@Cathie19, @Gordon0, @Sarah977 , @Jim472 , @Natasha390
Thank you all for your feedback. I appreciate reading and learning from the experience of others. There was one comment that @Cathie19 and @Sarah977 made that absolutely sealed my choice for putting the house manual on a thumb drive, and keeping it plugged into the TV.
"... they can scroll or flick pages in a manual over a cuppa or breakfast, or in bed..."
"...I would read a hard copy over a cup of coffee, and it's so easy to flip through again if you forgot how to operate something..."
With so much concern over using high-touch items, I'd more prefer to continue cleaning just the TV remote and keyboard rather than trying to disinfect a hard-copy binder/folder full of documents after each checkout. Even if each document sheet is in a plastic sleeve that's a chore that I don't want to do. In fact, your comment triggered a reminder to remove the travel pamphlets, magazines, guide books, business cards and maps that we leave in the guest common areas. I will not put them in each room, because I think it would be wasteful since they would have to be thrown out after each checkout.
We provide wifi at our locations. The documents will be PDFs, and guests can use the browser on the TV to send documents to their phones so they are handy. Or, they can take a picture of the TV screen.
@Jim472 recommended that I do both hard-copy and on-screen manuals. Which I might consider for the Atlanta apartment, because office supplies can be easily obtained. However, if I happen to run out of the stock that I bring down from the US, it can be difficult at to replenish at St. Lucia where office supplies frequently run out (and are very expensive) on island. There are not an abundance of locations where these items can be purchased. You either have to wait until they are in stock or order them online, have them shipped through a freight-forwarder, and pay duty.
You all have expressed some very insightful feedback, but I do believe that my rental situation is different than those of you who have one listing. I have three guestrooms and an apartment at my place in St. Lucia. We live there most of the year, and do the cleaning and maintenance ourselves. Because of my military and medical background, we already thoroughly clean our spaces to levels that would pass a drill sergeant's or hospital inspection. It typically takes at least four hours to do a turnover, and we're not diddling around, because we have other things to do. We are going to expand our cleaning regime by disinfecting the hangers, lamp shades, curtains, upholstered furniture, and kitchen clean up after we add kitchenettes in each room. I also still have a full-time job, and often have to work extra time (not over-time, because I get a salary) during the middle of the night. At this point, the USB drive is the better option for our space.
BTW, we traveled to northern Europe last year, and found that two of our four hosts (in Munich and Brussels) had provided information on the TV in English, Flemish, French and German. We found it quite helpful, and casually scrolled through the pages while drinking our morning tea, or during the evening while planning our next day's activities. I am no young bird, and enjoy reading material in the traditional format, but I am also comfortable with getting it digitally.
