What Should Actually Go in an STR Guest Welcome Book?

There are two unfortunate directions an STR welcome book can go.

The first is basically nothing.

Wi-Fi password. Checkout time. Good luck out there.

The second is a small encyclopedia containing everything the owner has ever learned about the house, seventeen rules in bold type and restaurant recommendations beginning with the nearest chain restaurant.

There is a better middle ground.

A good Guest Welcome Book should make staying in the property easier and visiting the area better.

That's really its job.

It should answer the questions guests are likely to have, explain the things about the property they couldn't reasonably know and give them a little help enjoying the place they came to visit.

Not overwhelm them.

Not supervise them.

Host them.

Start With an Actual Welcome

Before the instructions begin, say hello.

It doesn't need to be long.

Tell guests you're glad they're there. Give them a sentence or two about the property. If there is something meaningful about the house, neighborhood or area, this is a lovely place to share it.

The tone matters.

A guest has just arrived somewhere unfamiliar.

The first page should feel like someone opened the door for them—not handed them a policy manual.

Then make the most immediately useful information very easy to find.

Put the Important Things Up Front

There are a few things guests should not have to hunt for.

Wi-Fi network and password
Property address
Host or property manager contact information
Emergency instructions
Check-in time
Checkout time

Depending on the property, you may also want to include parking information here.

These are the things someone may need quickly.

Don't bury the Wi-Fi password on page 19 between “Our Favorite Museums” and the history of the neighborhood.

Nobody has earned that kind of suspense.

Explain Arrival Before You Explain the House

Some information is most useful before a guest ever gets inside.

Where should they park?

Which entrance should they use?

Is there a gate?

Is the house number difficult to see?

Are there multiple units on the property?

Does the keypad require pressing a particular button after entering the code?

If arrival is even slightly unusual, explain it clearly.

Photos can be helpful when a property has a confusing entrance, parking arrangement or access point.

A tired guest arriving after dark should not have to solve your property.

Tell Them How the House Works

Every house has things that are obvious to the person who owns it and completely mysterious to everyone else.

Your Guest Welcome Book is where you explain the ones guests actually need.

That might include:

Thermostat
Televisions
Fireplace
Washer and dryer
Grill
Hot tub
Pool equipment guests operate
Outdoor lighting
Coffee maker
Game room equipment
Sound system
Unusual appliances
Smart-home features

Don't include instructions simply because something exists.

Nobody needs a paragraph explaining how to operate a toaster.

But if the fireplace requires three steps, a remote and a small act of faith, help them out.

Explain what isn't intuitive. Leave the intuitive things alone.

Keep Instructions Short

If operating the television requires two full pages of written instructions, you may have a television problem rather than a welcome-book problem.

Use short steps.

Use photographs when photographs are clearer.

Use labels.

Make information skimmable.

Guests are not going to sit down on their first evening and study your Guest Welcome Book for an exam.

They're going to reach for it when they need something.

Design it accordingly.

The best instruction is the one someone can understand while standing beside the thing they're trying to operate.

Tell Guests Where Useful Things Are

You don't need to inventory the entire property for them.

But if you've intentionally provided something they may need, tell them where to find it.

Extra blankets
Hair dryer
Iron
First-aid supplies
Board games
Outdoor games
Pool or hot-tub towels
Laundry supplies
Pack-and-play or children's items, if provided
Extra trash bags
Cleaning supplies for small spills

This is especially useful for things stored behind closed doors.

There is little point thoughtfully providing a first-aid kit if your guests would need to dismantle the laundry closet to discover it.

Explain Trash Before It Becomes a Trash Problem

Trash instructions aren't exciting.

Neither is discovering six bags of it in the kitchen after checkout.

Tell guests:

Where interior trash bags are located
Where full bags should go
Where exterior bins are located
Whether recycling is available
Anything unusual about trash collection

Keep it simple.

The goal isn't to recruit guests into municipal waste management.

It's just to make the correct thing easy to do.

Give Outdoor Amenities Their Own Instructions

If outdoor spaces are part of what makes your property special, make sure guests know how to enjoy them.

Fire pit
Grill
Hot tub
Pool
Outdoor television
Games
Lighting
Fireplace
Patio heaters

Include any genuinely necessary safety information.

Also explain where related supplies are kept.

Where are the grill tools?

Where are the hot-tub towels?

Where are the outdoor games?

How do the string lights turn on?

A beautiful amenity guests can't figure out is mostly scenery.

Be Clear About the Few House Rules That Actually Matter

Nobody enjoys being greeted by a wall of DON'T.

Don't do this.

Don't touch that.

Don't move this.

Don't breathe too enthusiastically after 9:00 p.m.

House rules may be necessary.

Hospitality is in how you communicate them.

Prioritize the rules that genuinely protect the property, neighbors and guests.

Noise expectations.

Smoking policy.

Pet rules, if applicable.

Parking restrictions.

Occupancy limits.

Any important rules associated with amenities.

Write them plainly.

Don't turn the Guest Welcome Book into an opportunity to anticipate every irritating thing a hypothetical person could possibly do.

Most guests are reasonable people.

Talk to them like reasonable people.

Give Them the Version of Your Town You'd Give a Friend

This is where a welcome book can become something more than instructions.

Your guests can search “restaurants near me” perfectly well on their own.

What they can't Google quite as easily is your judgment.

If someone you liked came to town for the weekend, where would you actually send them?

That's the list worth making.

Not fifty restaurants.

A handful.

Maybe organize recommendations by what someone is looking for:

Good breakfast nearby

Worth the drive

Dinner somewhere nice

Coffee

Live music or entertainment

Good with kids

Late-night food

Groceries and essentials

A rainy afternoon

Include enough information to help someone choose, not a tourism directory.

And don't be afraid to have an opinion.

“We love this place because…” is far more useful than copying a restaurant's description from its website.

Help Them See Beyond the Obvious Tourist Stops

Every destination has the places everyone already knows about.

Your welcome book can help guests find some of what exists beyond them.

If your property happens to be in Nashville, guests probably don't need you to inform them that Broadway exists.

What you can give them is the neighborhood coffee shop you genuinely like, a restaurant worth leaving downtown for, a park that's great with kids or the smaller music venue they might otherwise miss.

The same principle applies anywhere.

A beach town has more than the beach.

A mountain town has more than the most famous trail.

A city has more than its downtown tourist district.

Give guests a little bit of the place they wouldn't necessarily find on the first page of a search result.

Include the Boring Places Too

Guests occasionally need something decidedly less romantic than dinner reservations and sightseeing.

A grocery store.

Pharmacy.

Urgent care.

Gas station.

ATM.

EV charger, if relevant.

Somewhere to buy diapers at 8:30 p.m.

Include a short practical section with the closest or most useful everyday places.

Nobody will book your property because the welcome book identifies the nearest pharmacy.

Someone will be extremely glad you included it when they need one.

Help Them With This Property's Particular Location

Every STR has location-specific information guests may find useful.

Perhaps parking in the main tourist area is difficult.

Perhaps rideshare is much easier than driving.

Perhaps there's a great coffee shop within walking distance.

Maybe the property is convenient to the airport.

Maybe the neighborhood has a fantastic little restaurant nobody would find otherwise.

Maybe guests should know that traffic toward a particular attraction gets unpleasant at certain times.

This is where actual local knowledge becomes useful.

You aren't writing a guide to the entire destination.

You're helping someone experience it from this house.

Tell Them What to Do If Something Goes Wrong

Something eventually will.

The Wi-Fi stops working.

The keypad won't cooperate.

The toilet won't stop running.

The power goes out.

Guests should know who to contact and how.

Keep this section extremely simple.

For emergencies, tell them what constitutes an emergency and whom to call.

For ordinary property issues, give them the appropriate contact.

If there are a couple of safe, simple troubleshooting steps for common problems, include them.

But don't make the guest your maintenance technician.

They should know how to report the problem—not inherit responsibility for repairing your house.

Keep Checkout Instructions Reasonable

Checkout instructions deserve their own section.

And restraint.

Tell guests:

Checkout time
Where trash should go
What to do with used towels
What to do with dishes
How to secure the property
Where to leave anything that needs to remain behind

If there are other genuinely important steps, include them.

But remember:

You have a turnover team for a reason.

Your guests should not spend the last hour of their vacation stripping every bed, starting four loads of laundry, sweeping the floors, taking the bins to the road and wondering why they also paid a cleaning fee.

Make leaving easy.

Don't Put Owner Information in the Guest Book

This sounds obvious until you start building all of your property documentation at once.

Your Guest Welcome Book is for guests.

It should not contain:

Paint colors
Furniture sources
Warranty information
Contractor information
Appliance model numbers unless genuinely useful to guests
Maintenance records
Private access codes
Owner-only storage information
Security information guests don't need

Those things belong somewhere else.

The two guides work together beautifully.

They just have different audiences.

Make It Easy to Update

Restaurants close.

Coffee shops move.

Wi-Fi passwords change.

You replace the grill.

Checkout procedures evolve.

Your Guest Welcome Book needs to be something you can update without rebuilding the entire thing.

Keep the original editable file.

Date revisions if useful.

Review recommendations periodically.

And if you're keeping a printed copy at the property, make sure the physical version gets updated too.

There is something particularly unhelpful about lovingly recommending a breakfast restaurant that closed eighteen months ago.

Physical, Digital or Both?

We like both.

A physical Guest Welcome Book feels natural in a house.

Guests can pick it up, flip through it and leave it on the coffee table for someone else.

It can also become part of the character of the property rather than another thing guests need to open on their phones.

A digital version is useful before arrival and easier to update.

The two don't need to compete.

Use each where it is most useful.

The important part is that the information is accessible when the guest needs it.

Before You Finish It, Stay in the House

Or ask someone who hasn't been involved in setting it up to do it.

Then pay attention to every question that comes up.

What's the Wi-Fi?

How does this turn on?

Where are the extra towels?

Which trash can is ours?

Can we use this?

Where should we park?

How do you lock this door?

Those questions are telling you what belongs in the Guest Welcome Book.

This is much more useful than sitting at a computer trying to imagine every conceivable question a stranger might someday ask.

Let the property tell you what needs explaining.

A Welcome Book Should Feel Like Part of the Welcome

A Guest Welcome Book is an operating tool.

But it doesn't have to feel clinical.

This is one of the few pieces of your STR where you get to speak directly to the people staying there.

Use that opportunity well.

Help them settle in.

Help them understand the house.

Help them find a great breakfast.

Tell them where the extra blankets are.

Give them enough information that they don't have to spend their stay asking questions.

Then get out of their way and let them enjoy the place.

The best Guest Welcome Book doesn't remind people that they're staying in a managed property.

It reminds them that someone thought about their stay before they arrived.

And that is a very different feeling.

KEEP READING

[What Actually Needs to Be Done Before Your STR Is Ready for Guests? → LINK]

[How to Build a Property Reference Guide for Your STR → LINK]

[How to Create Clear Turnover Standards for Your STR → LINK]

[The Things Guests Notice That Never Make the Listing Photos → LINK]

There are two unfortunate directions an STR welcome book can go.

The first is basically nothing.

Wi-Fi password. Checkout time. Good luck out there.

There is a better middle ground.

A good Guest Welcome Book should make staying in the property easier and visiting the area better.

That's really its job.

It should answer the questions guests are likely to have, explain the things about the property they couldn't reasonably know and give them a little help enjoying the place they came to visit.

Not overwhelm them.

Not supervise them.

Host them.

Start With an Actual Welcome

Before the instructions begin, say hello.

It doesn't need to be long.

Tell guests you're glad they're there. Give them a sentence or two about the property. If there is something meaningful about the house, neighborhood or area, this is a lovely place to share it.

The tone matters.

A guest has just arrived somewhere unfamiliar.

The first page should feel like someone opened the door for them—not handed them a policy manual.

Then make the most immediately useful information very easy to find.

Put the Important Things Up Front

There are a few things guests should not have to hunt for.

Wi-Fi network and password
Property address
Host or property manager contact information
Emergency instructions
Check-in time
Checkout time

Depending on the property, you may also want to include parking information here.

These are the things someone may need quickly.

Don't bury the Wi-Fi password on page 19 between “Our Favorite Museums” and the history of the neighborhood.

Nobody has earned that kind of suspense.

Explain Arrival Before You Explain the House

Some information is most useful before a guest ever gets inside.

Where should they park?

Which entrance should they use?

Is there a gate?

Is the house number difficult to see?

Are there multiple units on the property?

Does the keypad require pressing a particular button after entering the code?

If arrival is even slightly unusual, explain it clearly.

Photos can be helpful when a property has a confusing entrance, parking arrangement or access point.

A tired guest arriving after dark should not have to solve your property.

Tell Them How the House Works

Every house has things that are obvious to the person who owns it and completely mysterious to everyone else.

Your Guest Welcome Book is where you explain the ones guests actually need.

That might include:

Thermostat
Televisions
Fireplace
Washer and dryer
Grill
Hot tub
Pool equipment guests operate
Outdoor lighting
Coffee maker
Game room equipment
Sound system
Unusual appliances
Smart-home features

Don't include instructions simply because something exists.

Nobody needs a paragraph explaining how to operate a toaster.

But if the fireplace requires three steps, a remote and a small act of faith, help them out.

Explain what isn't intuitive. Leave the intuitive things alone.

Keep Instructions Short

If operating the television requires two full pages of written instructions, you may have a television problem rather than a welcome-book problem.

Use short steps.

Use photographs when photographs are clearer.

Use labels.

Make information skimmable.

Guests are not going to sit down on their first evening and study your Guest Welcome Book for an exam.

They're going to reach for it when they need something.

Design it accordingly.

The best instruction is the one someone can understand while standing beside the thing they're trying to operate.

Tell Guests Where Useful Things Are

You don't need to inventory the entire property for them.

But if you've intentionally provided something they may need, tell them where to find it.

This is especially useful for things stored behind closed doors.

There is little point thoughtfully providing a first-aid kit if your guests would need to dismantle the laundry closet to discover it.

Explain Trash Before It Becomes a Trash Problem

Trash instructions aren't exciting.

Neither is discovering six bags of it in the kitchen after checkout.

Tell guests:

Where interior trash bags are located
Where full bags should go
Where exterior bins are located
Whether recycling is available
Anything unusual about trash collection

Keep it simple.

The goal isn't to recruit guests into municipal waste management.

It's just to make the correct thing easy to do.

Give Outdoor Amenities Their Own Instructions

If outdoor spaces are part of what makes your property special, make sure guests know how to enjoy them.

Fire pit
Grill
Hot tub
Pool
Outdoor television
Games
Lighting
Fireplace
Patio heaters

Include any genuinely necessary safety information.

Also explain where related supplies are kept.

Where are the grill tools?

Where are the hot-tub towels?

Where are the outdoor games?

How do the string lights turn on?

A beautiful amenity guests can't figure out is mostly scenery.

Be Clear About the Few House Rules That Actually Matter

Nobody enjoys being greeted by a wall of DON'T.

Don't do this.

Don't touch that.

Don't move this.

Don't breathe too enthusiastically after 9:00 p.m.

House rules may be necessary.

Hospitality is in how you communicate them.

Prioritize the rules that genuinely protect the property, neighbors and guests.

Noise expectations.

Smoking policy.

Pet rules, if applicable.

Parking restrictions.

Occupancy limits.

Any important rules associated with amenities.

Write them plainly.

Don't turn the Guest Welcome Book into an opportunity to anticipate every irritating thing a hypothetical person could possibly do.

Most guests are reasonable people.

Talk to them like reasonable people.

Give Them the Version of Your Town You'd Give a Friend

This is where a welcome book can become something more than instructions.

Your guests can search “restaurants near me” perfectly well on their own.

What they can't Google quite as easily is your judgment.

If someone you liked came to town for the weekend, where would you actually send them?

That's the list worth making.

Not fifty restaurants.

A handful.

Maybe organize recommendations by what someone is looking for:

Good breakfast nearby

Worth the drive

Dinner somewhere nice

Coffee

Live music or entertainment

Good with kids

Late-night food

Groceries and essentials

A rainy afternoon

Include enough information to help someone choose, not a tourism directory.

And don't be afraid to have an opinion.

“We love this place because…” is far more useful than copying a restaurant's description from its website.

Help Them See Beyond the Obvious Tourist Stops

Every destination has the places everyone already knows about.

Your welcome book can help guests find some of what exists beyond them.

If your property happens to be in Nashville, guests probably don't need you to inform them that Broadway exists.

The same principle applies anywhere.

A beach town has more than the beach.

A mountain town has more than the most famous trail.

A city has more than its downtown tourist district.

Give guests a little bit of the place they wouldn't necessarily find on the first page of a search result.

Include the Boring Places Too

Guests occasionally need something decidedly less romantic than dinner reservations and sightseeing.

A grocery store.

Pharmacy.

Urgent care.

Gas station.

ATM.

EV charger, if relevant.

Somewhere to buy diapers at 8:30 p.m.

Include a short practical section with the closest or most useful everyday places.

Nobody will book your property because the welcome book identifies the nearest pharmacy.

Someone will be extremely glad you included it when they need one.

Help Them With This Property's Particular Location

Every STR has location-specific information guests may find useful.

Perhaps parking in the main tourist area is difficult.

Perhaps rideshare is much easier than driving.

Perhaps there's a great coffee shop within walking distance.

Maybe the property is convenient to the airport.

Maybe the neighborhood has a fantastic little restaurant nobody would find otherwise.

Maybe guests should know that traffic toward a particular attraction gets unpleasant at certain times.

This is where actual local knowledge becomes useful.

You aren't writing a guide to the entire destination.

You're helping someone experience it from this house.

Tell Them What to Do If Something Goes Wrong

Something eventually will.

The Wi-Fi stops working.

The keypad won't cooperate.

The toilet won't stop running.

The power goes out.

Guests should know who to contact and how.

Keep this section extremely simple.

For emergencies, tell them what constitutes an emergency and whom to call.

For ordinary property issues, give them the appropriate contact.

If there are a couple of safe, simple troubleshooting steps for common problems, include them.

But don't make the guest your maintenance technician.

They should know how to report the problem—not inherit responsibility for repairing your house.

Keep Checkout Instructions Reasonable

Checkout instructions deserve their own section.

And restraint.

Tell guests:

Checkout time
Where trash should go
What to do with used towels
What to do with dishes
How to secure the property
Where to leave anything that needs to remain behind

If there are other genuinely important steps, include them.

But remember:

You have a turnover team for a reason.

Make leaving easy.

Don't Put Owner Information in the Guest Book

This sounds obvious until you start building all of your property documentation at once.

Your Guest Welcome Book is for guests.

It should not contain:

Those things belong somewhere else.

The two guides work together beautifully.

They just have different audiences.

Make It Easy to Update

Restaurants close.

Coffee shops move.

Wi-Fi passwords change.

You replace the grill.

Checkout procedures evolve.

Your Guest Welcome Book needs to be something you can update without rebuilding the entire thing.

Keep the original editable file.

Date revisions if useful.

Review recommendations periodically.

And if you're keeping a printed copy at the property, make sure the physical version gets updated too.

There is something particularly unhelpful about lovingly recommending a breakfast restaurant that closed eighteen months ago.

Physical, Digital or Both?

We like both.

A physical Guest Welcome Book feels natural in a house.

Guests can pick it up, flip through it and leave it on the coffee table for someone else.

It can also become part of the character of the property rather than another thing guests need to open on their phones.

A digital version is useful before arrival and easier to update.

The two don't need to compete.

Use each where it is most useful.

The important part is that the information is accessible when the guest needs it.

Before You Finish It, Stay in the House

Or ask someone who hasn't been involved in setting it up to do it.

Then pay attention to every question that comes up.

What's the Wi-Fi?

How does this turn on?

Where are the extra towels?

Which trash can is ours?

Can we use this?

Where should we park?

How do you lock this door?

Those questions are telling you what belongs in the Guest Welcome Book.

This is much more useful than sitting at a computer trying to imagine every conceivable question a stranger might someday ask.

Let the property tell you what needs explaining.

A Welcome Book Should Feel Like Part of the Welcome

A Guest Welcome Book is an operating tool.

But it doesn't have to feel clinical.

This is one of the few pieces of your STR where you get to speak directly to the people staying there.

Use that opportunity well.

Help them settle in.

Help them understand the house.

Help them find a great breakfast.

Tell them where the extra blankets are.

Give them enough information that they don't have to spend their stay asking questions.

Then get out of their way and let them enjoy the place.

The best Guest Welcome Book doesn't remind people that they're staying in a managed property.

It reminds them that someone thought about their stay before they arrived.

And that is a very different feeling.

KEEP READING

[What Actually Needs to Be Done Before Your STR Is Ready for Guests? → LINK]

[How to Build a Property Reference Guide for Your STR → LINK]

[How to Create Clear Turnover Standards for Your STR → LINK]

[The Things Guests Notice That Never Make the Listing Photos → LINK]