A digital guidebook for your Airbnb guests

What a digital guidebook is

It is the welcome binder, moved onto a web page. Instead of a folder on the coffee table or a PDF attached to a message, guests get one page that answers the questions they would otherwise send you: the Wi-Fi password, how the hob works, where to put the bins, where to get breakfast.

Three things make it better than paper:

• You can change it at any time. New router, new cleaner, a café that closed: edit one line and every guest sees the new version. Nothing to reprint.
• It is on the guest's own phone. They can check it from the restaurant, not just from the sofa, and it doesn't walk out of the door in a suitcase.
• It works for every guest. It doesn't matter whether they booked on Airbnb, Booking.com or directly with you.

What to put in it

Start with what guests ask about most and keep each part short. A complete guidebook has six parts. In Guestate, each one is a tool you add to your portal:

• Wi-Fi. The network name and password, ideally with a printed code that joins the network in one scan. It is usually the first thing anyone looks for.
• House manual. Short how-tos for the things that confuse people: the hob, the heating, the washing machine, the TV. It is also where your house rules and checkout steps go. Our house manual guide has a template you can copy.
• Local recommendations. Your own favourite cafés, restaurants and things to do, each with a link.
• Shop the stay. The things in your place guests ask about (the coffee machine, the linen, the lamp), each with a link to buy their own.
• Emergency contacts. Local emergency numbers, your number and your co-host's.
• A review link. One tap to your review page, for guests to use as they leave.

How guests open it: QR code or link

Use both. Send the link in your pre-arrival message so guests can read up on the way, and put a printed QR code where they'll look once they're inside: on the fridge, by the door, next to the bed. Phone cameras read QR codes without an app, so a scan opens the guidebook straight away.

In Guestate you download the code as a print-ready card, an image or an A4 PDF, and print it at home. The code points at your portal rather than at the content, so it keeps working however often you edit. Our guide to Airbnb QR codes covers which codes to print and where to put them.

Airbnb's built-in tools, or a separate guidebook?

Airbnb gives hosts two free tools: a house manual, which guests can read in the app once their reservation is confirmed, and guidebooks of local recommendations, shown on your listing and profile (Airbnb Help Center, Airbnb Resource Center). If you only host on Airbnb, they are a good place to start.

A separate guidebook is worth it when:

• you also take bookings on other platforms or directly, and want one guide for everyone;
• you want a code on the wall that guests scan in the room, rather than asking them to dig through an app;
• you want to earn from the places and products you recommend (see below).

For a side-by-side look at the paid options, see our comparison of guidebook apps.

Earning from your recommendations

Every host already recommends places. With partner links, the tips you would give anyway can earn a commission. Many tour, activity and shopping sites run affiliate programmes that pay you when a guest books or buys through your link.

In Guestate, the links on your local recommendations and in Shop the Stay (the things in your place guests can buy for themselves) are your own links. Paste a link that carries your referral code, and the partner pays the commission to you. We don't sit in between and we don't take a cut.

Follow each programme's rules, including telling guests where a link is an affiliate link if the programme or your local law requires it.

How to set one up with Guestate

1. Sign in with Google and add your property: its name and its city.
2. Add the tools you want (Wi-Fi, house manual, local recommendations, Shop the Stay, emergency contacts, review hand-off) and fill them in. Start with Wi-Fi and the house manual; the rest can wait.
3. Pick a colour and a list or grid layout. The preview shows what guests will see.
4. Download your QR card, print it and put it up.

The Starter plan is free for 1 property, with every tool, 1 shop item and 1 local recommendation, and a small “Powered by Guestate” line at the bottom. Host (€19 a month) covers up to 3 properties with unlimited recommendations and shop items; Portfolio (€49 a month) has no property limit.

Want to see the result first? Tap through an example guidebook.