Airbnb House Manual Template — Everything to Include
The technical companion to your welcome book. A clear checklist of the property details guests actually need — shut-off valves, fuse box, thermostat, appliances and emergency contacts.
House manual vs. welcome book — what's the difference?
A welcome book sets the tone: check-in details, house rules, local recommendations, and the story of your place. It's the friendly hello. A house manual is the practical companion — the "how does this actually work?" reference guests reach for when the WiFi drops at 11pm or a smoke alarm chirps. Airbnb treats them as different fields in the listing for a reason: one sells the stay, the other keeps it running smoothly.
The best hosts publish both. Use our Airbnb welcome book template for the guest-experience side, and the checklist below for the technical side.
The house manual checklist
Water shut-off valve
Where the main water shut-off is, and how to close it if a pipe leaks or a toilet overflows. A photo helps more than a paragraph.
Fuse box / circuit breakers
Location of the fuse box, which switch controls what, and how to reset a tripped breaker safely.
Gas shut-off (if applicable)
Where the gas meter is and how to shut it off in an emergency. Include the local gas emergency number.
Thermostat & heating
How to set the temperature, switch between heat and cool, and any schedule guests shouldn't override. Note quirks — 'the boiler makes a noise, that's normal'.
Router & WiFi troubleshooting
Where the router is and how to power-cycle it if WiFi drops. Include the network name and password once, clearly.
Appliance instructions
Short how-tos for the oven, hob, washing machine, dishwasher, coffee machine, and TV. Link the manual PDFs if guests want detail.
Bins, recycling & collection days
Which bin is which, where they live, collection days, and where to leave them on collection morning.
Smoke & CO alarms
Where alarms are located, what the different beeps mean, and what to do if one goes off — including your contact number.
Emergency contacts
Your number, a backup contact, local emergency services, nearest hospital and pharmacy, and the number for your gas/electric provider.
Tips for a house manual guests actually use
- Use photos for every valve, switch and appliance — words alone rarely land at 11pm
- Keep each entry short: one job, one location, one action
- Group by room so guests can scan the section they're standing in
- Include the model number of every appliance so guests can Google the manual themselves
- Update it the same day something changes — a stale manual is worse than none
- Offer it as a digital guidebook + a PDF backup, so it works even if WiFi is down