Digital welcome book or Canva PDF: which should you choose?
Canva produces a fixed PDF: perfect for printing, but it has to be redone every time something changes. A digital welcome book is corrected once for everyone and translates itself. Here's how to decide.
Canva is used to build a welcome book as a PDF : fixed, perfect for printing, and to be redone every time something changes. A digital welcome book opens via QR code on the guest's phone, is corrected once for everyone and is translated automatically. A PDF suits occasional letting; go digital as soon as your information starts to move.
What Canva does very well
Canva is an online layout tool, free in its basic version. For designing a welcome book, it delivers on its promises: ready-made templates, a few minutes to get the hang of it, and a clean PDF export. A host who wants pixel-perfect control over the layout can manage it without knowing how to use design software.
The free version is more than enough to produce a welcome book: for this purpose, the Pro subscription adds nothing but extra templates and the brand kit. In other words, price is not what this comparison is about.
The resulting PDF does have one quality the web does not: it prints. For a folder sitting on the living room table, that is exactly what you need.
Where a PDF falls short once the stay has begun
A PDF is a fixed document. That very quality, which makes it good for print, becomes a flaw as soon as the information changes: a wifi code that changes, a bin that moves, a restaurant that closes. You have to reopen the file, correct it, re-export it, then send the new version to every guest who already has the old one. Stays already under way keep the out-of-date version.
The second point of friction is the screen. On StyQR welcome books, 91% of opens come from a phone. Yet a PDF designed in A4 opens in A4: the guest zooms, drags, gets lost. The most common format on the host's side is the least comfortable on the guest's side.
The third is language. 40% of StyQR welcome book opens are in a foreign language. With a PDF, every language means another file to write, correct and resend. Three languages, three documents to maintain in parallel.
The comparison, point by point
The table below compares the two solutions on the criteria that really decide things, once the welcome book is in a guest's hands.
| Criterion | PDF made in Canva | StyQR digital welcome book |
|---|---|---|
| Correcting a piece of information | Reopen, re-export, resend to everyone | You make the change, it's up to date for everyone, immediately |
| Stays already under way | Keep the out-of-date version | See the correction without doing anything |
| Reading on a phone | A4 format to drag and zoom | Web page adapted to the screen |
| Languages | One file per language, to maintain | 14 languages translated from your text |
| Guest access | A file to dig out of their emails | A QR code in the property, a link to share |
| Local recommendations | List written by hand | Geolocated addresses, distances and directions |
| Knowing what gets read | No visibility at all | Views, modules consulted, languages used |
| Printing | Excellent, that's its whole purpose | Poster with QR code to put up in the property |
| Advertised cost | Free | 49 € excl. VAT per year per property |
| Real cost | Your time, with every change | Updates and translations included |
Three cases where a PDF is still the right choice
An honest comparison has to say when the solution it defends is not the right one. A PDF made in Canva remains preferable in three situations.
You let your property for one or two weeks a year. For two stays over the summer, update time simply isn't an issue. A well-made PDF, sent along with the keys, does the job.
You want a printed object. A welcome book on the coffee table, in a house with no decent signal, keeps all its value. And nothing forces you to choose: many of our hosts keep something on paper and display a QR code next to it.
Your information never changes. No access codes, no varying opening hours, no local recommendations: being fixed costs you nothing.
As soon as one of those three points gives way, the sums are reversed.
What each solution really costs
Comparing a free tool with a subscription looks unfair as long as you only count the money. Canva is free in its basic version, and the Pro subscription adds nothing essential for a welcome book. The StyQR digital welcome book costs 49 € excl. VAT per year per property, with reduced rates from 10 properties, and every feature included.
The real comparison is about time. On the PDF side, every change of information means reopening the file, correcting it, re-exporting it, resending it, then starting again for each language. On the digital welcome book side, it's one change, once, visible immediately to everyone, translated automatically.
With one property and two stays a year, the PDF wins. From several stays a month, or several properties, the time spent quickly outweighs the price of the subscription.
Can you keep both?
Yes, and that is what many hosts do. The digital welcome book carries the information that changes: wifi, access codes, opening hours, local recommendations. Paper carries what doesn't change and reassures: a welcome message, the layout of the house, safety instructions.
In that setup, the most useful printed item is not a twenty-page welcome book but a poster with a QR code, put up by the door or near the router. The guest scans it on arrival and finds everything on their phone, in their own language.
Frequently asked questions
Does a digital welcome book really replace paper?
A digital welcome book replaces the folder for everything that changes: wifi, access codes, opening hours, addresses. Many hosts keep a short printed item alongside it, often a poster with a QR code, for the welcome and safety instructions. The two complement each other rather than compete.
Does the guest have to install an app?
No. The StyQR welcome book opens in the phone's browser, after scanning a QR code or tapping a link. There is nothing to download, no account to create, and it works on iPhone as well as Android.
Can you create a welcome book for free?
Canva lets you create a welcome book for free, export it as a PDF and print it. StyQR offers a 14-day trial with no card details required and every feature included. After that, the subscription starts at 49 € excl. VAT per year per property.
How many languages should you plan for?
It depends on your clientele, but the order of magnitude is clear: 40% of StyQR welcome book opens are in a foreign language. English covers a good part of the need, with Spanish, German and Italian filling the gaps depending on the region. On a digital welcome book, translation is done from your own text, with no rewriting.
What happens if I change the wifi code mid-season?
With a PDF, you have to correct the file and resend it: guests already on site keep the old one. With a digital welcome book, you edit the wifi module and the correction is visible immediately, including for stays under way.
Does the QR code work without a connection in the property?
Scanning it opens a web page, so a connection is needed: either the guest's mobile data or your wifi. That's why the wifi code must stay available some other way, for example on the poster itself or in your check-in message.
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