Holiday Home Guest Book Ideas: How to Choose One and What Guests Should Write
A guest book is one of the nicest things you can leave out in a holiday home. Guests love reading what the people before them got up to, and years later it's the best record you'll have of every summer, every family reunion and every rainy week spent playing cards. Here's how to choose one and how to get people to write something worth reading.
What a holiday home guest book is for
It isn't a visitor log. Nobody wants to read a list of names and dates. The best holiday home guest books are full of little stories: the pub with the best chips, the walk that was longer than planned, the dog that jumped in the lake, the kids' drawings of the view.
Keep the practical information (Wi-Fi, bins, how the boiler works) in a separate house folder. The guest book is for memories.
The different kinds of guest book
A plain notebook
Cheap and easy, and fine for a start. The downside is that blank lined pages tend to get short, polite entries like "Lovely stay, thank you!" and it rarely looks like something you'd want on display.
A guest book with prompts
Some guest books have questions on every page: favourite moment, best meal, recommendations for the next guests. Prompts help people write more, but a full page of boxes can feel like a form.
Digital guest books and QR codes
Easy for guests and good for reviews, but nobody curls up on the sofa with a QR code. If the point is a keepsake, go for paper.
A keepsake guest book
A proper hardback that looks good on the coffee table and is made to last years of guests. This is what we designed our Book of Special Guests for: square, thread-sewn, in a protective slipcase, with enough room for a proper story, a drawing or a stuck-in photo. It's arriving this autumn, and you can join the waitlist on the product page.
How to get guests to write something good
- Write the first entry yourself, so the next guest sees what a good one looks like.
- Put one question on the first page, for example "What will you remember most about your stay?"
- Leave a nice pen next to the book, not a biro that doesn't work.
- Put the book where people relax, not by the door.
- Invite children to draw. Their pages are always the ones everyone reads first.
- Read the book yourself when you visit and add your own entry. Guests notice when a book is loved.
Ideas for what guests can write
- The best thing they did, and the thing they'd skip next time
- A local tip: a café, a beach, a walk, a farm shop
- The weather, honestly
- Something funny that happened
- A note to the next guests
A guest book for home, too
The same idea works at home. A guest book on the sideboard for Christmas, dinner parties and friends who come to stay turns into a lovely record of the people who were there. Planning a wedding instead? Here are some wedding guest book alternatives that guests actually want to sign. And if you'd rather write down your own special days than your guests', have a look at the Book of Special Days.
FAQ
What should I write in a holiday home guest book?
A short story from your stay, your favourite local tip and a note to the next guests. Personal details beat "lovely stay, thank you" every time.
Are digital guest books better for holiday lets?
They're handy for collecting reviews, but a physical book is what guests enjoy reading and what you'll keep. Many hosts use both.
How big should a holiday home guest book be?
Big enough for a few seasons of guests and sturdy enough to survive them. A hardback with around 100 pages is a good size for most holiday homes.
Is a guest book a good gift for a holiday home owner?
Yes, especially for a new place. It's personal, useful from the first booking and becomes more valuable every year.