What to Put in Your Airbnb Welcome Book

The best welcome book is one guests consult without needing to think about it. It’s at the door when they arrive, answers the question they have in the moment they have it, and reads like advice from a knowledgeable friend rather than a legal document. When it works, you notice it in your review scores and your message volume — both move in the right direction.

Getting there doesn’t require a professionally designed PDF or a leather-bound binder. It requires knowing which questions guests actually have and organizing the answers clearly. Start with that, and the format is secondary.

Why a Welcome Book Is an Operational Asset

Hosts who skip the welcome guide tend to make up for it with their phones — answering the same five questions for every guest, at unpredictable hours, across every booking. That’s friction for the guest (who had to ask) and load for the host (who had to answer). A well-organized guide short-circuits that loop.

It also influences reviews more than hosts expect. Guests who feel informed and anticipated during their stay describe the experience differently than guests who had to hunt for the WiFi password or figure out the TV remote by trial and error. The “thoughtfulness” language that shows up in five-star reviews — “the host thought of everything,” “we felt so taken care of” — is often a direct response to a property that anticipated the guest’s needs. The welcome book is the most scalable way to create that impression.

For hosts managing multiple properties or working with a professional management service, a thorough guide also reduces the dependency on host availability. ATLStay builds welcome resources into every property setup for exactly this reason — the guest’s experience shouldn’t depend on whether someone is available to answer a text at 11pm.

What to Include: The Must-Have Sections

A welcome book that actually gets used is organized by when the guest needs each piece of information. Start with arrival and build outward.

Access and basics — This section is for the first ten minutes. Lockbox code or smart lock instructions, parking specifics (which spots, what permit if needed), WiFi network and password, and how to reach the host or management team if something is wrong. This should also be in your pre-arrival message, but having it here means guests can reference it without scrolling back through their inbox.

How the property works — Thermostat instructions, how to operate the TV and any streaming services, washer/dryer operation, trash and recycling location and schedule, and any appliances that aren’t immediately intuitive. Be specific: “the TV input is HDMI-2” is more useful than “use the TV remote.”

House rules in plain language — Not a copy-paste of your Airbnb listing rules, but a friendly, direct version: quiet hours, smoking policy, whether guests can have visitors, check-in and checkout times. Frame rules as context rather than warnings — guests respond better to “we observe quiet hours after 10pm out of respect for neighbors” than a bulleted list of prohibited behaviors.

Local recommendations — This is where the guide goes from functional to memorable. See the section below on making this section feel genuine.

Checkout instructions — Where to leave used towels, whether dishes need to be washed or just rinsed, how to handle the lockbox, and any trash tasks the guest should complete. Keep it short and non-punishing — guests follow simple, reasonable checkout asks more reliably than they follow elaborate departure checklists.

The Local Recommendations Section

Category	What to include
Coffee and breakfast	2–3 spots with a note on what they do well
Dinner (casual)	Quick reliable options, delivery apps if applicable
Dinner (worth the reservation)	One or two genuinely good restaurants nearby
Groceries	Nearest full grocery store, any specialty or convenience options
Outdoor / walkable	Parks, trails, or neighborhoods worth exploring on foot
Atlanta-specific	Something hyperlocal guests won’t find in a generic travel guide

The recommendations that guests remember are the specific ones. “The pastry case at this coffee shop is worth going out of your way for” is memorable. “Great coffee nearby” is not. You don’t need to cover every category — a shorter list of things you’d genuinely recommend outperforms a comprehensive list of places you’ve merely heard of. For guests exploring Atlanta more broadly, pointing them toward the neighborhoods ATLStay serves can add useful context about the city beyond their immediate surroundings.

Format: Printed, Digital, or Both

Printed works well when it’s durable and placed where guests actually arrive — on the kitchen counter, by the door, or in a folder in a visible spot. A laminated one-page “quick start” card with the access essentials plus a separate multi-page binder for everything else is a practical combination that handles both the immediate and the browse-later use cases.

Digital (a linked PDF, a Notion page, or a platform like Hostfully) is easier to update when things change and can include clickable links to reservation resources, maps, and restaurant websites. Share the link in your pre-arrival message so guests have it before they arrive. For guests who prefer their phone over a physical document, this is the path they’ll actually use.

The core content is identical either way. The format decision comes down to your guest profile and how often your property details change — if you’re updating parking instructions or house rules frequently, a digital guide is easier to maintain. If your property is stable and your guest mix trends older, a printed version may see more actual use.

Keeping the Guide Current

A welcome book that contains outdated information is worse than no guide at all — it creates confusion that the guest then has to resolve by contacting the host. Build a habit of reviewing the guide after any property change: a new appliance, a new parking situation, updated checkout instructions, a restaurant that closed. If you’re working with a management team, make sure the guide update process is part of the property onboarding and change-management workflow.

For properties in active markets like Atlanta, local recommendation lists also benefit from an occasional refresh. Neighborhood dining and entertainment change, and a list of recommendations that’s two years old starts to feel like a generic printout rather than a local tip. ATLStay’s how it works page covers how we handle ongoing property setup, including guest-facing materials.

The Welcome Book as Part of Your Broader Guest Experience

The welcome book is one element of a guest experience that also includes communication cadence, property cleanliness, and listing accuracy. A strong guide that answers questions guests didn’t have to ask amplifies the rest of the experience — but it doesn’t substitute for the fundamentals.

If you’re thinking through the full picture of what drives five-star outcomes, the resources section covers the other elements in depth: from turnover cleaning standards to which Atlanta neighborhoods generate the strongest short-term rental demand. And if you want to understand what your property’s earning potential looks like with the right setup behind it, ATLStay’s rental projection tool is the place to start.

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Wondering what your Atlanta Airbnb could realistically earn with professional management in place? Get a free rental projection from ATLStay — based on actual comparable listings. Or reach us directly at (678) 938-6413.