3 easy steps for creating a home swap welcome guide

Guest blog post: Janis Fisher Chan is a writer, editor and passionate traveller who loves home exchanging. She recently shuttered her informational website, Travel on the House, where this post originally appeared. If you love travel, Janis encourages you to try home swapping!

I have special fondness for home exchange partners who anticipate what my husband and I might need to know about their home. Too often, we’ve been left on our own to figure out how to coax warm air from the heater or use the fancy new appliances, where to put the garbage, or what to do when the toilet makes that terrible coughing sound.

Be the kind of home swap host we love by writing a great home user guide. A user guide not only helps guests enjoy their stay, it conveys a clear message: “We want you to enjoy your stay!” It has the added benefit of helping to keep you from being bombarded by texts and phone calls while you’re exploring the Galapagos or touring the lights of Paris.

Here are 3 easy steps for creating a great home user guide. Once you’ve written and assembled the guide, all you’ll need to do is update it when something changes.

Step 1. Decide what "must-have" content to include

Think about what your home swap guests need to know to live comfortably in your home and handle any problems that might come up.

Must-have content typically includes:

A short, friendly note welcoming your guests to your home
The home’s street address and telephone number (if there’s a landline)
How guests can reach you while they are staying in your home
The password or code for your security system, if any, and how to turn it and off
The Wi-Fi password and what to do if it goes down
Phone numbers for the fire department, police, hospital and doctor
Instructions for sorting the recycling, where to find the garbage cans, and where to put the cans on pickup day
Contact details of someone nearby who can step in to help (such as a friend or neighbour)
What to do if the power goes out, the plumbing backs up, the heater or water heater won’t go on, they lose their keys, or something else serious happens
Instructions and/or manuals for the appliances, heater/air conditioner, TV, DVD player, cable box, sound system, barbecue, and other equipment
Cautions (“The toilet in the front bathroom backs up easily so be gentle”; “Please do not lock the door between the stairs and the back hall – we don’t have a key”; “the drawer in the kitchen table falls out easily so be careful when you open it”)
Rules (“Please do not play the TV or music loudly after 10:00 at night”; “Please do not smoke in the house or on the property”; “Please park only in our assigned space, #288”)
What guests should do when they leave (“Please replace the toilet paper and cleaning supplies”; “Strip the beds and put the sheets in the washer”; “Leave us some milk, eggs, butter, and bread”)

Step 2. Decide what nice-to-have information to include

A big part of traveling is the fun of exploring a new area, but it’s also nice to have a local’s point of view. Help your home exchange guests have a great experience by being a “virtual tourist guide,” with suggestions for places they might not find in their travel books.

Nice-to-have information might include:

Where to shop: grocery stores, farmers’ markets, malls, bookstores, boutiques
How to get around: maps of the area along with bus, train, and ferry information and schedules along with phone numbers for taxi and airport shuttle services
Where to play: parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, gyms, beaches, golf courses, tennis courts, hiking trails, ski slopes, and other recreational facilities
Where to eat: a selection of cafes, bars and restaurants they might enjoy
Collect menus from places you like and leave them for your guests
What to see: local attractions such as museums, art galleries, nature preserves, sports arenas, universities, and more

Tip: Pick up brochures, maps and other sight-seeing information your guests might find useful

Step 3. Write and put together your home user guide

Make your home user guide easy to read. Use lists and headings to help guests quickly find specific information. Keep sentences and paragraphs to a minimum. To assemble the guide, you can staple the pages of instructions and suggestions together and put the maps, menus, and brochures in a basket or put everything in a binder or folder with pockets.