Most of us have been renters at some point in our lives. Whether it’s booking holiday accommodation, or long-term renting, we have all been part of the rental market. But renting doesn’t just have to be looked at with the dread of depleting your finances. By renting out your spare bedroom you could instead earn some extra cash.
Homestay.com allows home owners to advertise their spare room on their website. Homestays are an increasingly popular form of accommodation that connects guests with individual hosts who have opened up their homes and rent out their spare rooms. The idea is that someone looking to rent a room can choose from over 15,000 homestay hosts from around the world. Homestay guests are predominantly holiday makers looking for an affordable alternative to hotel accommodation but increasingly homestays are popular with students, professionals, people relocating to a city and event goers.
To be eligible to sign up, you must be living in your home during the guest’s stay. As a Homestay.com host, you should be available to spend a little time with your guests, to make it a truly authentic and unique travel experience. Whether it be a welcoming cup of coffee on their arrival or a sit down and explanation of the amenities nearby, a little will go a long way. You may not realise it, but he advice you can give on your local area or city will be invaluable to a visitor for their stay.
Why host?
Whether it’s family, friends, friends of the family, or exchange students improving their English, we’ve all had guests stay over in our homes at one point or another. While many people are understandably a bit hesitant at letting strangers come and stay with them, there are a number of benefits to becoming a host that are not just monetary. Our hosts tell us that one of the main benefits is the variety of new people they get to meet: as Howard in San Francisco said “the world now comes to visit me,” which is a great way of summarising it.
No two hosting experiences are the same meaning that you are constantly open to new experiences right from your own home. The added income you have can then go towards your savings, or maybe even a holiday of your own. Many of our hosts and guests keep in touch long after their homestay experience so you may well have your own homestay options to choose from!
How to sign up
You will be required to enter some information about yourself, your home and the facilities available to guests on arrival. Then, you just set your room rates, upload some photos of your home and yourself, and you’re ready to go. Prices can be set per night, per week or per month, depending on how long you want your guests to stay. Once your listing is live, you can easily amend your availability dates for when you do and don’t want guests to stay. Potential guests can send you a booking request via our secure messaging system and based on your conversation and availability, you can chose to accept and host them, or decline their request. It really is that easy.
Sign up now and become part of the homestay host community.
This would be a far less creepy way to find rooms than on Craigslist. I mean, Craigslist isn’t bad but it has some questionable ads. A dedicated site would be a much smarter way to find avail. rooms.
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