How to Create a 2025 Digital Hotel Welcome Book: FREE Template Included
And if you don’t meet these dual expectations, you’ll struggle to get the referrals and repeat bookings you need to stay competitive.
Creating a practical and thoughtfully written hotel welcome book lets your guests feel at home while giving them an exciting sneak preview of things to do during their stay.
In this piece, we’ll give you a hotel welcome book template to showcase your hotel’s best features and strengthen your brand. The result will be an indispensable guide to boost your digital presence and increase guest loyalty.
Give your guests the experience they can enjoy
What is a hotel welcome book?
A hotel welcome book is a curated guide provided to guests upon arrival, designed to enhance their stay by offering essential information and personalized recommendations.
It typically includes details about the property, such as check-in procedures, house rules, amenities, and local tips for dining, attractions, and transportation. Beyond its practical purpose, a welcome book is a thoughtful gesture, showcasing the hotel’s commitment to guest comfort and satisfaction.
Traditionally, hotel welcome books have been printed guidebooks, making them costly and time-consuming to produce, update and replace. But increasingly, hotels are responding to their guests’ expectations of a modern vacation experience and giving them a digital guidebook to use on their smartphones.
We’ll give you more information on what to include in your hotel welcome book below. But first, let’s take a closer look at how a digital hotel welcome book adds value to your guests’ vacations.
How a digital hotel welcome book can enhance the guest experience
A digital hotel welcome book guests can use on their smartphone will give them access to the practical information they need before and during their stay.
Here are some of the main benefits of a digital hotel welcome book for guests:
- Essential room information. Check-in information, access codes for rooms, WiFi passwords, and information on how to use devices with embedded video explanations
- Guide to hotel amenities. Opening times for the restaurant, pool, and gym, details about equipment hire, and safety information, such as the location of fire exits
- Local guide. Tips on things to do in the area, bar and restaurant recommendations, and ideas for days out, with links to the hotel’s own tours
Providing this essential information will help guests get the most out of their room and the hotel while saving hours of staff time taking calls and fielding questions.
And when you use a digital platform to create your welcome book, your guests will get the benefits of the app including:
- Online check-in, security verification, and guest onboarding
- In-app contactless entry for hotels with smart locks
- In-app messaging combining smart, flexible automated messages as well as personal responses for more specific inquiries
How to create your own welcome book with a web-based guest app
With a web-based guest app, you can quickly and easily create a branded digital guidebook to surprise and delight your guests.
Step one: Design your welcome book with strong branding
Make sure your hotel brand is the star of your welcome book. You can choose an attractive design from hotel welcome book templates on Canva or Pinterest. Or, with our template below, it’s easy to customize your welcome book with your logo and brand colors.
Step two: Create categories for key information
Choose categories to help guests navigate your welcome book. Remember you’ll be sharing your digital welcome book with guests before they arrive, so you can also include pre-arrival information.
Every hotel is different, and you know better than anyone what information your guests need for a memorable stay. But if you’re new to the world of digital welcome books, here are some ideas for categories to get you started:
- Welcome letter. This is your chance to make a great first impression and tell guests how much you’re looking forward to welcoming them. Give it the personalized feel of an Airbnb welcome letter and make them excited about their visit by telling them what makes the area so special.
- Getting around: Include directions to the hotel with links to local maps, and information about public transportation, taxis, and parking.
- Check-in/Check-out. As well as listing check-in times, you can add any important arrival or departure details the guest may need to know.
- Your room/house manual. Give your guests a house manual with the WiFi password and everything they need to know to operate the TV, the air conditioning, and the coffee machine.
- Hotel rules. Let your guests know the house rules about parties and noise, and if there are any restrictions on when they can come and go.
- Hotel amenities. Tell guests the opening times of the restaurant, pool, hot tub, or spa, with booking options where applicable. If you organize equipment hire, let them book it here.
- Eating and drinking: Give your guests an insider’s guidebook to local bars, restaurants, and nightlife, with links to make bookings.
- Local attractions: Tell your guests about the area, its history, and any quirky facts that guests might like to know. You can upsell your own tours or promote local businesses by linking to their websites. Divide this into subsections like ‘Days out with kids’ or ‘Sightseeing’’ and include pricing information and buttons for equipment hire.
- This week: Keep guests up to date with news on the latest events in and around the hotel.
- Leave a review. Invite positive reviews via your welcome book or give a link to your hotel’s listing on a booking platform to get you five-star reviews. You can give them prompts by asking what they loved most about their stay.
- Staying safe: You can give guests useful contact information, plus any practical advice on safety.
Step three: Send guests your welcome book
Send your digital welcome book to guests a few days before check-in, and then remind them about it on the day they arrive. This will be a huge win for your hotel in peak season when your reception staff usually spend hours fielding questions and requests about directions, parking options, and WiFi codes.Ideas to add in your Hotel Welcome Book
Now you know what to include in your digital hotel welcome book, you can write your own. Here’s our hotel welcome book template for you to adapt, saving you the time and hassle of creating your own from scratch:
Sustainability Highlights
In 2025, eco-conscious travel is on the rise. Use your welcome book to showcase your sustainability initiatives, like energy-efficient lighting and partnerships with local organic farms. Encourage guest participation with tips on reusing towels, recycling, and using refillable water stations.
A “Did You Know?” section with quick environmental facts can engage guests without overwhelming them. Include links or QR codes to local eco-friendly attractions, like botanical gardens or vegan restaurants, to enhance their stay.
Smart Hotel Features
The future of hospitality is technology, and 2025 is the time to embrace it! In your welcome book, introduce smart room features—like voice-activated lighting and climate control.
Provide easy-to-follow instructions to ensure accessibility. Emphasize how these technologies promote sustainability, like intelligent energy management. Integrate QR codes for tutorials, empowering guests while reducing staff workload. Position your property as a forward-thinking sanctuary of convenience and comfort.
Wellness-Focused Additions
Wellness tourism is booming, making it essential to highlight wellness options in your welcome book. Include amenities like spa services, yoga classes, and nearby wellness activities like hiking trails and natural hot springs.
Consider offering QR codes for local wellness experiences and in-room relaxation tips like stretching routines or curated meditation playlists, reinforcing your commitment to holistic guest well-being.
Augmented Reality (AR) Guides
Elevate the guest experience with AR. Create interactive maps that guide guests to amenities and nearby attractions using QR codes. Offer AR tours of local landmarks with historical overlays and 3D reconstructions.
Gamify the experience with an AR scavenger hunt for families. Include clear instructions so guests can easily access these features, turning their stay into an unforgettable adventure filled with education and fun!
The Bottom Line
A digital hotel welcome book will give your guests an indispensable guide to keep them informed and entertained throughout their stay. And your tips on making the most of the area will bring a personal touch to the guest experience that’s so often missing from a hotel stay.
With Operto Guest, you can create a simple and beautiful branded welcome book using your own brand colors and logo.
With interactive features and in-app communication, your digital welcome book lets your guests get the best out of your hotel. To find out more, download the template below.
Frequently asked questions about digital hotel welcome books
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Elevate your guest experience with our hotel welcome book.