Your guest is standing at a dump station in a state park, holding a sewer hose, with one bar of signal and a queue forming behind them. That's the moment your RV rental guest guide either earns its keep or doesn't. A guidebook for a flat or a cabin can afford to be a bit vague. A guide for something with wheels can't, because the person reading it is often parked somewhere unfamiliar, slightly stressed, and about to do something they've never done before.

Here's the short version. An RV rental guest guide is the written (usually digital) manual a renter uses on the road to operate the vehicle, handle hookups and waste tanks, drive it safely, and know who to call when something goes wrong. Good ones are built around the moments where renters actually panic, not around a tidy list of what's in the cupboards.

Most articles you'll find on this topic tell you what to stock the van with: linens, a kettle, board games, a nice outdoor rug. Useful, but that's not a guide. That's an inventory. This piece is about the document itself, the thing renters open when they're 200 miles from you and the fridge won't switch to gas.

Why a moving rental needs a different kind of guide

A holiday let sits still. Your guest walks in, finds the wifi code, works out the oven, and settles. If they get stuck, they're stuck in a warm room with full signal and time to spare.

An RV moves. It changes location every day or two, which means every problem happens in a new place with new variables: a different hookup post, a different dump point, a campsite with its own quirks. The guest can't pop next door to ask. And half the questions aren't about comfort at all, they're about not damaging a £60,000 vehicle or getting stranded.

That changes what your guide needs to be. It has to be findable offline or on terrible signal. It has to be searchable, because nobody scrolls a 40-page PDF while a warden waits. And it has to be written for someone who is nervous and in a hurry, not for someone relaxing on a sofa. If you've built a house manual for a fixed property before, the instinct to be thorough carries over, but the format has to shift hard toward speed. Our step-by-step guide to creating a house manual covers the fundamentals; this article is about where RVs break the mould.

Start with the walkthrough, then assume they've forgotten it

Every responsible owner gives a handover before the keys change hands. You show them the leisure battery, the water pump switch, how the bed folds down. And they nod along and remember roughly 30% of it, because it's a firehose of information delivered in a car park while they're excited to leave.

So write your guide as if the walkthrough never happened. Not because it didn't matter, but because memory under mild stress is terrible. Every step you demonstrated in person should also exist in the guide, ideally with a photo of your van, not a stock image of a generic interior. The switch they need is a specific switch in a specific spot. Show them that switch.

A short orientation video helps more than people expect. Film a five-minute walk-through on your phone: fresh water fill, grey and black tank locations, the gas isolation valve, how to level the van, what the warning lights mean. Link it at the top of the guide. Guests will rewatch it on the first night. This is the same principle behind good self-check-in instructions that guests actually follow: show, don't just tell, and put it where they'll look.

Hookups: water and power, explained for someone who's never done it

This is the section renters read most, so give it room. Break it into the three connections they'll make at a serviced pitch.

Fresh water. Tell them where the inlet is (photo), whether they need the food-grade hose you've supplied, and roughly how long the tank takes to fill. Add the detail everyone forgets: what "city water" or mains pressure connection means versus filling the onboard tank, and which one your van uses. If your rig can run straight off mains pressure at a pitch, say so. If it can't and they need to fill the tank and use the pump, say that instead, in plain words.

Electric hookup (EHU). Name the cable, tell them it lives in the [specific locker], and explain the amperage limit like it matters, because it does. A 16-amp pitch will trip if they run the kettle, the heater, and the toaster at once. Spell out what they can run together and what they can't. One sentence saves you a midnight call about "no power" that's actually just a tripped breaker they don't know how to reset. Then tell them exactly how to reset it.

Gas. Where the bottle is, how to check the level, how to switch bottles if you carry two, and the safety basics: turn it off while driving, know the smell, never use the hob to heat the van. Keep this factual and calm. You're not trying to scare them, you're trying to make sure nobody does something daft.

If any of this feels like a lot to write, it is. But this is exactly the content that turns a nervous first-timer into a five-star review, and reviews are the whole game. We've written separately about how to get more five-star reviews, and the pattern holds here: guests reward hosts who removed the friction before it happened.

Waste tanks: the section that prevents the worst calls

Grey and black tanks are where renters are most anxious and most likely to make a mess, literally. This deserves a proper, step-by-step how-to, not a paragraph.

Write it as numbered steps because that's how people follow instructions under pressure:

Know your two tanks. Grey is sink and shower water. Black is the toilet. Tell them which drains first and why (grey last, so it flushes the hose).
Find a dump station. Point them to apps or sites that map dump points, and mention that most campsites and many service stations have them. Set the expectation that they should empty before the tank is completely full, not after.
Connect the sewer hose. Photo of your hose, photo of the connection point, and a firm reminder to wear the gloves you've provided.
Empty black first, then grey. This is the one thing that matters most and the one thing people get backwards.
Rinse and stow. Where the rinse water is, where the hose goes when it's done, and how to leave it so the next renter isn't inheriting a problem.

Add the two rules that save your plumbing: only ever put RV-friendly, fast-dissolving toilet paper down the black tank, and use the tank treatment sachets you've supplied. A blocked black tank is a genuinely awful day for everyone. A clear paragraph prevents it.

Be honest that this bit is unglamorous. A little acknowledgement ("nobody's favourite job, but it takes five minutes once you've done it once") lowers the anxiety more than pretending it's delightful.

Driving rules, height limits, and the bridge that eats motorhomes

Your renter probably drives a normal car. A motorhome is a different animal, and the guide should say so without lecturing.

Lead with the number that matters most: the vehicle's height, in metres and feet, written large. Then tell them to actually use it. Low bridges and car park barriers are the single most expensive mistake a renter can make, and "I forgot how tall it was" is not a story you want to hear. Suggest a truckers' or motorhome-specific sat nav app that routes around low clearances and weight limits, and explain that Google Maps will happily send a 3-metre van under a 2.5-metre bridge.

Cover the driving basics briefly, because RVshare and others already do this well and you don't need to reinvent it:

Longer stopping distances, so leave more gap than feels natural.
Wide, slow turns to keep the back end off kerbs and posts.
Reversing is a two-person job until you're confident; get a spotter.
Wind matters. A high-sided van in a crosswind on a motorway is a handful. Tell them to slow down.

Then add the local knowledge only you have. Is there a tight lane near pickup where vans get stuck? A ferry with a height-based fare? A city centre they should avoid entirely? This is the stuff that makes your guide worth more than a generic one, and it's the kind of detail that separates a real house manual from a template. Speaking of which, an Airbnb guidebook works on the same logic: the generic advice is table stakes, your specific local knowledge is the value.

Roadside help: what to do when something breaks

Something will eventually break. A tyre, a leisure battery, a fridge that won't cool. Your guide's job is to stop a small problem becoming a ruined trip and a furious message to you at 11pm.

Give them a clear order of operations. First, a troubleshooting list for the common, fixable things: fridge won't run on gas (check the gas is on and the van is roughly level), no 12V power (check the leisure battery isolation switch), water pump silent (check the switch and the tank level), heater not firing (check gas and fuse). Half your "emergency" calls are one of these four, and a guest who can self-diagnose is a happy guest.

Then, the escalation path. Who do they call, in what order? Put the breakdown cover provider and policy number front and centre. Add your own number, and be honest about when to use it versus when to call the breakdown line directly. If you use a digital guide, this is where a searchable format and one-tap phone links earn their place; a guest fumbling for a policy number in a PDF at the roadside is a guest having a bad time. This is also why a digital guidebook beats a printed welcome book for anything mobile: the printed version is sitting on the counter at home when they need it on a hard shoulder.

Campsite booking and etiquette

Renters new to the world often don't know the unwritten rules, and breaking them gets your van a reputation at sites you'd rather stay welcome at.

Explain the practical booking side first: whether they should book pitches ahead (in peak season, yes), the difference between a fully serviced pitch and a basic one, and roughly what a night costs so they can budget. If you have favourite sites near your area, list them. Recommendations feel like a gift, and they nudge renters toward places you know the van will fit and behave.

Then the etiquette, kept light:

Arrive and leave within the site's quiet hours; no reversing beeps at 6am or generators at 11pm.
Keep your pitch tidy and grey water off the grass.
Respect the gap between pitches; nobody wants an awning in their breakfast.
Dispose of waste properly and leave the pitch as you found it.

None of this is complicated, but writing it down means a first-timer doesn't learn it the hard way from an annoyed neighbour. The same courtesy you'd expect a guest to show a physical property, translated to a shared field.

What's provided versus what to pack

Renters constantly ask what they need to bring, and a two-column answer saves a dozen messages. Tell them plainly what's already in the van (bedding, kitchen kit, hoses, levelling blocks, the essentials) and what they should bring themselves (food, toiletries, towels if you don't provide them, walking boots, whatever the trip calls for).

Set this up before arrival, not on the day. A guest who knows the van has a kettle and a decent set of pans packs differently from one who assumes it's bare. This ties into the broader timeline for guest communication: the packing question is a pre-arrival question, so answer it pre-arrival and the whole trip starts smoother.

How to actually deliver the guide

You've written all this. Now, how does the renter get to it at a dump station with rubbish signal?

Not as a printed binder that stays in the van and can't be searched. Not as an email attachment they've lost. The format that works for a moving rental is a mobile web guide, opened by scanning a QR code stuck somewhere obvious inside the van (by the door, near the controls). One scan, no app to install, no password, and it loads on a phone. Stick the QR sticker where they'll see it, and send the same link before arrival so they can read the driving and packing sections at home.

A digital guide also lets you update it without reprinting anything. Change breakdown providers, add a new favourite campsite, fix a confusing instruction: edit once, and every future renter gets the current version. That's the practical case for going digital, and it's the same reason we argue every host benefits from owning their guest relationship rather than renting it from a platform. You can build exactly this kind of mobile, QR-delivered RV guide with GuestIntro, free for a single van, so there's no reason to hand your renter a soggy binder.

Common questions renters ask (put the answers in your guide)

How do I empty the toilet on a campervan?

Take the black tank cassette or connect the sewer hose at a dump station, empty the black tank first, then rinse. Only use fast-dissolving RV toilet paper and the tank treatment provided. Full step-by-step belongs in your guide with photos of your specific van.

What do I need to drive a motorhome in the UK?

For most standard motorhomes under 3,500kg, a normal category B car licence is enough. Heavier vehicles need additional entitlement. State the exact weight and licence requirement for your van in the guide so there's no guessing.

Can I use the hob to heat the campervan?

No. Never use the gas hob or oven to heat the living space. It's a carbon monoxide risk. Point renters to the proper heater and make sure the CO alarm works. This is a safety line worth stating plainly.

Do I need to book campsites in advance?

In peak season, yes, especially for serviced pitches at popular sites. Off-season you can often be more spontaneous. Give renters your local read on this, since you know the area.

The guide is the product

A well-briefed renter drives more carefully, empties the tanks correctly, and comes back with the van in one piece and a five-star review already half-written in their head. A badly briefed one calls you at midnight, dumps grey water on the grass, and leaves a review that mentions "confusing." Same van, same trip, different guide.

Build it around the hard moments, deliver it in a format that works on the road, and keep it current. Do that and you spend less time on your phone answering the same questions, and more time doing the thing you actually wanted: renting out a van and letting people go have an adventure in it. If repeat business matters to you, a smooth first trip is where it starts; here's how to turn one-time guests into repeat bookers once they're back.

RV and Campervan Guest Guides: Briefing Renters Before They Drive Off