Homestays the alternative accommodation choice for major Philadelphia event
Next year will be an enormously exciting time for the city of Philadelphia when more than a million people from all over the world are expected to visit for a major event attended by Pope Francis.
The World Meeting of Families, the largest Catholic family gathering in the world, is being held in the U.S. for the first time in 2015, and is expected to bring more than 1.5 million travelers to the host city of Philadelphia.
Homestay.com has been selected to provide the alternative accommodation choice for event attendees, as there are simply not enough hotels in the area to meet the expected demand.
Working with the World Meeting of Families event organisers, we have opened a host recruitment platform specifically for their event and we are calling on families in the Philadelphia region to sign up as soon as possible as visitors will soon be planning their trips and need to book their accommodation.
Not only will the homestay option help solve the acute accommodation shortage expected, but it also offers visitors to Philadelphia a one-of-a-kind travel experience. Homestay guests have the opportunity to enjoy a more personalised, immersive and authentic travel experience by staying with hosts that share their interests and who will be present during their stay, offering local insight and tips on how to navigate the city.
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Renee Bowen (pictured above), who lives with her family in the Philadelphia suburb of Wayne, was one of the first people to sign up to host visitors for the event.
She wants to welcome an international guest so her family can have a memorable cultural experience on top of what promises to be a major religious and historical event.
“It’s really a leap of faith,” she said. “I just think there’s going to be so much energy and so much excitement around this. I don’t want to stand on the sidelines and just watch.”
More than 100 families have registered so far, and lots more are needed. The event organisers are asking 10,000 local residents to register to host guests for a moderate fee of $30 to $50 per night.
Word is spreading fast about the homestay programme for this event. Below are just a few examples of the wide media coverage it has generated so far. Please share and help us to spread the word too.
NBC10.com
CBS Philly
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/families-asked-host-visitors-popes-us-trip-27221316
Mashable
http://mashable.com/2014/11/27/philadelphia-pope-visit/
The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/27/philadelphia-families-host-pilgrims-pope-visit
Written by Claire Sweeney
Claire has a long love affair with travel that began as a school student when she travelled to Angouleme in France on an exchange program.
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