Airbnb Welcome Letter: Tips, Examples and Free Template
The luxuries of a hotel mixed with the comforts of home are what makes an Airbnb so appealing to guests. How do you convey this perfect blend? An Airbnb welcome letter! You’ve already hooked them with a killer vacation rental description, got them excited by automating a “before your stay” message, and counted down the days until your guests’ arrival, but there’s still an important step missing: the welcome letter.
A good Airbnb welcome letter lays the foundation for a memorable (and re-bookable) trip. Start off on the right foot by crafting your own. Our Airbnb welcome letter sample will help you get started while leaving room for your own creative touches.
Disclaimer: Lodgify is an Airbnb Preferred Software Partner. This guide, including any claims or statements within, is solely from Lodgify and is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, authorized, or sponsored by Airbnb in any way.
If you’re a Lodgify customer and want to connect via API with Airbnb, please get in touch with our customer support team. For more information: Connect Lodgify to Airbnb
What is an Airbnb welcome letter?
An Airbnb welcome letter is a brief message you’ll leave for your guests upon their arrival. It’s intended to be informative, inviting, and an opening to keep a solid relationship between the host and visitor. It’s an incredibly easy way to bridge the gap between you and your guests.
If they’ve made their booking online, chances are you haven’t had much personalized communication with your guests. Further, you may have automated all your pre-check-in messages meaning you haven’t had any actual interactions with guests. A welcome letter for your Airbnb guests helps to alleviate the strictly-business feel.
Just because you’re not on-site during their stay doesn’t mean that guests shouldn’t get that personalized experience. Make your introduction a good one by including an Airbnb welcome letter for every guest’s stay.
Why do hosts need an Airbnb welcome letter?
If you’ve got a busy schedule or manage multiple rentals, you might be wondering why you need an Airbnb host welcome letter in the first place, especially one that has to be customized for each reservation. The investment in time will pay off in several ways. The benefits of implementing this letter into your vacation rental process will far outweigh the burden of having to write it.
Make guests feel comfortable
At no point in a guest’s stay should they feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in your vacation home. Having an Airbnb welcome letter that conveys a warm and inviting message helps the guest to feel at ease in your home. The intention of vacationing is to relax and your short-term rental sits at the heart of this. Providing the space to unwind while emphasizing the permission and invitation to do so makes guests feel fully comfortable during their trip.
Share any important information
Vacation homes aren’t created equally, meaning that the rules and procedures of one Airbnb could drastically differ from the next. Being clear about what you want guests to get out of their stay or emphasizing any important information already mentioned during the booking process will help to bolster the guest experience.
Keeping your guests informed is essential no matter the accommodation, but if there are essential things to note to guests, the Airbnb welcome letter is your opportunity to communicate it. Let’s say, for example, your Airbnb has a shared community pool. Gently reminding guests that they’re allowed to use it and where they can find the pool key would not only be important, but it might be a determinate as to if they have a good stay, especially if this was one of your main selling points.
Your Airbnb welcome letter allows you to relay any details to guests that they should know without coming across as rude or demanding. Use the opportunity to welcome your guests while also communicating what they need to know to feel fully at home.
Remind them of the house rules
On a similar note, you’ll want to remind your guests of the house rules. The tone of your Airbnb welcome letter should be inviting and warm, so this isn’t the place to hash out all the rules of your Airbnb, but it does provide a nice opportunity to gently remind guests of what is allowed and what isn’t. You’ll want to only make mention of the house rules, not describe them in full. You can remind them where to find the complete list of house rules, so your Airbnb welcome letter remains positive.
Enhance guest experience
Your guests should walk away from the Airbnb welcome letter feeling comfortable and excited about their stay. Even if you mention the house rules or any administrative details, this should be kept to a minimum. Remember that the aim is to encourage your guests to treat your home as if it were their own, both in care and comfort.
Open the letter with a welcome and close it out with an inviting message as well. If you choose to discuss house rules or other details in your Airbnb welcome letter, this should be wedged between the overarching cheerful greeting. By explicitly expressing your gratitude for them to be staying at your Airbnb and extending a warm welcome, you enhance the guest experience right from the moment they walk through the door.
What to include in your welcome letter to Airbnb guests
Some hosts already have their letter in place, whether it’s been pieced together from Airbnb welcome letter samples or one that they crafted themselves. Although every note should be customized, there are some commonalities that each welcome letter should share regardless of the Airbnb guest.
You don’t want your guests to feel like their welcome was just some copy from the internet that says, “Hi, insert name here.” Impressing your guests goes a little deeper and needs to be considered when writing out your Airbnb welcome letter. Below we outline the important points to include in your message, but ultimately it’s up to you!
Insert guest names
This one is a biggie. When you get an email or junk mail that reads, “Dear valued customer,” how does it make you feel? Probably not that special. Guests are giving you both their hard-earned vacation time and money to stay at your Airbnb. Show them your appreciation by, at a minimum, addressing the guests by name. Just a quick hello addressed directly to the guests will be enough to grab their attention.
You can sprinkle their names throughout the welcome letter if you’re careful not to overdo it. Continuing to caption their attention throughout the letter will ensure that they read the letter in full.
A personalized message
The customization shouldn’t start and end at the heading. It’s going to take more than just a name drop for guests to feel special and recognized. At some point during the reservation process, you should familiarize yourself with their purpose of travel and any other important details to note about their stay.
Use this information to highlight your attention to detail. If someone is celebrating a birthday during the trip, make them aware of where you keep the candles in the kitchen. If they’re traveling from out of town, tell them where they can find the maps and guides inside of the Airbnb.
Personalized messages are what gets talked about too. If you wish the couple staying at your Airbnb a happy anniversary, they may just post it on social media or tell their friends about the nice added touch. Free publicity is a great perk for such a small gesture!
The ultimate goal is to make sure guests get the exclusive treatment. Demonstrate that you’re listening and hearing their needs by providing a personalized message in the Airbnb welcome letter.
What’s included in their stay
If you have last-minute bookings or simply a lot of amenities to offer, guests might have missed what all is included in their stay. In any case, you’ll want to reiterate what amenities they can expect and enjoy during their trip.
This shouldn’t be communicated in a list format but rather through the description. You can go about this in numerous ways by either detailing the different parts of the house (for example: “step outside and enjoy the great outdoors with our wading pool, barbeque pit, or horseshoe set”) or by highlighting some of the fan favorites.
It’s especially important for hosts who offer a unique stay, such as a bed and breakfast or a treehouse accommodation. Stay on theme with your brand and accommodation by making mention of the top amenities or some of the features that guests might have overlooked.
Important details about the property
As mentioned, the Airbnb welcome letter is a great place to share any important details about the property without sounding negative or intruding, but what exactly constitutes an “important detail”? There are a couple of ways to gauge what is crucial enough to include in your welcome letter.
Reviews
Listen to your guests. If there are constant themes in your guests’ reviews about how they wish they knew about the bedroom doors automatically locking or that the trash only comes on Mondays, use this as an opportunity to inform future guests. When previous guests share their concerns or suggestions, apply them, and make a note of the important details in the Airbnb welcome letter, when appropriate.
Guest Survey
Just like reviews, satisfaction surveys give your guests the opportunity to express what they thought could be improved or changed. You can quite simply ask what they think should have been included in the guest letter and apply that information for your future bookings.
Good wishes for their trip
Let guests know that you want them to have the best trip possible. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or grandiose, just enough for your guests to feel welcome during their stay. You can add a personalized touch here as well or just close out with best wishes. Reiterate that they can contact you if they need anything else.
An Airbnb has a homey feeling that a hotel or generic stay might not, so make sure this is felt by welcoming your guests with warm wishes and the hope that they have a lovely stay.
Your brand name & logo
There’s a good chance that your guests will share their welcome letter on social media, with friends, or just take a picture of it if it’s good enough. Because of this, it’s highly recommended that you include your branded name and logo in your Airbnb welcome letter.
Imagine that someone loves the letter so much that they snap a picture and post it on their Instagram. You want their followers to know where to find you! Have your vacation rental brand name up at the top and in clear view so that potential guests can easily spot you.
It’s important for the sake of your current guests too. Maybe they decide to rebook their stay again next year, but they can’t find the old reservation on Airbnb. By subtly having your branded name and logo wherever you can, you help to stay more relevant in your guests’ minds. Further, they might be able to scroll back to that old photo they took of the welcome letter and voila! You’ll have returning customers just like that.
Examples of Airbnb welcome letter
It might be useful to have a couple of different versions of your Airbnb welcome letter on file depending on the type of guest. There are many different types of travelers and each one has its own needs and its own ways of feeling welcomed.
When you have different welcome letters prepared to target different audiences, you help to further customize the guests’ stay and increase their satisfaction. Call out the reason for travel, make mention of any special celebrations, or give recommendations catered to each group of travelers.
The family trip
Guests traveling with children are going to require a lot more out of their stay than an adults-only trip. From child safety locks to pool rules, making sure a family feels safe and welcome should be a top priority.
Traveling as a family can be stressful enough. Maybe they had an exhausting journey to get there with car seats and lugging around baby strollers. Let them know they can now relax and feel comfortable in your home.
You may want to point out the different safety features in the house and what areas could be potentially not kid-friendly. If you have any amenities or add-ons that could be useful for family travel like swimming floaties or a collapsible baby crib, make them aware of this here and also extend an offer to contact you if they want more information.
A honeymoon welcome letter
Newlyweds are great guests to have! They’re getting congratulated everywhere they turn and, as the host of their honeymoon stay, you should offer your warm wishes too. Every vacation should be a good one, but a honeymoon holiday is that much more special.
Chances are these guests are capturing every moment and memory of their trip and the welcome letter might be one of them. When they look back on their trip, you want them to be reminded of just how great their Airbnb experience was so they can book you again for anniversaries to come!
This Airbnb welcome letter should be unlike the others. The tone should be celebratory and loving. The amenities and local activities that you highlight will vary drastically from, say, a family vacation. Get in the mindset of what honeymooners would appreciate during their trip: a mention of the local spa, champagne in the fridge to be enjoyed on the romantic balcony, or maybe even room service if your Airbnb offers something of the like.
The “just because” travelers
You’ll always have your weekend warriors and general holiday-goers, but they’ll need a customized message too! Although it’s a little more challenging to personalize when guests come for no particular reason, it’s still possible and still very much appreciated.
Find a reason to celebrate these guests or check out their Airbnb profiles to see what you might be able to add. They might be new to the area and you can mention your local guides or restaurant recommendations. Finding anything that highlights your personal touch will go a long way for guest satisfaction.
How to send your Airbnb welcome letter to your guests
After you’ve crafted the perfect note for your guests, you have to figure out how you’re going to get it to them. Airbnb allows hosts to send communication and files through their own platform. They also automatically send the house rules manual once a guest books, so it’s up to you if you want to immediately follow that up with the welcome letter or wait until it’s closer to their stay.
If you decide to send it over Airbnb, the process is easy. You’ll simply send it along as you would any other message. Guests will receive it in whatever way they have their Airbnb notifications turned on, so it might come as a banner notification on the app or directly to their email.
If you want to go old school, you can always have the letter waiting for them at the Airbnb when they arrive. Opting for a paper copy seems a bit more personal but you’ll need to do a little extra work to make it stand out. Print your welcome letter on proper letterhead, not printer paper. Make sure the ink is consistent and the color cartridge is full. Offering a physical copy might be better than sending it electronically but only if it’s well presented.
Key takeaways
Even from the guest’s perspective, it can be tricky to pinpoint what exactly makes a stay so special, but many would agree that it starts from the very beginning of the trip. When you let guests know they’re welcomed and appreciated from the moment of their arrival, you set the groundwork for a positive experience and potential returning clients.
The guests that don’t return still talk about their trip. The welcome letter could be just one extra opportunity to get your vacation rental brand out there by having guests post pictures of their letter.
These benefits can’t be carried out if the welcome isn’t compelling enough. A good Airbnb welcome letter is directly addressed to the guests, includes a personalized touch, mentions any important details about the stay, and includes your brand and logo. Once you check these boxes, your Airbnb welcome letter will be good to go. You can always take it a step further by customizing each letter depending on the purpose of travel.
Download our free Airbnb welcome letter
A good Airbnb welcome letter doesn’t have to be completely written from scratch each time or even be that complicated. By using our free template for your future welcome letters, you’ll have more time to focus on the guest’s stay rather than just what to say when they get there. Streamline your Airbnb hosting tasks even more by using our Airbnb management software. By having a fully synced calendar, robust reservation system, and automated guest communication options, you’ll have more time to focus on being the Airbnb Superhost of your dreams!