A vacation rental welcome book — sometimes called a house manual or guest guide — is a document that gives guests everything they need to enjoy their stay without having to ask you.
Done well, it reduces your message volume, improves your reviews, and makes guests feel genuinely cared for. Done badly (or not at all), it leaves guests guessing — and guessing leads to messages, frustration, and lower ratings.
Here's exactly what to put in yours.
What a Welcome Book Actually Is
At its core, a welcome book answers the questions every guest has:
- How do I get in?
- What's the WiFi password?
- How does [this appliance] work?
- What are the rules?
- When do I have to leave?
- What's good to eat nearby?
The format varies — some hosts use printed booklets, some use PDFs, some use digital guides. The content is what matters.
What to Include: Section by Section
Welcome message
A short, personal welcome. Thank them for booking, tell them you're available if they need anything, and point them to the rest of the guide. Keep it to 3–4 sentences — this isn't the place for a wall of text.
Property address & getting there
Full address, entry instructions, parking details, and nearest public transport. Include a map link if you can. Guests arriving for the first time need this more than anything.
WiFi
Network name and password, front and centre. This is the first thing every guest asks for. Don't make them search.
Check-in & check-out
- Check-in time, access method, what to do on arrival
- Check-out time, what to do before leaving (beds, bins, key return)
- Early/late availability policy
Appliances
Instructions for anything non-obvious: the heating, the washing machine, the coffee machine, the TV, the shower that takes a moment to heat up. A photo helps.
House rules
Noise policy, guest limits, smoking, pets, parties. Short and clear. (See our house rules template for a full copy-paste version.)
Emergency information
Emergency number (112 in most of Europe), your contact number, location of fuse box and water stopcock. Most guests will never need this, but it's important to include.
Local area guide
Your genuine recommendations: 2–3 restaurants, the best coffee shop, the nearest supermarket and pharmacy, one local tip guests wouldn't find on Google. This section gets read more than almost any other.
Checkout instructions
Repeat this separately from the check-in section — guests look for it at the end of the stay, not the beginning. Include: checkout time, what to do with towels and bedding, bin procedure, key return.
Physical vs Digital: Which is Better?
Physical welcome books are tangible and guests often appreciate the effort. The problems: they go out of date the moment you change your WiFi password, they get damaged, they can't be read before arrival, and they're not available on a phone.
PDF guides are easy to create and send. The problems: they require downloading, they're hard to read on a phone screen, and they still go out of date.
Digital guides — a link guests can tap on their phone — solve all of these problems. They load instantly, work on every device without download, can be updated at any time, and are available before, during, and after the stay.
The best approach for most hosts: a digital guide as the primary resource, with a short printed card at the property that has just the WiFi and emergency contact.
The Free Template
Use these section headings as your starting point. Adapt the content to your property:
- Welcome
- Getting Here & Parking
- Check-In Instructions
- WiFi & Tech
- Appliances
- House Rules
- Checkout Instructions
- Emergency Contacts
- Local Recommendations
Hellostr gives you all of these sections as ready-made templates. Fill in your details, add your branding, hit Publish — and your guests get a beautiful mobile guide via a single link. No design skills, no printing, no PDFs.