Welcome letter

When to use

Set the welcome letter on the table they will walk past first, one copy, with {guest_name} filled in for this stay. A letter that says “Dear guest” is fine if you do not know who in the group will read it, but a name is warmer when you have one. {host_name} is the person who will actually answer the thread. Do not sign a co-host’s name if you are the one who disappears on weekends.

{first_night} is three practical facts, not a history of the house. Example shape: “Heat is the dial in the hall, set it and leave the doors open. Coffee is in the jar. The parking spot is the numbered stall on your confirmation.” {thread_note} tells them how to reach you: “Write in the booking thread. I read it in the morning and the evening, and sooner if the door or the water fails.” Do not print a personal phone number on a letter that stays in the home after they leave.

The welcome book generator builds a longer booklet in the browser from sections you type. It does not upload those sections. Use this letter as the first page even if you also print that booklet. The letter’s job is to stop them reading twelve pages before they find the heat.

Timing tip

Print it the morning of arrival, or write the name in by hand on a stock letter, so {guest_name} is this guest and not the previous one. A stack of letters with the wrong name is a small thing that makes the home feel careless.

Remove their letter at turnover. The next arrival should not find a personalized note to someone else, and they should not find checkout notes scribbled on the back. {first_night} can stay printed if it is true for every stay. The name should not.

If {first_night} mentions a code or a parking stall that changes, fill it per stay. A stable sentence can be printed. A rotating fact should be blank ink.

Common mistakes

A biography is the first one. How you found the house, your children’s names, and a list of your favorite restaurants push {thread_note} to a second page. One page is the constraint. Restaurants can live on a guidebook page they open if they want food. Tonight’s heat and the thread are not optional.

The second is a new rule hiding in a friendly paragraph. “We kindly ask that you not use the fireplace” is a rule. If it is not on the listing, do not debut it in a welcome letter after they arrive. The template says this letter is not a new set of rules. Keep that line. It protects you from your own charm.

The third is three ways to make contact. A phone, a text, an email, and the thread means you will miss the one they chose. {thread_note} should name one place. The booking thread is the place the rest of these templates assume.

Voice

Read it aloud. If you would not say {first_night} to someone standing in the kitchen, it is too stiff or too cute. “So thrilled you chose our humble abode” is the sort of sentence that makes practical people skip to the Wi-Fi sign. Glad you are here, here is the heat, here is how to write. That is the whole letter.

{host_name} can be a first name. A business name is fine if that is how you sign the thread. Match the thread so they know the letter and the messages are the same person.