How to Create a Digital Guidebook for Your Short-Term Rental in 30 Minutes

How to Create a Digital Welcome Guide for Your Short-Term Rental in Under 30 Minutes

Creating a digital welcome guide may seem time-consuming, especially when managing multiple properties or rooms. However, with the right method and tools, it is absolutely possible to build a clear, effective, and ready-to-share welcome guide in under 30 minutes.

Here is a simple, structured, and easily repeatable method.

Why Switch to a Digital Welcome Guide?

Before getting into the practical steps, let’s quickly review the main goals:

• centralize all stay-related information,
• reduce repetitive guest messages,
• showcase services and local recommendations to increase revenue,
• improve the overall guest experience.

A well-structured digital welcome guide should be simple, mobile-friendly, and easy to share.

Step 1 – Prepare the Essential Information (5 minutes)

Before creating the guide, it’s important to gather the key information, ideally supported by photos and videos.
This preparation may be long but will save a significant amount of time later.

Information to collect:

• check-in instructions (access codes, key boxes, schedules),
• Wi-Fi details (network name and password),
• house rules,
• main equipment and usage instructions,
• useful contacts,
• check-out instructions.

Tip: No need to be exhaustive at this stage, the goal is to build a functional base.

Step 2 – Choose a Clear and Structured Format (5 minutes)

A good digital welcome guide relies on a simple structure.
The most effective sections are usually:

• Arrival instructions
• The property
• Equipment
• House rules
• Local recommendations
• Additional services
• Departure

This structure allows guests to find information in just a few seconds, without searching.

Step 3 – Build the Guide Using a Template (10 minutes)

Using a template is the biggest time-saver.

A pre-built template allows you to:

• avoid starting from a blank page,
• create a visual identity,
• ensure consistency across multiple properties.

You simply need to:

• replace generic content with your own information,
• add a few photos,
• adjust rules and equipment details for each property.

Step 4 – Add Local Recommendations Efficiently (5 minutes)

Local recommendations often make the biggest difference for guests, yet they take very little time to add.

Quick method:

• search locations on Google Maps,
• automatically retrieve address, photos, opening hours, and directions,
• sort recommendations by category (restaurants, activities, useful shops),

Note: A few well-chosen recommendations are better than a long list.

Step 5 – Share the Welcome Guide Easily (5 minutes)

Once created, the guide should be immediately accessible.

Best practices:

• generate a unique web link,
• include it in the booking confirmation email,
• add it to an automatic pre-arrival message,
• display it via a QR code with clear indications of what guests will find after scanning.

Guests can access all key information before their arrival: request early check-in if needed, review the property’s amenities to prepare their stay, book activities... all available in their own language.

Result: A Functional Welcome Guide in 30 Minutes

By following these steps:

• the guide is clear,
• essential information is easily accessible,
• the guest experience is improved,
• unnecessary communication is reduced.

The guide can then be enriched over time (additional services, translations, automations...) without requiring hours of work.

Conclusion

Creating a digital welcome guide doesn’t have to be a burden. With a simple structure, ready-to-use templates, and the right tools, it’s possible to build an effective welcome guide in under 30 minutes. Solutions like Sunver make it easy to centralize information, duplicate guides across multiple properties, and deliver a smooth, professional guest experience from the moment a booking is made.