Hotel hospitality
What should your hotel guest guide include?
A practical checklist for hotels and inns: arrival, Wi-Fi, breakfast, dining, services, contacts and keeping stay information current.
Start with actual reception questions
For a few days, note recurring questions without collecting personal data. Group them into arrival, access, breakfast, room, dining, transport and departure. This gives a more useful priority order than listing everything the hotel could talk about.
Read the details
A guest looking for Wi-Fi does not want to read the house’s history first. A late arrival needs a reachable contact and clear practical information. Put these answers near the beginning; history and recommendations can have their own accessible sections.
The guide supports reception. It should not prevent someone talking to a person or expose confidential access codes on a public page.
The essential information checklist
| Section | Prepare | Possible owner |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival | Address, entrance, parking, reception hours | Reception |
| Wi-Fi | Guest network and approved connection instructions | Reception / IT |
| Breakfast | Place, times, conditions, any price | Dining team |
| Room | Equipment and help with problems | Accommodation team |
| Restaurant | Name, hours, menu and reservation contact | Dining team |
| Spa and services | Treatments, conditions, prices and contacts | Service lead |
| Departure | Check-out, luggage and contact | Reception |
| Nearby | Transport and selected recommendations | Reception |
Read the details
For each detail, ask whether a guest can act without guessing. “Parking available” does not explain the entrance or conditions. Check public holidays and seasonal changes too.
Write short but complete answers
Give the answer first, then the conditions. A fictional example to adapt: “Breakfast is served on the ground floor from 7 to 10. For particular dietary requirements, contact reception the evening before.” Publish that wording only if it matches your operation.
Read the details
Avoid internal department language. Guests look for the restaurant, late check-out or room service. Use the same names they see on signs around the property.
Explain conditions for paid services. If availability needs confirmation, say so. A contact button must not suggest that a booking has already been recorded.
Link dining menus rather than duplicating them
Present the restaurant’s location, hours and contact in the guide, then open its detailed menu. Repeating prices in several sections increases the chance of leaving an old price behind.
Read the details
Swizee Stay can open published menus from the same property. The guide is included in Expérience. A hotel can use Stay without a restaurant menu, and a restaurant can use Menu without a hotel guide.
Stay is not a PMS, booking engine or ordering system. Guest-to-hotel requests are disabled, so do not present messaging or ordering as available capabilities.
Put practical guest information in Stay
Create my preview →Check languages through real tasks
Keep a reference version and review times, units, place names and conditions in every language. A translation should help someone find the right entrance or stop, not merely sound fluent.
Read the details
French uses “guide de séjour” or “livret d’accueil”; German uses “digitale Gästemappe”, with Swiss spelling where appropriate. Italian “guida digitale per gli ospiti” clearly explains the function. Proper names need to remain recognisable.
In each language, try finding breakfast, opening the right contact and accessing the restaurant menu. Having text present is insufficient if its link opens the wrong experience.
Install and maintain the guide
Scan the room support before printing the batch. It must open the hotel guide rather than a menu or private preview. Position it visibly and explain its purpose briefly. Keep personal help available for guests who do not use a phone.
Read the details
Assign each section an owner and review rhythm. Before a season, check hours, contacts, closed services and recommendations. In Swizee, review changed draft content before publishing the version for guests.
Continue listening to reception. A repeated question may mean an answer is missing, vague or hard to find. Improve that section instead of adding another page automatically. Quality lies in how easily someone finds a reliable answer.
Questions about this topic
Can a hotel without a restaurant use Stay?
Yes. The guide can show practical information and hotel services without a restaurant menu.
Should the guide contain every hotel detail?
No. Prioritise useful stay information and exclude internal or confidential content.
