When you change a default, every guidebook that uses it updates too — including existing guidebooks. A guidebook only keeps its own value where you've switched Use Guidebook defaults off for that section.
Table of contents:
Why use Guidebook defaults?
If you manage multiple properties, many settings are the same across most or all of them — your contact details, your brand colours, your logo, your check-in time. Without defaults, you'd configure these on every guidebook individually.
With Guidebook defaults:
Set your standard values once
Every guidebook that uses the defaults picks them up automatically — new and existing
Override any section on an individual guidebook whenever something is different for that property
How to get there
You can open Guidebook defaults from:
The Guidebook defaults button in the Guidebooks page header, next to + Create Guidebook
The shortcut in the guidebook selector dropdown
The shortcuts on the Account library and General settings pages
The link next to a Use Guidebook defaults switch inside a guidebook, which takes you to the matching defaults section
What you can set as defaults
The Guidebook defaults page has tabs that mirror the tabs inside each guidebook:
Tab | What it covers |
Property info | Contact details and location & address settings, such as the map pin icon |
Check-in & Wi-Fi access | Check-in/check-out times and Wi-Fi details |
Timelines | Your default timeline moments and widgets (Guidebook 2.0 only) |
Appearance | Branding: logo, colours and fonts |
Guest Registration | Your default guest registration form (Guidebook 2.0 only) |
Settings | Guidebook settings, including guest engagement features |
How defaults and overrides work
If your account has more than one guidebook, each section that can inherit a default (for example Contact on the Property info tab, or Check-in/Check-out and Wi-Fi on the Check-in & Wi-Fi access tab) has its own Use Guidebook defaults switch:
Switch | What happens |
On | That section uses the value from your Guidebook defaults. When you update the default, this guidebook updates too. |
Off | That section uses this guidebook's own value. Changes to the default won't affect it. |
This means:
You only switch a section off when a specific guidebook needs a different value.
You can switch it back on at any time to use the default again.
If you only have one guidebook, there are no switches — you edit the values directly.
A practical example
You manage five properties. Four of them share the same check-in time (3:00 PM), contact details and brand colours. One property has a different check-in time (4:00 PM).
You set your Guidebook defaults: check-in at 3:00 PM, your standard contact details and brand colours.
All five guidebooks use the defaults.
On the property with a 4:00 PM check-in, you go to the Check-in & Wi-Fi access tab, switch Use Guidebook defaults off on the check-in/check-out section, and set the time to 4:00 PM.
Later, you change your phone number. You update it once in Guidebook defaults. All five guidebooks pick up the change — including the one with the different check-in time, because its contact section still uses the defaults.
One update. Five guidebooks updated. One override kept.
Guidebook defaults vs. General settings
| Guidebook defaults | General settings |
What it controls | Values your guidebooks use (property info, check-in, appearance, settings and more) | Account-wide options that aren't guidebook-specific (for example translations, OTA Compliance Centre, downloads) |
Can be overridden per guidebook? | Yes — with the Use Guidebook defaults switch on each section | No — these apply to your whole account |
Where to find it | Guidebook defaults button on the Guidebooks page | General settings in the left sidebar |
Quick reference
I want to... | Do this |
Set standard values for my guidebooks | Open Guidebook defaults and fill in each tab |
Override a default on one guidebook | Open the guidebook → relevant tab → switch Use Guidebook defaults off on that section → set your value |
Go back to the default on a guidebook | Open the guidebook → relevant tab → switch Use Guidebook defaults back on |
Change a value on all my guidebooks at once | Update it in Guidebook defaults — every guidebook using the default picks up the change |
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