Yup I have a guestbook as well. It's usually the first thing I head for when I check on the house between vacationers, the comments they leave bring a smile to my face when I see that the guests have enjoyed themselves .

Like the posts above sometimes the people write sometimes they don't.

We have a guest book too.  I tried to make it look fun.  I bought a spiral journal from Target that has ruled pages (and lots of them) but, contrary to my typical taste, it is white with neon green, pink and magenta polka dots all over it!  I made a sticker to match it in the same shape as the dots using MS Publisher, and Avery label stickers, and wrote a little blurb about "share your experiences - write about yourself - tell others about your favorite finds!"... we leave it in the kitchen on our bar counter near our House Info Book, and their packet of brochures.

We put two sets of keys to the house and the garage door opener on top of it (we put each set of house and pool keys on one of those stretchy spiral wristband key chains in the same neon green color as the green polka dots on the guest book.) When we check people in and we get to that spot, we tell them, "Here are your keys... there are two sets..." etc. and then we segue into the guestbook that is underneath them.  We point it out, and spend a minute asking them to please write something in it before they leave, and we emphasize about how it's kinda nice for the next guests to read about a great restaurant that they enjoyed, or a particular attraction or side trip they took... in other words we emphasize to use it to write more for an experience that they would like to pass on to future guests to help them find fun things that THEY enjoyed.  We never ask them to write about the house, (but invariably they do say thank you.)  We also point out how years from now, when it gets a lot of entries in it, it will be fun for guests to look through it and see that someone from [Germany or somewhere exotic] or [their home town] stayed in the house.  After that comment, without exception, every guest has smiled and commented something like, "Oh, that would be fun!"

Then, just before they check out we ask them to put one set of keys and the garage door opener back on the Guest Book, and leave the other set of keys [wherever we have arranged.] We also ask them nicely if they added anything to the Guest Book?  They either say Yes! or No, but we will!  We always enthusiastically say, "Oh great! Thank you!" I think that last exchange, without meaning to, rather commits then to put something in it.

Albeit, we have only started renting this past January, but so far every guest, with the exception of one, has not only signed the Guest Book, but they have put in at least a full page of writing.  The one guest who did not sign it was here for surgery nearby, so I'm sure she didn't feel like writing! One family wrote three pages of notes about the house, things they did and enjoyed, and then their daughter added her own entry.  Like everyone else mentioned, the Guest Book is the first thing we look at after someone moves out.  It is fun to read what they wrote.  It also gives us a feel for how a request for an online review will go over. We haven't had any bad entries or reviews, but if they write nice comments in the Guest Book we feel more confident about asking them to put a review online.  Now, THAT we have trouble getting people to do!

Hi all,

Send me a private message with your address and I will send you a HomeAway guestbook!

Meredith

We just keep our guest book on the sofa table and most of our guests write comments in it. We purchased ours from Journals Unlimited at a cost I feel is reasonable. They have many to choose from but the following link is the book we use.

http://www.journalsunlimited.com/store/products/212792/Up-North-Cabin-Journal/

Like many of you it is the first thing I look at when I check our home and like aznative it gives us a feel for whether to ask for a review.

Our guest book started on Thanksgiving weekend, 1978, a month after we purchased our cabin.  The first guests were my husband's parents and my mother.  Personal guests as well as vacationers have signed it over the years.  It's one of the first things I look at when I go to the cabin.  We've had guests from all over the world!  But then, Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places in America to visit.  I'm always disappointed if people have not been signing it.  Sometimes it gets "buried" and guests don't find it, I think.  I should request my housekeeper to make sure it is visable on the coffee table!

We also have a guestbook in our villa.  Recently our guestbook was removed from our villa and returning guests were asking why it was removed?  I just ordered my guestbook from guestbook.com and I am totally impressed at the quality and speedy service of the delivery to Canada.

I have a guestbook at my cottage.  I purchased a fairly inexpensive one online in the $30 range with the name of my cottage printed on it.  It had quite a number of pages in it, so it should last several years.  Almost all of my guest have signed it, and I have been renting for almost a year.  I copied the online review to the guestbook, from the first 4 or 5 guest that responded to my online review before I purchased the guestbook.  I added a note at the bottom of each one that it was taken from the online review.

I really enjoyed reading and filling out the guestbooks in the ski condos that we rented over the years, while sipping on hot chocolate or having a drink.  Really felt like I was on vacation and relaxing.  I was also able to pickup on many tips too for the area or the condo.