A better way to create Guidebooks: introducing new features from Airbnb

[Airbnb]

There’s a reason why millions of guests choose Airbnb: hosts like you—with your warm welcomes and unparalleled local knowledge. Many hosts already give their guests recommendations, from where to grab coffee to the best parks to secret spots. Instead of writing down tips for individual guests, Airbnb’s Guidebooks can help you save time and point guests in the right direction. And now, we’re reintroducing Guidebooks with new features that make it easier to use and more guest-friendly than ever.

The Guidebooks tool allows you to write about your favorite places, organize them by type, and share them with guests. To date, more than one million hosts have created 1.5 million Guidebooks on Airbnb. In the last few months, we’ve made changes to make Guidebooks easier to find, personalize, add to multiple listings, edit, share, and print.

“I clicked on my profile picture in the upper right, and saw ‘Your Guidebook’—excitement!” said Ann, a Superhost in New York City. “All of my Guidebooks are listed, and when I hover over each one, I can edit or share. Even better, I can now create one Guidebook for the area that will suit all three of my listings, and simply share it with every guest.”

Plus, guests will be able to access your Guidebook from your listing or by going to Trips, where it will automatically appear when the booking is confirmed. Creating a Guidebook once helps you optimize your time, and helps attract more potential guests.

Here’s how to make the most of Guidebooks, show off your city, and make your guests feel like they belong anywhere.

5 simple steps to create or edit a Guidebook

1. Find your Guidebook easily*

Go to Airbnb.com, and click on your profile photo. In the drop down menu, select “Your Guidebook.”

2. Create your new Guidebook

Click “Create.” For hosts who have already written Guidebooks, you’ll see them listed here**. Then, you can select “Create a list,” come up with a title, and add your recommendations.

3. Provide details

Once you add a recommendation, a window will pop up, asking you to share more details. When writing about your favorite places, think about what makes the place special, specify things to do and best times to go, use it as an opportunity to tell guests about the place’s history, and include any other important details they should know. These hosts offer up some great examples*** from their Guidebooks:

• Camellia is a superb place to try a simple Japanese tea ceremony. It's located in a beautiful old Japanese house just off Ninen-zaka, not far from Kiyomizu-dera. The host, Atsuko, speaks fluent English and explains the ceremony simply and clearly without making guests nervous.—Taka, Kyoto, Japan
• Mgarr is where the Maltese go to eat their favourite dish: rabbit. Talk-Ingliz Restaurant is our favourite place to have this delicious dish! Favourite menu: octopus and "bebbux" as starters, spaghetti rabbit as first dish and fried rabbit in garlic as mains...enjoy!!!—Martin, Rabat, Malta

Once you’ve added your recommendations, click “Save and Close”.

4. Personalize your Guidebook

Photos of your recommended places will appear automatically, so you won’t need to worry about taking photos of each place. However, you can customize your Guidebook by uploading your own cover photo and creating a title. Hosts recommend personalizing the title. For example:

• Ted & Eileen’s Guidebook - Wine, Dine & Things to Do!
• Most beautiful cities outside Riga
• Kylie’s Local Harlem Hot Spots

Then, choose the listing(s) you’d like the Guidebook to appear in. You can save time by using the same Guidebook for multiple listings.

5. Share your Guidebook with guests

When you publish your Guidebook, guests will be able to view your recommendations in a list and on a map, and they can access your Guidebook from your listing or by going to Trips. Plus, hosts and guests can share the recommendations via email or social media, and even print it out using the new buttons next to the Guidebook title.

Writing great recommendations can serve as another reason for guests to choose your listing. Every week, guests view Guidebooks hundreds of thousands of times. Recommendations from hosts also show up in “Things to do” and several other areas on Airbnb.com, which can bring even more eyes to a host’s listings. It’s also a great way to help support local businesses in your area.

With Guidebooks, hosts don’t have to be full-fledged tour guides. Instead, it’s a way to publish all of your favorite places and tips in one place, help your guests feel welcome and excited to explore your city, and lay the groundwork for a five-star stay.

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*Hosts can also get to their Guidebooks by clicking here.

**Guidebooks are now linked to the primary host’s account, not to the individual listing. Guidebooks created before this change were not deleted; they were relocated and can be found under the user instead of the listing. To learn more about Guidebooks features, see What’s a Guidebook?

***Excerpts from Host Guidebooks have been edited for length and clarity.

[Bill-S-Cozy-Home0]

Very usefull! Thank you!

[Scott259]

I need to be able to print a pdf of my guidebook, and something changed recently that makes this simple task nearly impossible. Descriptions are tabbed waaaay to the right, and the proximity map is gone.

I know from experience that ALL of my guests leaf through the printed guidebook, rather than look it up online once they arrive. Changes in formatting make this a massive waste of paper when printed.

[Ashleigh-and-Lau0]

The printable guidebook option is horrible. It takes up too many pages and there are no photos or maps. I cannot use the printable version in my Airbnb. Are there plans to create a quality printable version?

[Karol28]

Agree! I have come to learn that many guests don't refer to online resources. Since I went to a print manual in each unit (not prepared using Airbnb tools), my guests seem to be better informed and many have expressed appreciation. 

[Tamara337]

Yes, this is what we do too. I set up things to do through AirBNB, and my guests still seem to like the one we ended up creating ourselves and it is left in the home. 

[Nick105]

1

[Helen427]

@Airbnb @Ashleigh-and-Lau0 @Scott259 @Bill-S-Cozy-Home0 

Guidebooks are an invaluable tool for those who are visiting a new area away from their usual location & safe environs.

I've found that those who enjoy heritage, like I do enjoy my links & it's something they are egar to share and learn during there time in my home.

We have all taken something positive about our sharing something from the past to move forward & learn from our experiences together.

All the Best

Central To All Home & Location, Auckland, New Zealand / Neiuw Zeeland

[Angela1398]

It would be great if we could just attach a PDF guide like the one we have already have printed of in the house.

[LeoNora18]

I agree. It would be wonderful if we could attach our guide, rather than having to write out bits and pieces!

Nora Cohen

[Leanne99]

1. “Personalize your Guidebook

Photos of your recommended places will appear automatically, so you won’t need to worry about taking photos of each place.”

Hi,

Im wondering where the photos come from?

I put some local places in my guidebook such as a lovely park but the photos that ‘appeared’ are awful and don’t illustrate the park at all. They seem to be closeups of some equipment (maybe an amusement ride) that was possibly set up in the park at some stage for an event. 

Other photos for some of my other recommendations are also not particularly helpful or illustrative.

I realize this feature is trying to make guidebook creation easy but it would be nice if I could add my own photos and reject crappy non-helpful ones.

I thought I could maybe add them myself to wherever they were being retrieved from eg Google but didn’t figure that out either.

Thanks,

Leanne

[Katya47]

Exactly , fotos ...I want to be able to add my fotoes or be able to selct them based on google search atleast

[Cheryl40]

why on earth would I write a guidebook when guests don't even read the listing!? 

[Ron-and-Shelly0]

Yes...why spend time working on things like this when Airbnb can't get important things like check-in times fixed? I set a check in time of 3pm to midnight and Airbnb gives the guest an option on the mobile app to check in between 1pm and 3pm which doesn't allow us enough time to clean between guests. 

[Katya47]

Great post thank you, NOTE TO ADD - I would like to add personal pictures about reccomendations / places to visit and not a google pictures based on the adress when creating a reccomendation. Hovewer , we can only change guidebook picture . My Airbnb located in a small village and many great places doesn't even exists on google maps ...etc