Airbnb host guide
Airbnb digital welcome book: what to include and how to share it by QR code
A digital welcome book is the mobile version of the binder many hosts used to leave on the coffee table. Instead of guests searching through PDFs, booking messages or printed pages, they scan one QR code and get the exact answers they need on their phone.
What is an Airbnb digital welcome book?
It is a public, mobile-first guest guide for one rental property. Guests open it from a QR code, short link or check-in message and find your WiFi, arrival instructions, house rules and local recommendations without creating an account or installing an app.
The best digital welcome books are not generic brochures. They answer the repetitive operational questions that interrupt hosts before every stay: where to park, how to get in, when to check out, how to use the heating and where to eat nearby.
PDF, printed binder or QR guest guide?
Printed binder
Useful inside the property, but slow to update and easy to miss before arrival.
PDF welcome book
Easy to send, but guests pinch-zoom, lose the file and rarely know which version is current.
Free Google Doc
No cost and no login, but the link gets buried in a message thread and nothing stops guests opening an outdated copy.
QR guest guide
Guests scan once, open a mobile page and always see the latest instructions.
A Google Doc link is free, but it depends on the guest finding it in their inbox and you remembering to reshare it every time something changes. A HostGreeter QR code stays physically visible in the property — by the door, on the fridge — opens in any browser with nothing to install, works offline once loaded, and speaks the guest's language out of the 9 we support. Edit a section from your dashboard and the live page updates immediately, with no new file to print or resend.
Sections every Airbnb welcome guide should include
- WiFi and backup internet notes
- Check-in, checkout and parking instructions
- House rules, quiet hours and emergency contacts
- Local restaurants, transport and things to do
- Appliance guides, heating, AC and waste sorting
- Upsells, services, feedback and review prompts
Check-in is the section guests read first — if you want ready-made wording for arrival steps, lockbox codes and the day-before message, use our Airbnb check-in instructions template.
Host checklist before you publish
- 1Put the QR code near the entrance, fridge or coffee station.
- 2Keep the printed card simple — one QR, one short instruction, no wall of text.
- 3Make the digital guide mobile-first because guests will open it on a phone.
- 4Review your guide after every repeated guest question and add the missing answer.
- 5Use translations for international guests instead of sending separate PDFs.