Airbnb appliance instructions template
Unusual thermostats, mystery remotes, and appliances with no visible dial are where a big chunk of mid-stay questions come from. Write the quirks down once.
- Thermostat, TV, and washer/dryer lines
- Oven, dishwasher, and disposal instructions included
- Smart lock battery note
Edit this template
Click any line to rewrite it. Add headings, bullets, or checkboxes, drag to reorder, and delete what you do not need.
Add an appliance
Appliance instructions
Tips
- 1Only write down what's actually unusual. A normal oven doesn't need an explanation, a washer with no labels does.
- 2Photograph the actual remote or dial and attach it if you're sending this digitally, a picture answers a question a paragraph can't.
- 3Update this whenever you replace an appliance, an outdated instruction is more confusing than none at all.
When you need Appliance instructions
Every property has one or two appliances that are not self-explanatory: an induction hob someone has never used, a shower with a mixer that runs cold unless you turn it the unintuitive way, a TV that needs the right input before any remote does anything. These are the machines guests message about, and they message at the moment of use rather than at check-in.
The test for whether something belongs here is simple: has anyone ever asked about it, or would you have to think before explaining it? If yes, write it down. Everything else is noise that makes the necessary parts harder to find.
Where it goes
Beside the appliance it describes, not collected in a binder. A laminated card taped inside the cupboard above the washing machine gets read; the same text on page six of a welcome book does not, because a guest holding a detergent pod is not going to go looking for a folder.
Common mistakes
Documenting everything
Nobody needs instructions for a kettle. Listing obvious appliances alongside genuinely confusing ones makes the useful entries harder to find and signals the whole document can be skipped.
Copying the manufacturer manual
Guests need the three steps to run a normal cycle, not the full feature set. Write what someone does 95% of the time and leave the rest out.
Going stale after a replacement
Instructions for the old dishwasher are worse than none, because a guest follows them, fails, and concludes the machine is broken.
Skipping the failure mode
If the hob will not turn on without a specific pan type, or the TV needs a particular input, say so. That is the thing being messaged about, not the normal operation.
Printing this is fine. Coho turns it into a page guests actually open.
Coho’s Guest Welcome Book puts everything a guest needs, this included, on one link or QR code that never changes. No app or account for your guest, ever.
Set up your guest welcome bookQuestions hosts ask first
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