Airbnb guest book vs welcome book
An Airbnb guest book is for your guests to write in: a thank-you, a tip for the next people, a line about why they came. A welcome book is the opposite, a guide you write for them with the wifi password and how the hot water works, and Airbnb’s built-in version of it is called the house manual.
The two get mixed up all the time, by hosts and by Google. When we checked in November 2026, Google answered “How do I create a guest book for my Airbnb?” with a page about welcome books. This guide keeps them apart, and most hosts end up wanting both.
The difference at a glance
| Guest book | Welcome book | |
|---|---|---|
| Who writes it | Your guests | You |
| What is in it | Thanks, memories, tips for the next guests | Wifi, check-in and checkout steps, house rules, local picks |
| When guests open it | During the stay and on the last evening | Before they arrive and on the first day |
| How it changes | It grows with every stay | You edit it when something changes |
| On Airbnb | Not built in | The house manual in your listing’s Arrival guide |
| Where it lives | On the coffee table, or online behind a QR code | A binder in the kitchen, and the Airbnb app |
What goes in a welcome book
Airbnb’s help page on adding a house manual suggests everyday details, such as how to turn on the water heater or where the spare blankets are. In your listing, the manual sits in the Arrival guide, next to your check-in method, directions and wifi password, as Airbnb’s check-in advice for hosts describes. Only guests with a confirmed reservation can open it.
We would still leave a printed copy in the kitchen. Not everyone opens the app once they have the keys, and a page on the counter answers the wifi question before anyone has to message you.
A welcome book that saves you late-night messages usually covers:
- The wifi name and password
- Check-in and checkout steps, with the times
- House rules, like quiet hours and pets
- How the heating and the TV work
- Which bins to use and when the trash is collected
- Where the spare towels and blankets are
- The full address and emergency numbers
- Your favorite places nearby, from coffee to groceries
What goes in a guest book
The guest book is the guests’ turn. Paper guest books are a tradition at B&Bs, as Wikipedia notes, and some private homes keep a visitors’ book too. In a rental, the best entries do two jobs: they thank you, and they hand the next guests something useful, like the bakery that sells out by nine or the trail that turns to mud after rain.
It also gets you notes a review never will. Reviews are public and come with stars, so guests keep them short and careful. A guest book is where someone writes that they got engaged on your deck.
Most guests freeze at a blank page, though. They write more when you ask them something specific, so give them a few questions to start.
12 prompts for the first page
- Where did you travel from?
- What was the best thing you ate nearby?
- One tip for the next guests
- What were you celebrating?
- Who came on this trip? Pets count.
- What did you do on the rainy day?
- The best seat in the house is…
- Something you wish you had known on day one
- What would you come back for?
- Rate the sunset from the deck, 1 to 10
- Draw the view from your window (kids love this one)
- Anything we could add for the next stay?
Pick three or four that suit your place and print them at the top of the first page. Change them each season, so returning guests get new questions. Our free printable template has six of them on its welcome page.
What guests write
If you are the guest and the book is in front of you, a few honest lines are plenty. Say who you are, one thing you loved and one tip for whoever comes next. Some examples:
- “The Garcias from Austin. Four nights, two kids, one very happy dog. The pancake place on Front Street is worth the line.”
- “We came for my mom’s 70th birthday and sat on that porch every night. Thank you for the extra chairs.”
- “Tip for the next guests: the beach is quiet after four, and the fish tacos at the harbor sell out by seven.”
- “Rainy Tuesday? The puzzles in the hall closet saved us. One piece of the lighthouse is still missing, sorry.”
- “Thank you, Lena, for the hand-drawn map. We followed it all the way to the waterfall.”
- “Second time here, and the hammock is still the best seat in the house. See you next summer.”
Paper or online
A paper book on the coffee table looks lovely, and some guests will always reach for a pen. It also stays in one house, and one spilled coffee can take a year of entries with it.
An online guest book works from a phone. Guests can sign on the last evening or on the drive home, and every future guest can scroll back through years of tips.
We make a free digital Airbnb guest book, so weigh this part with that in mind. Guests sign from a QR code that you print for the fridge or the welcome book, and you can reply to each message right under it. There is an Ocean theme for places near the water.
Can one book do both jobs?
Some hosts leave blank pages at the back of the welcome binder for guests to sign. It works for a while, but the two age differently. The welcome book needs a fresh page whenever the wifi password or the checkout time changes, while the guest book should keep every page it ever had.
Keep them apart and connect them instead: put the guest book’s QR code on the last page of the welcome book, under your checkout steps. Guests read that page on the last morning, right when a thank-you comes easily.
Quick answers
How do I create a guest book for my Airbnb? Choose paper or online, write three or four prompts on the first page and put it where people sit in the evening. If it is online, print its QR code for the welcome book and the fridge.
Is a guest book the same as a house manual? No. The house manual is Airbnb’s name for the welcome book in your listing, and the guest book is where guests write to you.
Do I need one? Nothing on Airbnb asks for a guest book. Guests do not expect one, which is part of why a good one gets noticed.