Safety Information Guests Need on Arrival

Guests need safety information that is short, visible, accurate for that property and usable under stress, not a long manual they will never read. The direct answer is to give guests, on arrival, the escape route, the alarm response, the gas and electrical emergency actions, the local contact number, and the address in a form they can show emergency services, all in plain language. Everything else, however useful, is secondary to those five items.

Information fails when it is generic, hidden, out of date or in a language guests cannot understand. A welcome folder copied from another property, with a wrong assembly point or a previous host's phone number, is worse than no folder, because it misleads in an emergency. Hosts should write safety information for the specific property, check it between stays, and test it by asking whether a stranger could act on it at night without help.

A welcome folder should contain a one page safety summary at the front, followed by house rules, appliance instructions, waste and parking guidance, and local information. The safety summary should state the escape routes and assembly point, what to do if a smoke, fire or carbon monoxide alarm sounds, what to do if gas is smelled, where the consumer unit and water stopcock are, and the host or local contact number. Each item should be specific to the property, with room names and landmarks guests will recognise.

Appliance instructions should cover only appliances guests will actually use, in short steps with photographs where helpful, rather than reproducing every manual. A guest who needs a manual for a washing machine at midnight will not find it in a folder of manuals, but a guest who finds a one page instruction with a photograph will manage. Brevity and specificity beat completeness in guest information.

Check in, whether in person, by message or by video, should draw attention to the safety summary, the escape route and the contact number, rather than assuming guests will discover the folder themselves. A short, friendly mention, such as walking a guest to the escape route or pointing to the folder in a message, takes a minute and transforms information from paper into knowledge. Hosts who use self check in should include the same mention in the check in message, with the safety summary as an attachment or a photograph.

Check in should also confirm practical safety points: guest numbers, parking, waste, quiet hours and any property specific hazard, such as a steep stair, a low beam or a balcony rule. Confirming these points at check in prevents later disputes about whether guests were told, and it gives guests a chance to ask questions while the host is still available. A check in that covers only codes and keys misses its safety purpose.

Safety information must work at night, in smoke, under stress and possibly in a language the guest does not fully share. Large print, simple sentences, pictorial escape plans, a torch in each bedroom, and the address printed on the safety summary all help. Guests should be able to show the address to emergency services without searching a booking app, so the address should be on paper in the property as well as in digital messages.

Hosts should also consider guests with different needs: a guest with impaired vision needs large print or a spoken explanation, a guest with impaired hearing needs visual alarm information where required, and a child in the group needs an adult who knows the plan. Information designed for the most capable guest fails the guests who need it most, so hosts should design for a tired, unfamiliar stranger at night, not for a rested reader in daylight.

Safety information must be updated whenever the property changes: a new alarm location, a changed escape route, a new contact number, a new appliance or a changed assembly point all require an updated folder and an updated digital message. Hosts should check the folder between stays as part of changeover, replacing outdated pages rather than adding corrections in handwriting that guests may miss. A folder with crossed out numbers and added notes looks unreliable and is unreliable.

Hosts should also test information periodically by asking a friend or a cleaner to find the escape route, the consumer unit and the contact number using only the folder, and timing how long it takes. A test that reveals confusion is valuable, because it shows the host what to simplify before a real emergency reveals it. Information testing is a safety check, not a design exercise.

Check local rules for any required guest information, such as safety notices, registration display or emergency contact duties, and record the date of the check. Write safety information for the specific property, check it between stays, and keep a copy with the property file.

This guide is general information only, not safety advice for any property. Guest information duties vary by jurisdiction, and one city's requirements must never be treated as general requirements. Before acting, verify the position with the official municipal code or registration portal for that address.