Guest Communication

How to Create a Digital Welcome Guide for Your Vacation Rental

Everything you need to create the perfect digital welcome guide for your vacation rental β€” from choosing the right tool to AI-powered content generation and multilingual support.

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Create your welcome guide in minutes

Nowistay's AI generates a professional digital welcome guide from your listing. Multi-language, always up-to-date, and connected to your AI co-host.

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What is the best way to create a digital welcome guide?

The fastest and most effective way to create a digital welcome guide for your vacation rental is to use Nowistay's AI-powered guide builder. It generates comprehensive guide content from your property information in minutes, supports automatic translation into 90+ languages, and uniquely connects your guide to an AI co-host that uses it to answer guest questions automatically.

A digital welcome guide is no longer a nice-to-have β€” it is one of the most impactful tools a vacation rental host can implement. Guests who have access to a comprehensive guide ask 40-60% fewer questions, report higher satisfaction, and leave better reviews.

What should your digital welcome guide include?

Essential information

  • Check-in instructions: Step-by-step access guide with photos (keybox codes, smart lock instructions, parking location)
  • WiFi password: Network name and password prominently displayed
  • House rules: Quiet hours, smoking policy, pet rules, maximum occupancy
  • Check-out instructions: What to do before leaving (trash, dishes, keys, thermostat)
  • Emergency contacts: Local emergency numbers, your contact info, building manager

Property guide

  • Appliance instructions: Coffee maker, washing machine, dishwasher, TV/streaming, heating/AC
  • Outdoor spaces: Pool rules, BBQ instructions, garden access
  • Parking: Where to park, permits needed, garage codes
  • Storage: Where to find extra towels, pillows, cleaning supplies

Local recommendations

  • Restaurants: Your personal favorites for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and special occasions
  • Grocery stores: Nearest supermarkets with walking/driving directions
  • Attractions: Must-see spots, hidden gems, seasonal activities
  • Transportation: Public transit options, taxi apps, bike rentals, car rental agencies

Best digital welcome guide tools compared

Vacation rental entrance with welcome sign and digital access
A clear digital welcome guide reduces guest questions by up to 60%

1. Nowistay β€” Best AI-powered guide builder

Nowistay offers three unique advantages:

AI content generation: Instead of writing everything from scratch, Nowistay's AI generates comprehensive guide content from your existing listing information. It creates sections for check-in, house rules, appliance instructions, and local recommendations β€” then you customize and add personal details.

Automatic translation: Your guide is automatically available in 90+ languages. A Japanese guest sees the guide in Japanese, a German guest in German β€” without any manual translation work.

AI co-host integration: This is Nowistay's killer feature. Your welcome guide becomes the knowledge base for the AI co-host. When a guest asks "What is the WiFi password?" or "How do I use the coffee machine?", the AI answers from your guide β€” accurately, instantly, in the guest's language.

Pricing: Welcome guide included with all plans starting at EUR 9/month per property.

2. Touch Stay β€” Dedicated guidebook platform

Touch Stay is a well-established digital guidebook platform with strong template options and customization features.

Pricing: From USD 8/month per guidebook. Does not include AI messaging or team management.

3. Hostfully β€” Guidebooks with PMS

Hostfully combines digital guidebooks with property management features.

Pricing: From USD 84/month. Guidebooks are part of a broader PMS platform.

4. Breezeway Guide β€” Operations-focused

Breezeway offers digital welcome books as part of its property operations platform.

Pricing: Custom pricing based on property count.

How to create a guide with Nowistay

  1. Sign up and add your property β€” connect your PMS or Airbnb account
  2. Generate content with AI β€” click the AI generation button and the system creates comprehensive guide content from your listing
  3. Customize sections β€” edit, add personal recommendations, upload photos
  4. Add rich content β€” include images, videos, maps, and formatted text
  5. Share with guests β€” send the guide link or QR code before arrival

The entire process takes under 10 minutes for a basic guide. Spending an additional 20-30 minutes adding personal recommendations and photos creates an exceptional guest resource.

Why a digital guide beats a printed welcome book

  • Always current: Update information instantly β€” no reprinting when WiFi passwords or restaurant hours change
  • Pre-arrival access: Share the guide before guests arrive so they can plan ahead
  • Multilingual: Automatic translation eliminates language barriers
  • No app required: Accessible via any web browser on any device
  • Searchable: Guests find information instantly instead of flipping through pages
  • AI-powered: With Nowistay, your guide feeds the AI co-host, creating a 24/7 information assistant
Person holding smartphone viewing digital welcome guide information
Guests access your digital welcome guide directly on their phone with no app needed

Bottom line

Creating a digital welcome guide is one of the highest-ROI activities for any vacation rental host. Nowistay makes it effortless with AI-powered content generation, automatic multi-language translation, and the unique advantage of connecting your guide to an AI co-host. At just EUR 9/month per property, it replaces dedicated guidebook platforms while adding AI messaging and team management capabilities.

Turn your guide into an AI assistant

Your welcome guide powers Nowistay's AI co-host β€” meaning every guest question is answered accurately, 24/7, in any language.

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