Airbnb House Manual: What to Include + Free Template (2026)

There's a difference between a house manual and a house manual that works.

Most hosts have the first kind. A PDF with the WiFi password, a few house rules, maybe a paragraph about the neighborhood. Guests glance at it, lose it, and message the host anyway.

A house manual that works is the one guests actually open — on arrival, mid-stay, and before they leave. The one that answers questions before they're asked. The one that ends up quoted in five-star reviews.

This guide shows you exactly what to include, with real examples and a free template you can download and use today.

What is an Airbnb house manual?

A house manual is the complete operational guide to your property. It's different from your welcome letter (which sets the tone) and your welcome message (which you send before arrival). The house manual is the reference document guests consult throughout their stay.

Think of it as the answer to every question your guests might have — before they have to ask.

Done right, it covers:

• How to get in and where everything is
• How the appliances and systems work
• Your house rules, phrased clearly and positively
• What to do in case of a problem
• Local recommendations worth knowing
• How to check out properly

Done wrong, it's a wall of text nobody reads after the first two minutes.

The 9 sections every house manual needs

1. Check-in instructions

This is the first section guests read, often standing at your door with luggage. Make it impossible to get wrong.

Include:

• Full address with a recognizable landmark nearby
• Building entry code or buzzer instructions
• Floor number, door number, and whether there's an elevator
• Where to find the keys (lockbox location and code, key safe, doorman)
• Check-in time (and your flexibility around it)
• What to do if they arrive early or late

Example:

The building is the red brick one next to the pharmacy on rue du Commerce. Entry code: 4821A — punch it in and push firmly. Take the elevator to the 3rd floor, turn left, apartment 12 is the second door on the right.

Keys are in the grey lockbox to the left of the door. Code: 9034. Pull the bottom of the box down first, then enter the code.

Check-in from 3pm. If you're arriving earlier, message me and I'll let you know if the apartment is ready.

2. WiFi

Give it its own section. It's the single most-consulted piece of information in any house manual — put it somewhere guests can find in five seconds.

• Network name
• Password (in a font large enough to read without squinting)
• A QR code guests can scan to connect instantly (free to generate at qr-code-monkey.com)

Tip: if your password has special characters or is longer than 12 characters, consider changing it to something easier to type. Your guests arrive with phones, tablets, and laptops — and keyboards vary. BienvenueNice2026 is better than W#kL!9mP@qr5.

3. How the apartment works

This is where most house manuals fail. Hosts assume guests will figure things out — they don't. They message instead.

Cover anything that isn't completely obvious:

Heating and cooling:

The thermostat is on the wall in the hallway. We recommend setting it between 19–21°C in winter. If the radiators seem slow to heat up, give them 20–30 minutes — they're slow starters.

Kitchen appliances:

The induction hob has a touch panel — hold the power symbol for 2 seconds to turn it on. The oven fan setting is the symbol that looks like a fan with a ring around it. The Nespresso machine uses Lungo capsules — there are 10 in the left drawer to get you started.

Washer/dryer:

The washing machine is in the cupboard next to the bathroom. Use the Eco 40 cycle for a standard load — detergent pods are under the sink. The dryer is above it; medium heat works for everything.

Anything with a quirk:

The bathroom tap runs cold for about 15 seconds before the hot water arrives — this is normal. The second bedroom window sticks slightly; lift it while turning the handle.

4. House rules

Your rules exist for real reasons. State them clearly — but phrase them like a human, not a landlord.

Instead of: "No noise after 10pm. Violations will result in a fine."

Try: "Please keep things quiet after 10pm — we have neighbors on both sides who work early shifts."

The content is the same. The relationship it creates is completely different.

Common rules to include:

• Quiet hours
• Smoking policy (and where guests can smoke if allowed outside)
• Pets
• Maximum occupancy
• Parties and additional guests
• Shoes inside the property
• Trash sorting instructions

On trash: this one is worth a dedicated paragraph. Guests are often unsure what to recycle, where to put bags, and when collection happens. A clear explanation saves you from a messy departure.

5. Parking (if applicable)

If parking is available, tell guests exactly where it is, how to access it, and any restrictions. If it isn't available, tell them where the nearest paid parking is.

Guests who struggle to park on arrival are guests who start their stay frustrated — and that frustration colors everything that follows.

6. Local recommendations

This is the section guests remember. Not the check-out instructions, not the WiFi password — the time their host told them about the bakery three streets away that nobody else knows about.

Keep it short and personal:

• Morning: one place for breakfast or coffee
• Lunch/dinner: two restaurants (one casual, one worth booking)
• Drinks: one bar or wine shop
• One local secret: the Sunday market, the viewpoint at sunset, the bookshop in the courtyard

Five recommendations, maximum. More than that and nothing gets chosen.

The rule: only include places you'd genuinely tell a friend about. Generic "there are many great restaurants in the area" adds nothing and guests can tell.

7. Practical info

The unglamorous but essential section:

• Nearest supermarket and pharmacy
• Nearest ATM
• Public transport: nearest stop, which lines, how to get to the city center
• Trash: what goes where, collection days, where to leave bags
• Emergency contact: your phone number and the conditions under which to use it

8. Emergency information

Keep this visible. Guests should be able to find it fast if something goes wrong.

• Your contact number
• Building emergency contact (if applicable)
• Local emergency numbers: fire (18), police (17), SAMU (15) in France; 112 everywhere in Europe
• Nearest pharmacy and hospital
• What to do if there's a power cut, water leak, or lock problem

9. Check-out instructions

Clear, specific, and free of ambiguity.

Tell guests:

• Check-out time (and your flexibility, if any)
• Where to leave the keys
• Exactly what you expect them to do (turn off lights, close windows, lock the door)
• Exactly what you don't expect them to do (strip the bed, do the dishes, vacuum)

That last point matters more than hosts realize. Guests who don't know where their responsibility ends often either do too much (leaving stressed) or too little (feeling guilty). Being explicit about what they don't need to do is a small act of hospitality that consistently shows up in reviews.

Paper, PDF, or digital: which format works best?

Paper booklet: Professional and tactile, especially for higher-end properties. The downside: one language only, it ages, and every update means reprinting.

PDF: Easy to send before arrival. The downside: it gets lost in email threads, and emailing access codes creates a security trail you can't control.

Digital guide with QR code: The modern standard. You update once, every guest sees the latest version. Guests scan on arrival and access everything on their phone — in their language, with WiFi passwords they can copy in one tap.

The difference becomes obvious when you have international guests. A paper manual in French doesn't help the Italian family who booked for a week. A digital guide auto-translated into their language does.

This is what Welkome was built for. Fill in your property details, AI generates a complete house manual in 30 seconds, auto-translated into 6 languages. Guests scan a QR code on arrival. You update anything once and all language versions sync instantly. Free for 1 property.

Download the free house manual template

The template below covers all 9 sections above — fully editable, ready to adapt to your property.

By submitting, you'll get the document and our weekly newsletter for Airbnb hosts. Unsubscribe in one click.

What the best house manuals have in common

After looking at dozens of house manuals from Superhosts, a few patterns stand out:

They're written in a human voice. Not a corporate tone, not a legal document. Like a thoughtful neighbor explaining their apartment to a friend.

They anticipate, not just inform. The best manuals answer questions guests didn't know they'd have — the sticky window, the slow hot water, the building entry that looks like a different door from the street.

They're scannable. Short sections, clear headings, bullet points for the practical stuff. Guests don't read manuals linearly — they scan for what they need right now.

They're updated. A manual that references a restaurant that closed six months ago, or a WiFi password that was changed in January, damages trust immediately. Digital guides make this trivially easy to maintain.

Frequently asked questions

How long should an Airbnb house manual be?

Long enough to answer every reasonable question a guest might have, short enough that they actually read it. In practice, that's 800–1,500 words for a typical apartment. A large villa with complex systems might justify more. A studio in a city center probably needs less.

Should I include my house manual in my Airbnb listing?

Airbnb has a built-in "House Manual" field in the listing editor, which guests can access before and during their stay. This is useful for basic information. For anything detailed — appliance instructions, local recommendations, full check-out procedure — a separate digital guide gives you much more flexibility and control over presentation.

How often should I update my house manual?

Review it after every 10 stays or every 3 months, whichever comes first. Pay particular attention to local recommendations (restaurants close), practical info (transport schedules change), and access instructions (codes get updated). A digital guide makes this a 5-minute task rather than a full rewrite.

Can I use the same manual for multiple properties?

No — each property needs its own manual. The WiFi is different, the appliance quirks are different, the local recommendations are different. Reusing a generic manual shows immediately and reduces the impact significantly.