Most welcome books are written from the host's side of the door: house history, a page on the local area, a paragraph about the log burner's provenance. Lovely — and not what anyone opens a welcome book for at 9pm with bags in hand.
A welcome book has one job: answer the question the guest has right now, faster than texting you. Guests reach for it in a predictable order, so write it in that order.
The first hour
- How to get in. Door code, key safe location and code, which door the key actually opens. Photos beat prose.
- WiFi. Network name and password, exactly as typed, capitals and all. This is the single most-opened page of any guidebook — put it one tap from the front.
- Parking. Where, whether a permit is needed, and what to do when the space is taken.
- Heating and hot water. Where the thermostat is and what "normal" looks like, so nobody rings you about a pressure gauge.
The first morning
- How things work — hob, TV, washing machine, hot tub if you have one. One short entry each, written for someone who has never seen your particular machine.
- Bins. Which bin, which day, where it goes. In UK lets this is genuinely a top-five question and almost nobody writes it down.
The stay
- Your five favourite places, not fifteen. A pub, a coffee place, a walk, a wet-weather option, somewhere for a good dinner. Guests trust a short, opinionated list far more than a directory.
- House rules, phrased kindly. "Quiet on the deck after 10 — sound carries over the water" lands better than a list of prohibitions.
The last morning
- Check-out time and what to actually do — strip beds or not, dishwasher on or not, keys where. Five bullet points, tops.
- Emergency details you hope nobody needs: stopcock, fuse box, your number, 999/111.
The test
Hand your welcome book to someone who has never visited the property and ask them to find the WiFi password, the bin day and the check-out time. Time it. Under thirty seconds for all three and you have a good welcome book. Longer, and every failed lookup becomes a message to your phone.
A digital guidebook makes the thirty-second test easy to pass — searchable, on the guest's own phone, updated in one place when the WiFi password changes. If you want to see what yours would look like, paste your listing link and watch one build itself from your property.