Interior Design
How to Make the Perfect Airbnb Bed
It’s official. We have found the perfect Airbnb bed. On Sunday, we checked into a luxurious Airbnb with a bed so captivating, so meticulously assembled,
There’s a local breakfast joint in town covered in permanent marker. (We promise this relates to Airbnb guest books!) Everything is made of wood: the chairs, the booths, the floors, the walls. Each diner is encouraged to leave a signature, and thousands of diners have. The invitation connects with our instinctive desire to leave our own little mark on this world. And as folks wait for their breakfast, sipping their coffee, they’re surrounded by the names of those who have dined right here before them. A little time capsule of a fluid community.
Fundamentally, this is the same intuition behind a great Airbnb guest book. A guest book isn’t just about you, the host, rounding up praise. (Although that can definitely be a happy side effect!) The point is to document the truly singular community of travelers you’ve cultivated, and to give each guest the opportunity to scratch that primal itch and say, “Hey World! I was here!”
So without further ado, here are 10 unique Airbnb guest book ideas we love. You’ll also find links to supplies you might find helpful if you get inspired to add a guest book like these. Enjoy!
Most folks love to talk about themselves and share a piece of who they are. Play into that by asking your guests a question and let their answers create your Airbnb guest book. Here are a few examples.
Where are you from? Print out a map of the world, layer cork board underneath, and ask guests to place a pin where they’re from. If a ton of your guests come from one or two nearby cities, print out and mount more detailed local maps of those really dense areas. Adding a pin to their neighborhood will feel more special than trying to wrestle one more pin into an overly crowded metropolitan area. On the other hand, if you regularly host guests from all over the world, a cork globe like this might be the perfect, slightly whimsical touch to honor your international visitors.
What was your favorite local attraction? Let guests share their favorite local discoveries with future guests. This can be as simple as a little handwritten prompt from you and a stack of sticky notes. Or you can amp it up, create a little guest book station with a stack of “Share a Memory” cards like this and bulletin board or wire display board above it. You could also riff off the map idea above and turn this into a local map, asking guests to pin their favorite discoveries. Overtime, it will turn into a visual heat map guiding guests to the best spots in town.
For a more personal take, set out a stack of notecards like these “Words of Wisdom” cards, and ask guests to share their favorite inspiring quote or best advice they’ve received. You could string up a line with little clips ready to display each card. These will be heartwarming, uplifting, and occasionally sobering. You’ll find yourself standing and reading these longer than you expect, just like your guests will.
The brilliance of simply collecting signatures is that it’s super easy for guests to do. No one hesitates thinking, “Oh I’ll do that later in our trip when I have more time,” only to forget. They just grab the permanent marker and sign.
Got a great name for your Airbnb? Then consider getting a custom plaque like this with your place’s name, and have each guest sign it. It’s the perfect entryway piece that will immediately make your guests feel like they’re part of a community and cement your branding in their mind right away.
Think a canoe paddle at a lake house or a surfboard near the beach or a rocking chair on a southern front porch. The fun here is asking your guests to sign something they’d never write on unless prompted. If you’ve got the space, the entryway would be a great place for an item like this too. Some items could even be mounted on the wall so they’re eye-level when guests enter your space. Folks will sign it before they’ve even set down their bags.
This could be a puzzle, a Jenga tower, Scrabble, checkers, anything with small, tactile pieces that retain their functionality even when written on. Wooden items work really well. The joy here extends beyond each guest signing their own piece. They’ll find themselves admiring everyone else’s contribution as they play the game. Or if you go with a wooden puzzle like this, you can frame it once it fills up and hang it above the current guest book puzzle being complete on a table below.
This is a more rustic take on the signature collection strategy. You can get beautiful, flat stones and painting pens for each guest to sign. As your collection grows, these become beautiful displays in mason jars, shadow boxes, or a base for glass pictures filled with flowers.
This irresistible guest book idea will hook almost every guest. Leave out a classic Polaroid camera with a photo paper or two. Your guests will snap a picture of themselves and then sign the bottom with their names and date before pinning it up with the others. This visual guestbook will feel truly special and anchor you to the individual humans you’ve hosted each time you enter the space.
If you’re leaning toward a more traditional Airbnb guest book, or want to add one alongside a nontraditional variation, that’s great! Here are a few ideas to make it feel special.
Etsy has dozens of beautiful options for engraved guest books that are surprisingly well priced. Here is an example made with wood. Here’s another leather version. If you’ve got a great name for your Airbnb, this is a natural investment. The beautiful tactile nature of the book will have guests reaching for it just to read, and the next thing they know, they’ll be signing a page too. If you can get pages with prompts or questions, as opposed to just blank pages, you’ll often elicit more detailed responses from guests.
If you do have an Airbnb guest book with blank pages, set out a few art supplies alongside it: fun pens, crayons, stamps. Families with kids will adore this, but you’ll be surprised to see how many adults will lean into the fun and doodle right alongside their younger counterparts in a wave of art class nostalgia.
Last but not least, be sure to actually invite folks to use the guest book! A little frame can be a nice way to present your instructions. Also, as you set up your new Airbnb guest book for the very first time, be sure to set up a few examples to show your inaugural guests what to do. If you haven’t already placed a pin on the map, clipped a notecard to the string, or signed the canoe paddle, no other guest will. After dozens of guests have come through, the pattern will be self-explanatory. Before you know it, your Airbnb guest book will grow into a heartwarming collection of the unique experiences and connections you’ve created through hosting.
It’s official. We have found the perfect Airbnb bed. On Sunday, we checked into a luxurious Airbnb with a bed so captivating, so meticulously assembled,
You can’t get that one negative review out of your mind. You’ve got the whole darn thing memorized. Every last snarky word. It’s stuck in
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You’re an ambitious Airbnb host with a big heart. But on some days, hosting isn’t exactly what you had imagined. Maybe it’s overwhelming. Or isolating. Or just not making the kind of money you had envisioned. At Big Heart Hosting, we’re on a mission to help hosts like you thrive, not just get by. We create step-by-step resources that bring together the best hosting strategies from around the world. We’ll give you the knowledge and community you need to create the joyful, prosperous Airbnb you deserve.
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Perched between the idyllic towns of Bethlehem and Littleton, we discovered Cherry Valley Farm in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. In our starkest Airbnb transition to
Just a few months after she had launched The Woolworth Lofts on Airbnb, we unknowingly did exactly what A.C. Reeves had spent years hoping travelers
At Big Heart Hosting, we’re on a mission to help hosts like you thrive, not just get by. We create step-by-step resources that bring together the best hosting strategies from around the world. We’ll give you the knowledge and community you need to create the joyful, prosperous Airbnb you deserve.
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