Signage for Holiday Lets and Airbnbs: House Rules, What the Law Requires, and the Kit Every Property Needs

A holiday let needs more signage than a hotel room and far less than a hotel. Because no one is on site to answer questions, signs do the job a receptionist would: WiFi, house rules, bins, keys, check-out, what to do if the alarm goes off. Two of them touch the law — fire safety, and in Wales, smoking. Everything else is your house rules, and the sign is simply how guests find out about them. Here is the full kit, room by room.

The legal duty most hosts do not know they have

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to any space rented to a paying guest that is not their permanent home — a cottage, a flat, a converted barn, a shepherd's hut. As the host, you are the responsible person.

What changed recently is the paperwork. Until 1 October 2023, very small premises did not have to record their fire risk assessment. Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 removed that exemption, so every holiday let now needs a written fire risk assessment, even a single cottage let for one night. The Government publishes free guidance written for exactly this scale — Making your small paying-guest-accommodation safe from fire — which covers single premises of up to two floors sleeping a maximum of ten people, and extends to pods, huts, lodges and caravans. It applies to England; Wales publishes separate guidance.

Where signage fits in is narrower than sellers tend to suggest. The guidance is explicit that fire escape signs are needed only where the escape route is not obvious to someone unfamiliar with the building — in most cottages it is the front door. What is always required is that guests are told what to do if the alarm sounds, which is usually a notice in the welcome folder or by the door rather than a mandated sign format. Where a genuine escape sign is needed, it must be a standard green pictogram sign from a safety supplier. An engraved wooden sign is not a fire exit sign, and we do not make them.

Our free fire safety signage pack is a printable reference for checking what a property already has.

Smoking: Wales and England are different

This one catches hosts on both sides of the border.

In Wales, all self-contained holiday accommodation — cottages, caravans, chalets, flats let for holiday purposes — has been smoke-free by law since 1 March 2022, when the exemption under the Smoke-free Premises and Vehicles (Wales) Regulations 2020 lapsed. A no-smoking sign is not required in self-contained accommodation, but the ban applies whether or not you display one, so a sign is a courtesy that reinforces a legal fact rather than a house rule you invented.

In England, there is no equivalent. A self-catering property is treated as a dwelling while let, so its smoking policy is your own house rule — which is exactly why it needs to be visible, because it has no law behind it. Our no smoking or vaping sign covers the vaping question hosts get asked far more often than the smoking one.

House rules: the sign that does the most work

Nobody reads a laminated A4 sheet of twelve rules. A house rules sign works when it says three or four things, in the guest's line of sight, at the moment the rule applies — the bin rule by the bin, the hot tub rule by the hot tub, the shoes-off rule at the door. One well-placed short sign beats one long one every time.

The wording that earns its place on most properties: check-out time and where to leave keys; what happens to bins and recycling; a noise or neighbour note where it matters; and whatever your property specifically needs — no shoes upstairs, hot tub cover on after use, please close the gate. Our custom message hanging sign takes any wording in four sizes, and the freestanding custom text blocks suit a worktop or windowsill where nothing can be fixed to the wall.

The kit, room by room

Entrance. A welcome sign with the property name sets the tone and confirms guests have the right door. Where the entrance is not obvious from the parking, direction signs with an arrow save the phone call.

WiFi. The single most-asked question in any let. A WiFi password sign with a QR code connects guests without typing, and it stays put — unlike the card that ends up in a drawer. A solid oak QR block can point at WiFi, your welcome guide or a local recommendations page.

Kitchen. Bin day and recycling rules are the house rule most often broken and the one that costs you most when it is. A short custom sign by the bin does more than a paragraph in the folder.

Bedrooms and bathroom. Room signs matter in larger lets where guests are choosing beds, and toilet signs in a property with several doors off a landing. For a B&B rather than a self-catering let, the room and facility signs and door hangers are the hotel kit at a single-property scale.

Dog-friendly properties. Dog-friendly lets book faster and attract the guests who most need clear rules. A well-behaved dogs welcome sign at the door, and no dogs on furniture or no dogs upstairs where the rule applies, prevents the conversation nobody wants to have at check-out.

Old buildings. A please mind your head sign on the low beam is the cheapest insurance in a cottage, and guests remember the one they were warned about.

Keys and check-out. The key that goes home in a guest's pocket is a changeover-day disaster. A Please Return This Key keyring in XL oak, or FSC-certified Moso bamboo (certificate RINA-COC-001256), is 200×80mm — too big to pocket by accident — and engraves with the property name and a phone number. Engraved oak key fobs take the property name where a numbered system is not needed.

Outside. Oak veneered MDF is for indoor use only. Where a sign will live outside — a gate, a bin store, a parking bay — the same custom wording is available in FSC-certified bamboo, which handles weather provided it is fixed so it cannot swing. Our guide to what survives outdoors covers this in detail.

Ordering for one property or twenty

There is no minimum order — a single cottage can order exactly the six or eight signs it needs. Every item takes personalisation: property name, wording and logo go in the personalisation box, and our free design service checks artwork before anything is cut. Managing several properties, or a whole-portfolio refresh, reaches the 20-unit threshold quickly, at which point bulk discounts apply automatically across the order regardless of how many addresses it covers. Made to order in our workshop in North Wales.

All items are made to order. Dispatch time is shown at checkout. UK orders via Royal Mail Tracked 24. International via Royal Mail International Tracked.

Frequently asked questions

Does a holiday let need a fire risk assessment?
Yes, and since 1 October 2023 it must be written down, whatever the size of the property. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to any accommodation let to paying guests, and the host is the responsible person. The Government's small paying-guest-accommodation guide is the starting point for properties of up to two floors sleeping ten.

Do I need fire exit signs in a holiday cottage?
Only where the escape route is not obvious to someone who does not know the building. What is always needed is telling guests what to do if the alarm sounds. Where a real escape sign is required, it must be a standard green pictogram sign — not an engraved wooden one.

Can guests smoke in my holiday let?
In Wales, no — self-contained holiday accommodation has been smoke-free by law since 1 March 2022, whether or not a sign is displayed. In England it is your own house rule, so it needs to be visible to be enforceable.

What should a house rules sign say?
Three or four things at most, placed where each rule applies: check-out time and key return, bins and recycling, and whatever your property specifically needs. Long lists are not read. Short signs in the right spot are.

Is there a minimum order for a single property?
No. Order exactly what one cottage needs. Bulk discounts apply from 20 units for hosts managing several properties.

Can I use the same signs outdoors?
Not in oak veneered MDF, which is indoor only. The same wording is available in FSC-certified bamboo for outside, fixed rigidly so it cannot swing in wind.

Also see: the full hospitality range, our complete guide to wooden hotel supplies, the door hangers guide for B&Bs, and free bilingual Welsh and English signs for properties in Wales.