Hotel guest book ideas for B&Bs and inns
A hotel guest book is a book where guests leave a note about their stay: what they loved, where they came from, a tip for the next guests. It belongs to small places where the owners meet their guests, such as B&Bs, inns and boutique hotels, and it can sit in the lobby or in every room. It is not the same thing as a guest register, the record of names and details that a hotel may have to keep by law.
A guest book is not a guest register
The two get mixed up, and they should stay apart.
A guest register is a business record. It holds names, addresses, dates, room numbers and payment details, and in some places the law says what it must contain. Los Angeles, for example, required hotels to record each guest’s name and address, vehicle details, dates of stay, room number and method of payment. In 2015 the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the part of that ordinance letting police inspect the records on demand, with no chance for the hotel to get the demand reviewed first, was unconstitutional. The rules differ by city and country, so ask your local authority what your register must hold.
A guest book is voluntary and meant to be read. Never ask for addresses, phone numbers or ID in it, and never use the register as one.
One book in the lobby, or one in every room
A lobby book collects the whole house in one place. It suits a guest house where everyone meets at breakfast, and it works as a display: new arrivals flip through it while they wait to check in.
A book in every room gives each room its own story. Guests in the same room read who stayed there before them, what they saw from the window and which restaurant they found. In a B&B with named rooms, a returning guest can find their own entry in the same room’s book.
Some places do both: a lobby book for everyone and a small book in each room.
What to ask guests
A blank page gets a “Lovely stay, thanks.” A good prompt gets a story. Put a small card in the front of the book with a few prompts, or print one at the top of each page:
- Where did you travel from?
- What brought you here?
- Your favorite moment of the stay
- The best thing you ate nearby
- A tip for the next guests in this room
- A walk, a view or a shop we should tell everyone about
- What should we never change?
- Draw the view from your window
Keep complaints out of it. A guest book is public, and a quiet feedback card or an email after checkout is the right place for anything that went wrong.
Ideas that get guests writing
Tips for the next guests
Ask every guest for one local tip, and the book becomes a guide that no website can match. It is the page the next guests will reach for first.
A world map in the lobby
A framed map and pins next to the lobby book, with a line that asks guests to mark their home town. Over a season, the map shows where your guests come from.
Postcards to the house
Leave blank postcards in the rooms and a box at the desk. Guests write a card to the house, and you pin the best ones on a wall by the stairs, with their permission.
A breakfast page
If breakfast is what people remember, give it its own page: the favorite dish, a request for next time, a recipe guests asked for.
A guest book they sign from their phone
A QR code on the desk or in the room opens an online guest book. Some guests who would never pick up a pen will write a line on their phone at checkout, and you can reply to each message. Our free vacation rental guest book works this way for B&Bs and inns too, and you approve messages with links before they appear.
A printed guest book for each room
If you prefer paper, our free Airbnb guest book template works just as well in a B&B: print the pages, punch them and keep them in a binder in each room.
Guest book or welcome book?
A guest book is where guests write. A welcome book is where you write: the Wi-Fi password, breakfast times, check-out and the house rules. Many rooms need both, and our guide to the guest book vs welcome book explains how to split them.
Looking after the books
- Leave a pen that works, and a ribbon or bookmark at the current page.
- Read new entries every week or two. Remove anything unkind, and any page where a guest wrote personal details by mistake.
- Ask before you quote a guest on your website or in a brochure.
- When a book is full, keep it. Old guest books are part of the history of the house, and returning guests like to find their own entry.
Quick answers
What do you write in a hotel guest book? Where you came from, your favorite moment, and a tip for the next guests. Two or three sentences is plenty.
Do hotels have to keep a guest register? In some places, yes, and the rules depend on the city and country. The guest register and the guest book are separate things.
Should every room have its own guest book? In a B&B or a small inn, it works well, because guests read who stayed in the same room. In a large hotel, one book in the lobby is easier to look after.
Can guests sign a hotel guest book online? Yes. A QR code in the room or at the desk can open an online guest book, and guests sign from their own phones.