How to give your Guests the perfect Welcome Book

One of the many joys of being an Airbnb host is witnessing your guests' happiness when they enter your accommodation. As a host, you know that despite the work that goes into pre-arrival, the moment a guest enters your property and smiles at you is critical for the experience to be great.

However, this is only the beginning of their experience, so it's vital to ensure your guests are aware of the accommodation rules, city details, and other essential information so that they can find what to do and when.

That is why it is crucial to give them a proper Welcome Book.

What is a Welcome Book

The Welcome Book aggregates all the information your guests need during their stay. When thinking about what to write or include, try to put yourself in a travellers' shoes to understand the data to display quickly.

The Welcome Book of your accommodation can be what you want it to be. It depends a lot on the type of accomodation you have. For example, if your Airbnb is an apartment inserted into a building there might be different information to pass on than if the Airbnb is a country house with a lot of outside space.

Plus, when drafting your Welcome Book it is also important to understand your target guest. For example, are you expecting your guests to be +50 and family-oriented or younger and friends-group oriented? That factor can also impact a lot the type of recommendations or even information that you might show.

We recommend you have 3 or 4 different versions to handle according to the audience you receive.

How to make a standout Welcome Book

Amazing design

Do not underestimate the power of a well-designed document. The image of your Welcome Book is what will allow your guests to notice it in the first place.

Ideally, the design must be coherent with your brand guidelines and you should display the information concisely and straightforwardly. Try to avoid distracting fonts and too many intense colors.

PS: As a LUGGit partner, we can help you (for free) to implement a great design on your Welcome Book.

Organise in order of importance

The best way to ensure your guests read your welcome booklet is to organise it in order of importance. Of course, it is always a challenge for you to know precisely what your guests might want or need but as you remember, we said you should keep three to four versions according to the audience characteristics.

For example, it can make sense to have the first section with the local emergency numbers for someone say +50, and the first section with restaurants and nightlife for a younger guest. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean you should hide this information from guests. On the contrary, they’re all important to everyone. Just try to catch their engagement by showing the information accordingly.

What to include in your Airbnb Welcome Book

So far, we have covered the importance of having a welcome book, what it is, and how to make it visually appealing. But the most critical factor is its content and how you can make it valuable for your guests.

Welcome Information

Even if your guest already received a welcome message, it’s always important to tell them how grateful you are for welcoming them into your accommodation. A simple thank you might be enough and the perfect introduction to the more important information.

Some pieces of information you might address right at the beginning:

• Your COVID-19 cleaning measures;
• Wi-Fi credentials and other codes and passwords;
• Your contact information.

Arrival and departure

This is the section where you should include information regarding your check-in and check-out rules. Take into consideration that the information displayed in this section can change if you send the Welcome Book in advance or not. We advise you to send it over previously, so your guests can have a smooth arrival.

Usually, once the guests receive this kind of information, they might realise they have a couple of hours to enjoy before check-in if their flight arrives in the first hours in the morning. The same happens if their returning flight is at the end of the day and they see you allow them to check-out until 11 AM.

By partnering with LUGGit, you can include information about how your guests can book our luggage pick-up and delivery service. Doing that allows them to enjoy their first and last hours in the city. At the same time, this gives you the time to handle all the logistics details regarding who is coming in and out of your accommodation.

Activities, eating and drinking guide

If your city has a unique cultural agenda, great sightseeing tours, or even great restaurants, you should include it here!

Remember that your guests are in your city to have fun and discover the best places to collect great memories.

In this section, you can also include several restaurants that your guests might find beautiful. Try to have as many varieties of food served as possible and take into account the location of the restaurants. After all, you want your guests to know more than just about the area.

It’s never too much to reinforce that the food recommendations are important to travellers, which can positively or negatively impact their experience. Try to do this as if you were the one that would like to know where to eat.

Finally, include a list of possible clubs or bars that your guests can go to after dinner to listen to some music and dance. Again, try to include as many references as possible (you just don’t know what your guests would like!).

About the accommodation

This might be considered the “SOS” section of your Welcome Book.

Try to include here information such as:

• The heating and cooling systems;
• Kitchen utensils (washing machine, coffee machine, oven, fridge…);
• TV setup;
• Shared facilities usage.

How to give your Welcome Book

Now, with a concise and organised Welcome Book, you need to decide when and how to handle it over to your guests. Again, there are two options you can choose from.

Digital

This option is convenient in several ways. It allows your guests to download it whenever they like and access it anytime.

This option is also cheaper than printing, and you can ensure it is always delivered with the best quality.

However, the most significant advantage of this method is that it can be sent in advance, which is an excellent option to help your guests prepare for all the check-in procedures and rules.

Printed

This option provides the fantastic first impression you want to create. Receiving a well-written and beautifully designed Welcome Book upon arrival is always when your guests realise how much you care for them and their experience.

Summary

Building your Welcome Book is just one of the things you might want to deliver to your guests to provide a great experience.

It gives them a whole notion about you and your property, and it also helps you communicate with them and make them feel you are there for them, 100%.

So, we recommend you take the time to build your own Welcome Book, and, again, if you need any help, just let us know.