Digital guide or printed house manual for your Airbnb: what each one is for
The digital guide reaches the guest before they leave home, and they only find the printed binder once they are inside. That’s why it pays to have both, each for its own job. The digital one carries everything they need to arrive and open the door, and inside a single printed sheet with the WiFi and a QR code that opens the guide is enough.
What has to arrive first
Almost everything a guest asks about, they need before they get in. They need to know which gate it is, where the lockbox is and whether the elevator needs a card. A binder on the dining table is no use to them on the sidewalk with a suitcase in each hand, calling you. That part has to reach their phone, in your arrival message.
If they booked on Airbnb, the app shows them the check-in instructions 48 hours before check-in. Guests who booked through Booking.com or direct need you to send them, and a link to the guide is the shortest way.
Then there’s what changes. If you change the WiFi password, you edit the digital guide from your phone and the guest who already has the link sees the new one. The binder has to be reprinted and taken to the property, and with three properties that’s three trips. Meanwhile the old sheet is still there with a password that no longer works. With a binder you also never know if anyone opened it, and over time it gets stained or lost.
What paper is good for
Things used inside the house read better on paper, stuck where they’re used. For example, how to turn on the water heater, how the washing machine works, or which remote is the TV and which is the AC. A label next to the washing machine gets read exactly when it’s needed, and nobody goes looking for that in a link.
Paper also helps the guest who arrives with no data on their phone, like a foreigner who didn’t turn on roaming, or anyone who prefers to read on paper. For them, keep the WiFi password printed and in plain sight, because without WiFi they can’t open the guide either.
The sheet worth leaving inside
Instead of a twenty-page binder, leave one laminated sheet somewhere guests see when they walk in, like the fridge door or by the entrance. Four things are enough:
- the network name and WiFi password, in large type;
- a QR code that opens the digital guide, for everything else;
- who to message if something breaks, with their WhatsApp;
- checkout time and what to do with the keys.
You can make the QR code with any free generator. Since the guide’s link stays the same when you edit the guide, the QR code always opens the new version, and you only reprint the sheet if you change the WiFi password.
Want the digital guide for one of your properties?
We build it for you, for free, for as many properties as you want. Send us your listing link and we start from there.
Where do I put the door code?
In neither. The binder stays in the house for the next guest and a link gets forwarded, so send the code by message on arrival day.
Does the QR code stop working if I change something in the guide?
No. The link stays the same when you edit the guide, so the same QR code always opens the new version.
How much does the digital guide cost?
The guide costs you nothing. We build it from what’s already in your listing, one for each property, and afterwards you change whatever you like.
Sources
- Airbnb Help Center: Add check-in and checkout instructions to listings (the 48 hours).
- Airbnb Resource Center: Make check-in and checkout easy (what the guest sees after booking).
He wrote and checked this page. Every source is public and linked above.