Do you need a digital guidebook for your rental?

For one rental with a simple check-in, you can skip the guidebook app. Airbnb's listing editor already has an Arrival guide section for check-in instructions and a house manual, and a printed manual in the home covers guests whose phone is dead or has no signal. A digital guidebook earns its place when you run several rentals, host guests from more than one platform or keep a long list of local tips you want to edit once. Every vendor fact below was checked on its official page on Nov 2, 2026.

This page is about where your guest information lives. For what to write in it, see what a house manual should include.

Your options, side by side

Touch Stay's free-plan limits reset monthly for each guidebook, and its paid plans each offer a 14-day trial. Hostfully's pricing page lists Digital Guidebooks as an add-on on its Growth, Pro and Enterprise plans, without a price.

When Airbnb's fields and a printed manual are enough

• One rental, booked mostly on Airbnb. The check-in instructions and house manual sit in your listing, and Airbnb shows them to guests who book.
• One way in that rarely changes, such as a keypad or lockbox. Send codes that change for each stay in a message instead: see the check-in message.
• A handful of local tips. Three to six fit on one page of a printed manual, or in Airbnb's guidebook.

Airbnb holds back the detailed check-in steps until 48 hours before check-in, so guests who want them earlier will message you. A printed copy in the home doesn't help before arrival.

When a digital guidebook is worth it

• Several rentals. One app keeps every home's guide in one place. Touch Stay's free plan allows unlimited guidebooks but 20 guest views per guidebook a month; its Starter plan removes that limit.
• Guests from more than one platform, or direct bookings. Airbnb's arrival guide lives in your Airbnb listing. A guidebook link or QR code works for a guest who booked anywhere.
• Local tips you update often. One edit changes the guide for every guest. A printed manual has to be reprinted.
• Guests who read other languages. Touch Stay lets guests auto-translate the guide into more than 30 languages, on the free plan too.

Write it once, publish it everywhere

Whatever you choose, keep one master copy. Build the text in the house manual maker, then print it for the home, paste it into Airbnb's house manual or copy it into a guidebook app. When something changes, such as the Wi-Fi password, update every copy the same day.

How to decide

1. Count your rentals and platforms. One rental on Airbnb only: start with the arrival guide and a printed manual.
2. List what guests ask you most. If the answers already fit in your manual, you don't need an app.
3. If you want an app, start free: Touch Stay's free plan or Hostfully's free first guidebook.
4. Check the limits before you rely on it, such as Touch Stay's 20 views per guidebook a month.

Sources

Checked Nov 2, 2026:

• Add check-in instructions to your listing (opens in a new tab), Airbnb Help Center.
• Adding a house manual to your home listing (opens in a new tab), Airbnb Help Center.
• Add a guidebook to your listing (opens in a new tab), Airbnb Help Center.
• Digital guidebook (opens in a new tab), Touch Stay.
• Digital Guidebooks (opens in a new tab) and pricing (opens in a new tab), Hostfully.