How to Create a Digital Welcome Guide for Your Glamping Site

Glamping guests arrive excited. They also arrive with questions.

Where's the bathhouse? What's the gate code? How does the composting toilet work? Can we have a fire tonight?

By nightfall, the answers you gave at check-in are forgotten. The phone rings. You answer. The next morning you do it again.

A digital welcome guide doesn't solve this by sending a longer email. It solves it by putting the right information at the right moment, before guests need to ask, and back in front of them when they do.

Here's exactly what to put in yours, how to structure it so guests actually read it, and how to deliver it so they can find it again at 11 PM when the fire is going and they've lost the Wi-Fi password.

What to include

Arrival and access

This is where most problems start. Guests who arrive after hours without their access details become emergency calls.

Include: - Check-in window: and what guests should do if arriving outside it - Exact final directions: the turn most maps miss, the landmark that actually helps - Gate code or lock combination: step-by-step if the mechanism is unfamiliar - Where to go first: does your site require stopping at the camp store, or do guests go straight to their unit? - A site map: showing each unit's location relative to the bathhouse, fire pit, parking, and water tap. Guests wander at dusk without this.

Your unit: the hands-on stuff

Bell tents, yurts, and Airstreams all have different systems, and guests arrive with wildly different outdoor experience levels. Include operating instructions for anything they're likely to get wrong:

• Composting toilet: the most commonly misused amenity on any glampsite. A short numbered list goes a long way.
• Wood stove or propane heater: how to light it, ventilation requirements, what the thermostat actually controls
• Outdoor shower: how long until it runs hot, gray water disposal instructions
• Provided amenities: what linens, towels, and kitchen supplies are in the unit so guests don't over-pack

Fire

Fire rules belong near the top of your guide, not buried in an appendix. Keep them clear and unambiguous: - Fire in designated rings only: not on decks, platforms, or near the unit - Fires must be fully extinguished with water before sleeping or leaving. Covering with dirt is not sufficient. - Never leave a fire unattended - Firewood policy: whether guests may bring their own (many sites restrict this to prevent invasive pest spread) or must purchase on-site - How you communicate weather-related fire restrictions

Facilities

Tell guests where to find the things they'll go looking for: - Bathhouse: which block serves which area of your site, whether it's gender-specific, and how the hot water works - Potable water: nearest tap location - Wi-Fi: password and where signal actually reaches (individual pitches often get nothing; guests need to know this before assuming) - Trash, recycling, and composting: bin locations, collection schedule, sorting requirements - Gray water: where to empty dishwater (not near vegetation or water features)

Quiet hours and house rules

Keep this short and scannable. Guests don't read long policy blocks. A simple list works: - Quiet hours (most sites run 10 PM to 8 AM) - Smoking: prohibited in units and on decks; designated area if one exists - Pets: welcome or not, any fees, restricted units - Unregistered visitors: guests must notify you of day visitors; no unannounced overnights - Parking: one vehicle per pitch; overflow location

Local area

This is where the guide becomes genuinely useful beyond logistics. Three or four honest picks: - Nearest grocery store with hours (especially useful for Friday arrivals before a long weekend) - One restaurant worth the drive - The trail your guests consistently ask about - Where to pick up extra firewood locally - Any activities you book directly: link to the booking page

How to deliver it

Before arrival

Send a link in your booking confirmation and again three days before check-in. Most guests skim it once and retain little, and that's fine. The point is priming. The real value is re-access.

At the unit

The check-in conversation doesn't stick. Verbal instructions get forgotten by nightfall. What survives is something guests can return to without finding a three-week-old email.

The most reliable delivery method for an outdoor setting: a physical NFC Marker placed inside the unit or at the entry point. Guests tap the Marker once to open the guide, and the guide stays accessible without requiring a Wi-Fi connection to reopen. For specific locations around the site, individual Markers can surface the relevant section: tap the Marker at the bathhouse for hours and instructions, tap the Marker at the fire pit for fire rules. The Marker is rated for outdoor mounting, needs no charged device of its own, and doesn't drift out of the guest's sight between check-in and 11 PM.

If you're deciding whether NFC or QR better suits your site, this guide covers the tradeoffs.

Keep it current

Check-in time changed. The bathhouse got a new keypad. If your welcome guide is a printed card or a PDF, you're reprinting or re-emailing. A digital guide updates once and every link to it (past, present, and future) shows the current version.

What makes a good one

Short sections with clear headers. Guests on mobile in poor cell coverage don't scroll walls of text. Every topic gets its own header. Rules get bullet lists. Anything that requires steps gets numbered.

Cover the real questions, not just the legal ones. Every guide has the liability language. Not every guide mentions which bathhouse is actually worth the longer walk. The useful ones do.

One language isn't always enough. Glamping accounted for 29% of camping trips in 2025, according to KOA's 2026 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report, and a growing share of those guests travel internationally. NearField Experiences render in 20+ languages without building separate versions, which removes a genuine barrier for sites listed on international booking platforms like Glamping Hub or Booking.com.

Build your glampsite's welcome guide free. Publish it, and we'll mail you a preloaded Marker for your first unit, on us, so you can test the tap before you commit to anything.

[Get a preloaded Marker, on us →]

See what this looks like built out: [Glamping Welcome Guide template →](/templates/vacation-rental)