones will be booked up. Send the link to your guest book 7 days before check-in and again 24 hours before.
Closing thoughts
Creating a welcome book full of essential information, helpful tips, and local recommendations is an effective way to make a lasting impression and encourage positive reviews.
By regularly updating and ensuring your guest book is an essential resource, you’ll get fewer questions and more glowing reviews from guests.
Further reading: If you are looking for some ideas for what to include in your welcome pack, then this post offers some useful tips.
8 Comments
As ever, a very well-researched article. Good to see the recommendation to create an electronic Welcome Book. We noticed that, emailing a copy to guests about a week before their arrival helped to reduce breakages or breakdowns as a result of misuse by guests who hadn’t bothered (or got around to) reading the carefully prepared instructions in the directory. Sending it in advance gave them time to read it. This saved us time having to respond to late evening calls requesting. advice on working the washing machine. Also, a personalised virtual welcome book is a lot less dog-eared than a physical one after 2-3 months of use in the house.
Thanks for your advice Rick.
Excellent article.
Please send anything along the same lines as working towards opening up a holiday let property in Portstewart Northern Ireland in the near future so any details or guidance information is welcome.
Kind regards
Alistair
Hi, if you click on the blog categories links (at the side) you can view more posts. Also, subscribe to our newsletter for more tips and news.
Very well structure and will definitively update my guest information guidelines
Hi, I want to write a polite notice just requesting that guests could please turn off the radiators in their rooms if they intend to be out for a time. They all have individual thermostat controls on their radiators and they heat up very quickly but with the costs almost doubling it’s frustrating to have an empty room heated all day. We are struggling to keep our prices down and this isn’t helping. Can anyone advise me? Thank you
Unfortunately it’s unlikely that guests would do this. You could look into smart thermostats?
Heya.
I have a cheap welcome box. In it are a few decent pub and museum recommendation letters, leaflets, magazines, books, games and old movies in question. I keep a bowl of fresh fruit and some wild flowers on a coffee table. Toys are on a windowsill. A typed up list of the rules and risks is pinned on a bedroom wall and kept in a drawer. Keys are only handed out on the arrival day. I like to meet the guests in advance.
They must not go missing or a hefty price is expected on departure. Wine is located in a cupboard that is securely locked at my request. Security cameras are maintained. Food and drink are available for personal consumption. Good luck.