Best Digital Airbnb Welcome Books & AI Guest Guidebooks Compared

The best digital Airbnb welcome book for most hosts is Touch Stay if you want a dedicated, well-integrated guidebook, and Hostfully's free first guidebook if you want to start at no cost. If you already run an operations or guest-experience platform, the guidebook built into Breezeway, Enso Connect or Hospitable may be enough. This comparison is based on vendor documentation, not hands-on testing. Prices are as of October 2026.

What a digital welcome book should do

A good welcome book answers the questions guests would otherwise message you about at 11 pm: how to get in, the Wi-Fi password, where to park, how the TV and thermostat work, trash day, quiet hours, and where to eat. The format advantages over a printed binder are simple: updates are immediate, it can be translated, and it can carry links, maps and video.

The newer layer is an AI concierge, a chatbot or messaging agent that answers from the same property content. That makes content quality more important, not less. An AI that is fed a stale door code will repeat it confidently.

Quick comparison

1. Touch Stay: best dedicated guidebook app

Touch Stay builds mobile guidebooks with check-in instructions, house rules and local recommendations. The vendor lists an AI chatbot trained on guidebook content that answers guest questions around the clock, an upsell widget, two-way messaging and scheduled communications, review collection and guest analytics. It says guests do not need to download an app, and auto-translation covers 30+ languages. It lists integrations with 40+ tools including Airbnb, Booking.com and Guesty, and Hospitable lists a Touch Stay integration.

Pricing. A free tier with 20 monthly guest views per guidebook, paid plans from $8.25 per property per month and a 14-day free trial with no credit card, per its homepage. The pricing page uses a calculator based on property type and count, so your price may differ.

Pros

• Purpose-built for guidebooks
• Free tier to test
• Broad integrations and translations

Cons

• Free tier limited by guest views
• You write and maintain the content
• Chatbot answers need review

Ideal portfolio: 1 to 500+ properties.

2. Hostfully Digital Guidebooks: best free starting point

Hostfully offers Free (one guidebook), Pro (up to 199 guidebooks) and Enterprise (200 or more) guidebook plans. The vendor lists an AI itinerary planner, add-on and service upsells, a Viator affiliate option, translation into 16+ languages, sharing by private link or PDF, and integration with its property management software and devices. The guidebook can work without the full PMS. Pro and Enterprise prices are not shown publicly, and a 1% Stripe fee applies to marketplace upsells.

Pros

• First guidebook free
• Works with or without the PMS

Cons

• Pro pricing is not public
• Free tier covers one guidebook only

Ideal portfolio: 1 listing on the free plan; 2 to 200 on Pro.

3. Breezeway Guide: best if you also run tasks

Breezeway's Guide is a digital welcome book with brand customisation, personalised links with access codes that expire after 72 hours, SMS or WhatsApp delivery, cashless tipping for staff and upsells. Guests can report problems directly, which automatically creates tasks for the team. Breezeway also describes an AI concierge that answers guest questions with property-specific context. Guide connects to the broader operations platform, so it makes the most sense if you already use or plan to use Breezeway for cleaning and maintenance. See our cleaning app roundup.

Pricing. A free first property and Host Essentials from $19 per unit per month for under five properties; higher tiers custom quoted; Concierge AI priced separately.

4. Enso Connect: best guest-flow bundle

Enso Connect layers on top of a PMS. Its Boarding Pass is a guest-facing page, no download required, that combines digital check-in, verification, upsells and property guidebooks in a single link. EnsoAI handles a unified inbox with a Copilot mode where AI drafts replies for review and an Autopilot mode with escalations only when needed. Its verification can use partners including Truvi, Autohost and Chekin; see our guest screening guide. Official pricing was not published on the pages we reviewed.

5. Hospitable: guidebook content that feeds AI replies

Hospitable, a property management platform, describes a Knowledge Hub where you can generate property knowledge from your existing data or upload guidebooks and policy documents as PDFs; the AI then uses that information to write more accurate replies to guest messages. That makes it a guidebook-adjacent option: your content serves both the guest-facing page and the replies. See Hospitable for pricing and our PMS roundup.

6. Chekin: guidebook as part of check-in compliance

Chekin focuses on online check-in, legal guest registration, deposits and tourist taxes, and lists digital guidebooks among its Premium-tier add-ons. It lists plans from EUR 3.95 (Basic), EUR 5.95 (Premium, including one premium add-on) and EUR 7.95 (Enterprise) per property per month, with a minimum of three properties on listed plans. It makes sense where local law requires guest registration; for a guidebook alone, a dedicated tool is likely cheaper.

7. Airbnb's built-in Guidebooks

Airbnb has a free Guidebooks feature for local recommendations. Secondary sources describe it as limited: no custom branding, video or detailed property instructions. It can complement a dedicated guidebook, but not replace instructions for operating your home. Confirm current features in your Airbnb account.

Guidebook versus AI concierge versus AI messaging agent

These are three different jobs:

• Guidebook: guests look things up themselves.
• AI concierge chatbot (for example Touch Stay's or Breezeway's): answers questions in a chat window using the guidebook.
• AI messaging agent: answers the messages guests send you through Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com, in your voice.

One option in the third category is ReplyBoost, an AI guest messaging agent that replies around the clock in the host's voice, uses a per-property knowledge base (door codes, Wi-Fi, house rules, parking, local tips), and drafts sensitive replies such as refunds or extensions for host approval. It is one option to consider among those in our AI guest messaging roundup. See ReplyBoost for AI guest messaging for details. At the time of writing it is listed at $47 per listing per month (regular $97) with no contract.

The practical point: the information you write for a guidebook is the same information a messaging agent or chatbot needs. Write it once, keep it accurate, and reuse it.

What to put in your guidebook

1. Arrival: address, parking, entry method and what to do if the code fails
2. Wi-Fi name and password
3. House rules, quiet hours and occupancy limit
4. How things work: heating, TV, appliances, hot tub, locks
5. Trash, recycling and checkout steps
6. Emergency contacts and nearest urgent care
7. Local recommendations with your own notes
8. Where to ask for help, and how fast you reply

What still requires a human

• Writing accurate content and updating it when something changes
• Reviewing AI answers and fixing bad ones
• Deciding which upsells you are willing to fulfil
• Handling anything urgent, a complaint or a safety issue

Common mistakes

• Copy-pasting generic city lists. Guests can find those anywhere; add your personal picks.
• Leaving codes in a guidebook link that never expires. Prefer tools that expire or protect access, such as Breezeway's 72-hour links, and change codes between guests.
• Not testing the QR code. Open the link on a phone with cellular data, not your own Wi-Fi.
• Letting the chatbot answer policy questions unreviewed. Keep refunds, extensions and damage claims with a human.

For where the welcome book sits in the wider setup, see the hands-off tech stack guide and the automation stack overview.

How to set up Airbnb's built-in Guidebook

According to Airbnb's help center, you create or edit a guidebook on desktop through your listing: choose the listing, open the listing editor, select Arrival guide, then Guidebooks. You can edit the title and cover photo, choose which listings the guidebook belongs to, and use Add to guidebook to enter places, neighborhoods and city advice. Airbnb notes that home co-hosts do not have access to new guidebooks, which matters if a co-host manages your content. In certain locations, Airbnb also uses host recommendations to build City Guidebooks for travelers.

Our read: the built-in feature is about local recommendations, so use it for that and keep operating instructions (hot tub, heating, lock behaviour) in a tool that can hold them in detail.

Hospitable's Knowledge Hub in more detail

The Knowledge Hub is the clearest example of a guidebook feeding an AI reply tool. Per Hospitable's help center:

• "Generate Knowledge Hub" builds a starting point from property details, message history, house rules and amenities in under 30 seconds.
• You can upload PDFs through "Add new source". They must contain searchable text, not scanned images, and import takes roughly one to two minutes depending on size.
• Touch Stay guidebooks can be imported automatically.
• You can add individual items by hand to fill gaps or answer common guest questions.
• The Hub reads Property Details once, at generation. Later edits to Property Details do not sync, so you must change the Hub itself.
• An "Ask the AI" section lets you test sample guest questions before relying on it.

The practical lesson applies to any tool: after you edit a code, rule or address in your guidebook, check whether every connected system picked it up.

Choose by portfolio size

• One property. Start free. Touch Stay's free tier (20 guest views per guidebook per month, per its homepage) or Hostfully's first free guidebook lets you test the format. If your guests rarely open it, you have lost nothing. Airbnb's built-in guidebook covers local picks at no cost.
• Two to ten properties. You now feel the cost of updating several guidebooks. Compare Touch Stay's calculator (it depends on property type and count), Hostfully's Pro plan once you ask for a quote, and any guidebook already inside your PMS or operations tool.
• Ten or more. Look for templates you can copy across properties, translation, roles for team members and integration with your messaging and task systems. Ask for a pilot on two or three properties.
• Managers who already run Breezeway or Enso Connect. Test the bundled guide first, since the integration with tasks and check-in may outweigh a standalone product's polish.

Illustrative cost framing

Do not compare list prices alone. Touch Stay is listed from $8.25 per property per month, so ten properties would start around $82.50 per month on that headline rate, before any difference from the calculator. Breezeway lists Host Essentials from $19 per unit per month for fewer than five properties, but that buys an operations platform, not only a guidebook. Chekin's plans start at EUR 3.95 per property per month, but guidebooks need the Premium add-on and plans list a minimum of three properties. These figures are illustrative and use headline prices as of October 2026; the products do different jobs, so a lower number is not automatically better value.

Questions to ask before you commit

1. Do guests need to download anything or create an account?
2. Is the link permanent, or does it expire? Can it carry access codes safely?
3. How many languages are translated automatically, and can I edit translations?
4. What do I see in analytics, such as views per guidebook?
5. Does it import from, or sync with, my PMS and my messaging tool?
6. Can the chatbot be turned off, restricted or limited to approved content?
7. What happens to my content if I cancel?
8. How are upsells handled, and are there extra payment fees? (Hostfully lists a 1% Stripe fee on marketplace upsells.)

A rollout plan you can finish in an afternoon

1. Draft the content once in a plain document, using the eight sections above, and have someone unfamiliar with the home read it.
2. Add photos or short videos for anything guests find confusing, such as the hot tub cover or thermostat. Airbnb's own messaging accepts short videos, so you can reuse them there.
3. Load it into the tool and open it on a phone using cellular data.
4. Link it from your messages, not only from a QR code in the home, because guests often look before they arrive.
5. Add a QR code or short link near the entrance and on the fridge or kitchen counter.
6. Log each question guests still ask for a month and add the answers.
7. Set a recurring review whenever you change a lock, router, appliance or house rule.

Who should skip a dedicated guidebook

If you have one property, a handful of repeat questions and a strong set of scheduled messages, a good Airbnb quick-reply sequence plus Airbnb's built-in guidebook may be enough. Add a dedicated tool when you notice the same questions arriving despite the messages, when guests need translation, or when you want upsells and analytics.