Airbnb Welcome Book Template: Full Outline
By Clément · Co-founder of Lyvo, product and technology
A good Airbnb welcome book template follows the stay in order: before arrival, check-in, the home itself, the neighbourhood, check-out. The outline below has ten sections. Each one lists the fields to fill and a sample sentence to adapt. Copy it, replace the brackets, and your welcome book is ready.
Treat this page as a working tool. If you first want to understand what a welcome book does for your hosting, read our complete guide to the Airbnb welcome book, then come back here with your property in mind.
What a welcome book template needs to cover
Guests open your welcome book with one specific question: where is the key, what is the Wi-Fi password, what time do I leave. They don’t read it cover to cover. Your template should follow the timeline of the stay so each answer sits where guests look for it.
Here is the 10-section skeleton:
- Welcome and contact
- Access and check-in
- Wi-Fi
- The home, room by room
- Appliances and how-tos
- House rules
- Safety and emergencies
- Neighbourhood and local tips
- Optional services
- Check-out
Order matters. Wi-Fi sits in third place because it’s the first thing guests ask for once they’re through the door. Airbnb’s own advice on writing a house manual also puts the Wi-Fi password at the top, for that reason. Check-out comes last: guests read it the evening before they leave, not on day one.
The outline to copy, section by section
Swap each bracket for your own details. Keep sentences short: your guest reads on a phone, often standing at the door with a suitcase.
1. Welcome and contact
Fields: your first name, a reachable number, your response hours.
Welcome to [name]‘s place! For any question, text me at [number]. I reply from [time] to [time]. In an emergency, call me directly.
2. Access and check-in
Fields: exact address, a visual landmark, door or lockbox code, floor, check-in time.
The apartment is at [address], [colour] door next to [landmark]. The building code is [code]. The lockbox is on the right of the door, code [code]. Check-in from [time].
3. Wi-Fi
Fields: network name, password, router location.
Network: [name]. Password: [password]. The router is [location]. If the connection drops, unplug it for ten seconds.
4. The home, room by room
Fields: number of beds, linen provided, storage available.
Sheets and towels are in [location]. Extra blankets are in [cupboard].
5. Appliances and how-tos
Fields: one block per appliance (hob, oven, washing machine, heating, TV), three steps maximum each.
Washing machine: use the [name] programme for a normal wash. Detergent is under the sink. A cycle takes [duration].
6. House rules
Fields: smoking, parties, pets, quiet hours after [time], recycling.
Please keep the noise down after [time], the neighbours start early. Recycling: [colour] bin for glass, [colour] for everything else.
7. Safety and emergencies
Fields: fire extinguisher, water and power shut-offs, nearest pharmacy, emergency numbers (112 across Europe, 911 in the US).
8. Neighbourhood and local tips
Fields: bakery or coffee shop, supermarket, three restaurants, one activity, public transport.
9. Optional services
Fields: mid-stay cleaning, early check-in, late check-out, bike rental, each with its price.
10. Check-out
Fields: deadline, where to leave the keys, what you expect (dishes, bins, windows).
Check-out is before [time]. Please start the dishwasher, take the bins out and leave the keys in the lockbox, code [code].
This outline gives you the structure. An online welcome book adds photos, translations and bookable services to each section: our solutions for hosts and property managers show what each part can hold beyond plain text.
3 classic mistakes when filling in a template
The wall of text
Hosts paste the building regulations, the history of the street and the full boiler manual. The guest wants the Wi-Fi password and scrolls through four screens to find it. One section, one question, three to five lines. Anything longer, split it.
Outdated information
The recommended restaurant closed in March, the lockbox code changed in June, the router was replaced. One wrong line makes guests doubt everything else. Put a review date at the bottom of your file and honour it every season.
Host jargon
“Self check-in via keybox”, “linen optional”, “end-of-stay cleaning included subject to conditions”. You understand these phrases because you write them every day. A retired couple from Germany may not. Write what the person has to do: “The key is in the small box to the right of the door, code 4512.”
Adapting the template to your property
The same outline works everywhere, but the weight of each section shifts with the property.
City studio
Access is where things go wrong: door code, intercom, lift, flat number, sometimes a bike room. Expand section 2 and add a photo of the front door. Section 8 can stick to transport and two places open late. House rules focus on noise and recycling.
Family house
Section 5 grows: dishwasher, travel cot, high chair, barbecue. In section 7, add child safety points (stairs, pool, cleaning products stored up high). Optional services start to make sense: a grocery basket on arrival, a mid-stay clean for a full week.
Home with outdoor space
A garden, terrace, pool or hot tub deserves its own block: usage hours, expected upkeep, watering instructions, cushions to bring in before rain. For a cottage in the Cotswolds or a chalet in the Alps, add seasonal notes too: wood burner, snow clearing, fire risk.
From Word template to digital welcome book
A Word or Google Docs template does the job for a first property. The limits show up as soon as you edit the book.
You change the lockbox code: you edit the file, export a new PDF, resend it to guests who already booked and reprint the copy on the table. You want to add a photo of the fuse box: the layout breaks. A guest from Italy books: you translate by hand or hope they read English.
Filling in a template properly by hand takes one to two hours. With Lyvo the starting point changes: the AI writes the sections from your property details, reuses the answers you already gave in past guest messages and suggests restaurants and activities near the address. You pick a ready-made design, review it, and the welcome book is usable in under ten minutes.
Section 9 then changes role. In a Word file, “extra cleaning: €40” is a line of text. In an online welcome book, the guest books and pays for the service from their phone. Our dedicated page shows how to move from a template to a digital welcome book.
Sharing your welcome book once it’s filled in
Next, get the welcome book in front of your guests. Two channels cover most needs.
The link before arrival
Send it two to three days before the stay, inside your check-in message. Guests plan their route, spot the lockbox on the photo and arrive without calling you. If your messages already go out on their own, add the link to the right template: our guide to Airbnb automated messages shows where it fits. You can also automate your check-in instructions across every booking.
The QR code in the home
Print it on a small card by the entrance, on the fridge or next to the router. Guests scan it with their phone camera, with no app to install. It also solves the “do I have to reprint everything?” problem: the QR code stays the same while the content behind it updates.
Keep a short paper version for guests who prefer a printed sheet: contact, Wi-Fi, check-out and the QR code to the rest.
FAQ
Is there a free Airbnb welcome book template?
Yes. The 10-section outline in this article is free to use: paste it into a word processor and fill in the brackets. For an online version, several tools offer ready-made templates, and some generate the content from your property information.
How long should a welcome book be?
Aim for three to five lines per section and ten sections in total. A printed welcome book then runs four to six pages. Online, length matters less than navigation: guests should reach the door code in two taps.
Do I need a different template for Airbnb and Booking.com?
No. The content stays the same whatever the booking platform. Only the delivery channel changes: a link in the Airbnb inbox, a link in your Booking.com message, and the same QR code inside the home.
How do I update my welcome book without reprinting it?
Move to an online welcome book and display a QR code in the property. You edit the content once, and every guest sees the current version, including those who received the link weeks earlier.
Fill in the outline tonight for one property, test it on your next two bookings, then adjust. When you want to roll it out across several homes or languages, compare the plans on our pricing page.
