The incredible hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop tucked hidden away in that narrow lane may be your local go-to lunch spot, but remains unknown to all but locals.
Many guests will not be from your city, and almost none will be from your local neighborhood. Guests will rarely know the local ‘go-to’ spots that you most likely know like the back of your hand. After all – it’s your local area and these are the places you likely frequent all the time.
Good Airbnb hosts adopt the role of the concierge at the front desk of a hotel – able to assist guests by providing answers to their most frequently asked questions.
And the good news is that more times than not, these questions are very commonly the same…

I'm looking for a good bite to eat. Where should I go? Any standout dishes on the menu?
This is such a big city! What sightseeing attractions should I check out?
I'm sick and need cold and flu medicine. Is there a 24 hour pharmacy?
I'm craving a good cappuccino. Does that exist around here?
I need to keep the kids happy. Any ideas?
Guests often choose to stay with Airbnb hosts largely for their ability to provide these insider tips and use their local knowledge to answer questions like the ones above.
Airbnb provide hosts with the ability to proactively answer these questions by creating local guidebooks they’re able to make available for their guests. These guidebooks showcase the best that their neighborhood has to offer and helps their listing stand out from the competition.

Your guidebook is publicly displayed on your Airbnb listing page (even before guests book your place).
You’re also able to print your guidebooks and make them available to your guests in hard-copy format for their arrival at your place.
Airbnb guidebooks represent one of the easiest ways of impressing guests and providing them with a great experience when staying at your place.
#Airbnb guidebooks show-off your knowledge of the local area, reinforce your credibility as a host 'in-the-know', increase bookings and maximize your nightly rate from guests looking to stay in great spots with reliable hosts. Click To Tweet
The key to building a virtuous cycle of increased bookings is through receiving positive reviews. And there’s no quicker shortcut to receiving positive reviews than providing your guests with a guidebook of your local area since communication, location and value represent half of the review criteria that a host is assessed against: Guidebooks demonstrate a communicative host, living in a great location, providing valued guest experiences.
Finally, the beauty of an Airbnb guidebook is that you’ll get your mileage from this small investment by reusing it with all future guests, despite only needing to build it once – a big return from a small investment. As a low-cost, time-minimal investment, building an Airbnb Guidebook truly represents the ‘low-hanging-fruit’ of your Airbnb success.

Key Principles for Developing Your Guidebook

Build for your target guests
Think about who your target guests are. An elderly retired couple will have different interests to a gap-year backpacker. Make sure you include places most likely to be of interest, relevance and within budget of your target guests.

Cover a dispersed regional spread
Guidebooks should offer recommendations for places to be found in your local neighborhood, the city and its surroundings, and everything in-between. Recommend the local coffee shop located at the end of the street, but also suggest checking out the art gallery on the outskirts of the city too.

Cater FOR seasonal variance
Some listings are located in cities that are highly susceptible to seasonal tourism and able to provide a range of seasonal attractions. Useful guidebooks include attractions that cover all seasonal interest and showcase the best of your location at all times of the year.

Recommended Places to Include
There are many places you could include in your Airbnb guidebook. Recommended places to include in your guidebook fall into the following categories:
Food Scene
Your favorite restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, bakeries, desert shops and street markets
Drinks and Nightlife
Where you like to hang out at night. They include nightclubs, bars, music venues, breweries, wineries, karaoke and casinos
Sightseeing
Must-see iconic sights in your city. These can be places of interest, special neighborhoods or famous streets
Arts and Culture
Where you go to get a feel for local history and culture. They include museums, the theatre, symphony halls, art galleries, schools, universities and libraries
Parks and Nature
Spots to go to be around nature. They include places like local and national parks, hiking trails and beaches
Shopping
Any unique or local shops around you. This typically includes shopping malls, clothing stores, bookstores, markets or any other shops of appeal or interest
Essentials
Places for everyday errands or basic needs. These include grocery and convenience stores, doctors or hospitals, gyms, dry cleaners and laundry, and beauty and spa spots
Entertainment and Activities
Where you go for fun. This includes movie theatres, amusement parks, aquariums and zoos, arcades, tours, classes, sport stadiums and other local sport and recreation

Getting Around
This includes places like public transport hubs, car rental spots, places to rent bikes and parking lots

Food Scene

Fast Food Restaurants
Sometimes a guest just wants something to eat that’s quick, simple and comes with no surprises. It won’t be their best meal, but it also won’t be their worst. It comes cheap and everyone knows what to expect. Fast food restaurants often help guests feel comfortable in new surroundings by providing them with something they’re already familiar with from back home.

Your Local Favorite Restaurants
These are your favorite go-to places to get served up with a local dish or some personal comfort food. They’re the kind of place frequented by locals ‘in-the-know’ about where to grab a good bite to eat. You’re also likely to be familiar with the best dishes on the menu. Make sure to share these insider tips!

Iconic Restaurants
These are restaurants that have developed a cult following over the years. They have woven themselves into the fabric of the local area and often reflect the flavor of the neighborhood or community too.

Your Local Favorite Coffee Shop
For true coffee addicts, they need their coffee, and they need it NOW! They’ll want to know the best place to get their coffee fix that’s only a stones’ throw away from your place.

Coffee Spots Near Public Transport
Guests are frequently on-the-go and tend to get around by public transport. Many guests will package-up their morning coffee routine with setting off on their daily adventures. It makes sense to include coffee spot recommendations close to public transport hubs like train stations or bus terminals.

Drinks and Nightlife

The Bar-With-a-View
There’s nothing more awesome than visiting a bar that overlooks the skyline of the city you’re visiting. Rooftop bars with a view are great for this. Obviously, not every city has one, but try recommend a bar that commands the attention of the city you live in.

The Local Bar
Think of these places as your local ‘Cheers Bar’… where everybody knows your name. Drinks are commonly cheaper, staff friendlier, and no dress shirts or leather shoes required for entry.

The Swanky “It” Bar
These are commonly bars that have only recently opened and have greatest appeal to younger guests wanting to be ‘in-the-know’. Hosts have an opportunity to show-off their knowledge of the local area by offering insider tips unlikely to be found in guidebooks printed less recently than within the year.

Sightseeing

Historical Places
These are places that have become tourist attractions for having been around for many decades, if not centuries. Religious sites, ancient ruins, castles and the like are common examples. They are commonly listed in travel guidebooks, and appeal to cultural purist travelers that often spend a lifetime traveling the globe to cross these sort of places off their bucket-list.

Novelty Attractions
These are one-of-a-kind places that are unique landmarks unlikely to be found anywhere else. They are often quirky, different or the kind of thing that doesn’t fit neatly into any travel guidebook category. They make for interesting stories, and typically even better pictures.

Arts and Culture

Art Galleries and Museums
Some cities have world-renowned art that people travel the globe to see. Other cities have funky little museums that curate the world’s largest collection of baseball cards. Either way, guests are likely to be curious on ways they’re able to get their cultural fix with a visit to these galleries or museums in your city.

Famous Schools, Universities and Libraries
Live nearby an ivy-league university or close to a school attended by a famous celebrity? Maybe there’s an impressive sandstone library building in relative proximity to your place built many centuries ago? Guests will appreciate the opportunity to simply take a walk past these institutions to feel like they’ve added a small boost of prestige to their trips.

Parks and Nature

Parks
Live nearby an ivy-league university or close to a school attended by a famous celebrity? Maybe there’s an impressive sandstone library building in relative proximity to your place built many centuries ago? Guests will appreciate the opportunity to simply take a walk past these institutions to feel like they’ve added a small boost of prestige to their trips.

Playgrounds
Local councils often invest small fortunes in building playground structures that represent ‘kiddie-heaven’. Playgrounds are a great way for parents to get out of the house, entertain the kids, and do so all for free. List any playgrounds close to your place – especially if your home attracts a lot of families.

Natural Beauty Spots
These include places like popular beaches, hiking trails or national parks. They are often drawcards for visiting the city and the kind of places guests love boasting about having visited.

Shopping

Shopping Malls
These represent handy one-stop-shops for guests looking to ‘batch process’ their shopping and eliminate the need to jump all over town to find what they need. Everything from department stores through to local and global brands can typically be found here.

Notable Stores
Sometimes there’s a store that’s been around since before the neighborhood was even a neighborhood, like an old bookstore or antique shop still run by its original owner. Other times, a popular TV show or movie may have put a particular store on the map.

Essentials

Convenience Stores
Sometimes guests just needs a few basic items like bread, milk and cereal. They’ll often pick these up on their way home from daily activities, and appreciate not needing to carry these items more than a few blocks. Tell guests about the local convenience store, 24-hour gas station or local ‘corner store’.

Delicatessens
Typically serving up fine foods or gourmet produce, these establishments allow guests to purchase things like cured meats, pickled vegetables, dips, breads and olives. Many of these ‘luxury’ items are not available in standard supermarkets, so mentioning them in your guidebook will elevate the stature of your listing.

Grocery Stores
Guests staying for an extended duration may want to stock up on groceries to last them the duration of their stay. Point them in the direction of the closest grocery store to enable doing a big shop at good prices for everything they’re going to want and need.

Pharmacies
The last thing guests want to do when feeling under the weather and away from home is trek out in search of a local pharmacy. Telling guests where they’re able to pick up cold and flu medicine by walking only to the end of the block will win you brownie points should they run into the dreaded sniffles.

Phone and Electronics Repair Stores
You’d be amazed at how often electrical devices die while on the road. The only thing more frustrating than having a broken device is not being able to do anything about it. Guests will appreciate being able to fix their laptop, tablet or phone if necessary.

Entertainment and Activities

Movie Theaters
As a popular and reliable form of entertainment, listing your local cinema will ensure that guests have a near fail-proof option of something to do if and when they’re looking to get out of the house. Movies appeal to guests of all types and ages, making them a must for any guidebook looking to provide attractions of broad appeal.

Comedy Clubs
Always a crowd-pleaser for guests looking for something to do, comedy clubs typically provide a fun night out at a reasonable price. They tend to be a form of entertainment that guests don’t typically do in their own home cities, but are excited to do when visiting somewhere else.

Bowling Alleys
Maybe not something guests want to do every day, but knowing where the local bowling alley is can be a great piece of information for parents to keep up their sleeves for entertaining the kids on a rainy day. Mentioning the local bowling alley is a reliable, kid-friendly attraction guaranteed to eliminate a parent’s headache when forced to find ways to keep the kids happy and entertained.

How to Add a Guidebook to Your Listing
Once here, hosts can add to their guidebook by typing the name of the place they wish to include within the relevant guidebook category.
Airbnb will automatically retrieve the official name of the place you wish to add, which you then select.
Airbnb will also use Google Maps to automatically pull the address and a map of the spot you want to list…

You then select a sub-category for the place. It’s up to you to provide a short description of up to 700 characters for the place you want to list.
Use this space to let guests know why you recommend it, why it might be of interest to them, or an ‘insider tip’ they’ll appreciate for when they go there.
You also have the option of specifying things the place is good for.

Want to take your Airbnb guidebook to the next level? Explore guidebook service providers:
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