No matter how clearly you explain arrival details when guests make their booking, they always seem to reach out asking how exactly to open the lockbox. Or even if you post the WiFi code smack-dab in the center of the fridge, you’re bound to get a message asking for it.
These questions add up and can make your days chaotic and rushed, especially since guests expect you to be available whenever they need you—which leaves you with little time to efficiently manage your team or simply take a breather.
A comprehensive guidebook is a go-to resource for guests that answers their questions, gives them autonomy, and saves you time. But, while Airbnb’s built-in guidebook is convenient and simple to create, it doesn’t have the same functionality as other digital guides.
We explore three digital guidebooks that answer your guests’ questions, earn you more five-star reviews, and keep your inbox clear.
| Give guests a better stay and reduce your workload. |
Airbnb guidebooks let you share local area information and tips to help your guests have a great stay. You can include recommendations for:
Creating a guidebook in Airbnb is fast and simple.
You can also write out specific city advice for your travelers using Airbnb’s eight predetermined categories:
Add your recommendations within the platform in minutes.
Airbnb puts your insights and tips together to make a printable digital guidebook:
Airbnb guidebooks allow you to present your suggestions in a convenient map view.
Airbnb guidebooks help you support the guest experience with expert recommendations, but they aren’t a complete solution: Here’s why.
You can use Airbnb to create multiple guidebooks and link those guides to their corresponding Airbnb listing. This is a simple way to provide information that’s relevant to each guest, but it’s also limited when compared to other solutions.
For example, with Breezeway you can create a guidebook for a neighborhood. Then, because Breezeway pulls in information about each booking from your PMS, it dynamically provides each guest with the relevant information, like property name, directions, and WiFi code.
And that’s true even if some of that information is unique to individual stays, like a unique access code for a smart lock.
So, even if you have 20 properties in one area, you only need one guidebook.
Because Airbnb guides can’t automate unit-specific information, you’ll still have to send guests updates throughout their stay, and they’ll continue to message you when they don’t know where to park or how to work the coffee maker.
On the other hand, the ideal guidebook solution preemptively provides that information and answers those questions so you never have to.
If you want your guidebook to be memorable and engage guests with your quality of service, you need an adaptable solution you can use no matter what channel your guest books through, be it Vrbo, Booking.com, or your direct booking site.
Having a guidebook you can share regardless of how your guest booked is crucial to a multi-channel distribution and direct booking strategy, and for your short-term rental branding.
And this is why the best solutions allow you to customize your guidebook with your company's brand rather than Airbnb’s.
Here are the three best Airbnb guidebook alternatives to cut down on guest questions and help you provide the best possible stay.
Breezeway’s digital guidebook is a comprehensive solution that gives your guests all the information they need to make the most of their stay.
Shared via a secure link, guests simply click to view its arrival and departure details, house rules, and local recommendations. But the Breezeway Guide takes things a step further by fully integrating with Breezeway’s operations and messaging software.
Guests can request maintenance service right in their guidebook by sending you a message as issues arise. So imagine a property’s hot tub jets aren’t working: The guest lets you know, and you immediately create a work order for your maintenance team within the same platform.
You can then track the status of the task in the same place, and, once the jets are fixed, message your guest to check everything’s resolved and see if there’s anything else they need.
This not only gives guests a more convenient stay, but cuts down on time-consuming guest and team messaging, and gives you a clear view across all your operations.
In fact, one of our clients was able to cut down on guest phone calls by 58% year over year by using welcome guides in tandem with our Airbnb cleaning software and messaging solutions.
Breezeway Welcome Books let you share key information with guests to help them prepare for check-in, like safety information and arrival details.
| “The Breezeway Guide does a fantastic job at delivering the guest info in a way that is easy for the guest to use… When the guest can answer their own question, it’s one less call for our support team” -Shawntel Dairsow, Client Resolutions Manager at Travel Advantage Network |
| Give guests a better stay and reduce your workload. |
RueBaRue’s digital guestbook allows you to create home guides that give guests crucial information about appliances and amenities, and area guides to share your recommendations on what to do and see.
RueBaRue integrates with Google Places, so information about the locations you recommended will be automatically updated. And the platform also offers a smart lock integration, so, as with Breezeway’s property access solutions, you can automatically generate unique door codes and share them with your guests via the guide.
Guests get specific information about their stay, as well as home and area guides, with RueBaRue digital guestbooks.
| “RueBaRue has tremendously cut down on the questions that many guests have about the home and amenities, local attractions and places to eat…Everything is right there in the property/destination guides.” - Andy F. |
As with Breezeway, Hostfully’s digital guidebooks can be shared via a unique link and are compatible on any device. Plus, Guidebook Quick Start Wizard, Hostfully’s guidebook creation guide, gives you helpful templates so you can get yours up and running in minutes.
You can add images and videos to your house manual to explain how to turn on the hot tub or where to find extra linens, as well as display all your restaurant recommendations on the guidebook’s local area map.
Share all the information your guests need, from check-in instructions to local recommendations, with a Hostfully digital guidebook.
| “The guidebook provides my guests with access to loads of useful info before and during their stay. I have fewer guest questions to answer as a result.” - Paula B. |
Without a dedicated solution in place, guest messages and calls can quickly end up dominating your day, taking you away from what you’d intended to get done, and ultimately preventing you from improving and growing your business.
By sharing key information in an accessible, user-friendly format, digital guides give your guests the autonomy they want. Instead of receiving a flurry of calls and messages every Saturday afternoon and throughout the week, you can calmly focus on managing your operations and delivering exceptional service.
When choosing a solution, look for the following features and characteristics:
Not only will you be less stressed, but your guests will thank you. Because, when you’re proactive about explaining arrival and in-stay details, providing check-out instructions, and sharing your favorite local coffee shops, all your guests have to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy their stay.
That means more positive reviews, higher rankings on Airbnb, and less hands-on communication with guests.
| Give guests a better stay and reduce your workload. |
The key information you should include in an Airbnb guidebook is:
You can make an Airbnb guidebook right through your Airbnb account, but a better alternative is to use a specialized tool to make your guidebook unique and customized. For example, you can use Breezeway to create detailed digital guidebooks for all your units, whether they’re listed on Airbnb or not.
When creating an Airbnb guidebook or welcome guide for your guests, you should display the most important arrival information on the first page, as well as information that preempts their questions. That includes directions for arrival and parking, property access instructions, and the WiFi code.