A guest house manual for a short-term rental

A guest manual puts the address, the way in, the Wi-Fi and how the house works in one place. It also carries the safety details everyone staying in a short-term rental should know. This template puts all of it on a few pages you can leave in plain sight.

What's in it

• Arriving, with the address, check-in time, how to get in, parking and the Wi-Fi.
• In the house, heating and cooling, the kitchen appliances, the TV, laundry, and trash and recycling.
• Safety, the ways out of each bedroom, the outside meeting place, the fire extinguisher, the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, the first aid kit, the water shutoff and the electrical panel.
• Emergencies and contacts, the emergency number, your phone, a backup contact, the nearest urgent care or hospital and the non-emergency police line.
• House rules, in your own words.
• Leaving, with check-out time, the keys and what to do before going.
• A Before you send box with four checks.

How to fill it in

Walk through the rental as a first-time guest would, starting at the front door. Write the address the way a guest would type it into a map, since everyone staying should know the address in an emergency.

The safety section covers what every guest in a vacation or short-term rental should know:

• Two ways out. Everyone should know two ways out of every room, and out of the rental.
• Doors and windows. Every door and window that leads outside should open.
• Smoke alarms. There should be working smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each sleeping area and on every level.
• Carbon monoxide alarms. There should be working ones on every level.
• Fire extinguishers. Everyone should know where they are.
• A meeting place. Pick an outside spot a safe distance from the rental.

From 2014 to 2016, cooking was the leading cause of hotel and motel fires, so give the stove a line of its own: how it turns off, and where the nearest extinguisher is. For each bedroom, count the doors between it and the nearest way out, and write the number in. It helps anyone who has to get out in the dark.

Write each location plainly, such as "under the kitchen sink" or "hall closet, top shelf." Leave your own account numbers and personal details out. Read your own insurance policy for how it treats paying guests before the first one arrives.

Keeping it current

Check the Wi-Fi password and the safety details every six months, and again after any change to the locks, the router or the alarms. Replace a page as soon as it's out of date.