How to Write a Local Area Guide That Guests Actually Use (and Remember)

By StayScan Editorial Team · Published · Last updated

Give your guests a local insider experience with a neighbourhood guide in your Airbnb welcome book. Learn what to include, cafes, transport, hidden gems, and how to keep it up to date effortlessly.

The Recommendation Problem

Guests don't need a list of attractions. They have TripAdvisor, Google Maps, and about fourteen apps that can give them that. What they can't get from any of those is what a person who actually lives in the neighbourhood thinks is worth their time.

That's your advantage as a host. Use it.

The Test: Would You Tell This to a Friend?

Read your current local guide and ask honestly: is this information a friend staying at your place would find useful, or is it information you added because it felt like something you should include?

If the answer is the latter, cut it. A local guide with twelve genuine recommendations outperforms one with forty generic ones every time.

Structure That Works

Coffee

Put this first. Coffee is the universal morning priority. One to three specific recommendations. Mention the exact coffee: "the flat white at Neighbourhood Roasters is excellent" is more useful than "great coffee place nearby."

Include: name, walking or driving time, opening hours, one honest note about what's good.

Breakfast and Brunch

The weekend brunch spot and the weekday quick breakfast option are different. Give both. Mention which is which.

Dinner

Range of options at different price points. Your note on each matters more than the name:

  • "Best in the neighbourhood for a special occasion, book a table" (upscale)
  • "Our family's regular Friday night place, cheap, reliable, the pasta is brilliant" (mid-range)
  • "Best pizza in the area, tiny place, cash only, arrives fast" (casual)

Include whether booking is needed. Nothing worse than a guest trying to walk into your recommended restaurant at 8pm on a Saturday and being turned away.

Groceries and Essentials

  • Nearest supermarket and walking time
  • Any good local markets (especially for weekend visitors)
  • Pharmacy (useful for families and anyone unwell)
  • Late-night shop if applicable

Getting Around

  • Nearest public transport stops with walking time
  • Best taxi or rideshare app for the area
  • Bike hire if relevant
  • Parking notes if guests have a car

Things to Do

This is where most hosts either get too generic ("visit the museum!") or too obscure ("there's a niche ceramics gallery on a street that's hard to find"). Aim for the middle:

  • Two or three things you'd genuinely recommend to a visitor
  • Any seasonal events (farmers' market on Sundays, outdoor cinema in summer)
  • The thing most tourists miss that locals love

Practical Tips (The Stuff Guidebooks Don't Cover)

This section consistently surprises guests and gets mentioned in reviews:

  • The parking spot everyone misses that's free after 6pm
  • Which exit of the tube station to use to avoid the crowds
  • The shortcut that saves ten minutes on the way to the airport
  • The café with the best view that most people don't notice because of the unremarkable entrance

You know these things. Guests don't. This is your actual value as a local host.

Keeping It Current

Restaurant recommendations go stale fast. Places close, quality drops, ownership changes. Review your local guide at least twice a year and after any stays where guests mention they couldn't find a place you recommended.

A digital guide makes this easy, one edit, and every future guest gets the updated version. A printed guide creates the ongoing maintenance problem of reprinting pages every time something changes.

A Note on Being Opinionated

Hedge-free recommendations perform better than hedged ones. "The fish tacos at Barrio are excellent" beats "many guests enjoy the food options at Barrio." If you're not willing to recommend something without caveats, don't recommend it at all.

Guests can tell the difference between a host who knows their neighbourhood and a host who listed the nearest Starbucks and called it done.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many recommendations should a local guide include?

Enough to cover the practical categories (coffee, breakfast, dinner, groceries, transport) with genuine options. For a city property, 15–25 recommendations across categories is about right. More than 30 becomes overwhelming. Quality and specificity beat quantity every time.

Should I include pricing information?

A rough guide is helpful: "about £15 per head," "cheap and cheerful," "worth the splurge." Exact prices go out of date quickly, but a price band helps guests decide at a glance.

What if I don't know my area very well?

Walk the neighbourhood as if you're a guest. Visit the coffee shops, eat at the local restaurants, take the public transport. Genuinely knowing your area is part of being a good host, and it directly improves your reviews. Guests notice when the host clearly hasn't been to the places they recommend.

StayScan is a digital guidebook for Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com and Agoda hosts: one QR code gives guests Wi-Fi, check-in steps, house rules and local tips in 30+ languages. Create your guidebook with a 30-day free trial, no credit card required.