—PreArrive vs. GuestView Guide
GuestView Guide lives inside the property, on the screen the guest sees during the stay. PreArrive lives before the door, in the signature the guest gives before check-in. They sit at opposite ends of the trip, so the honest comparison is about timing, not features.
01What GuestView Guide is good at
GuestView Guide is an in-property display, and a genuinely nice one. It turns a smart TV or a tablet in the rental into a branded welcome screen: the WiFi code, checkout steps, how the hot tub works, house info, and local recommendations, all on a screen the guest is already looking at. It can surface a mid-stay upsell and cut the flood of "where is the…" texts. If your aim is a polished in-stay experience that guests see without installing anything, that is its lane.
PreArrive is not a display and not a guidebook. It exists for the moment after something goes wrong (a damaged item, an extra guest, a denied claim) when you need to show the guest agreed to a rule or a fee. A screen in the living room shows the guest the rule. It does not capture that they accepted it, before arrival, in a record you can hand to a reviewer.
02What PreArrive is
An in-room display is a during-stay surface: the guest is already inside when they read it. That is perfect for the WiFi code and the checkout list. It is the wrong moment for a fee, because a guest who is already in the house has not agreed to anything, they have just been shown it.
PreArrive does one narrow job the display cannot: it gets each guest to read, tap through, and sign your rules and itemized fees before check-in, and returns a PDF certificate with a drawn signature, line-by-line acknowledgment, a two-event audit trail, and a content hash. If a dispute escalates, that certificate is the document you attach, and its timestamp lands before the guest ever picked up the remote.
The two columns above are not a win-and-lose chart. They are two different products. GuestView Guide is built for one job; PreArrive is built for another. Reading them side by side just makes the line between the two jobs clear.
03When each is right
Neither tool replaces the other. A welcome screen makes the stay smoother; a signed acknowledgment makes a fee defensible. Plenty of hosts want both, at opposite ends of the same trip.
You want guests to find the WiFi and checkout steps without texting you
The right toolGuestView Guide: an in-room screen is exactly the right surface for that.
You want a record that the guest agreed to your rules and fees before arrival
The right toolPreArrive: a display shows information during the stay; it does not capture pre-arrival consent.
A guest broke a rule and you need documentation for an AirCover or insurance file
The right toolPreArrive: the PDF certificate is built to be that document.
You want a slick in-stay experience and a defensible paper trail
The right toolBoth: the display carries the stay, the signed packet carries the file.
PreArrive is the pre-arrival acknowledgment layer, not an in-room display. Free covers one property, no credit card.
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