Our homestays are booked by tourists, professionals, university students, language students, interns, gap-year travellers and volunteers. You decide who stays with you and when, as guests must request to stay with you first. You can get to know them before accepting them to stay using our messaging system and video call feature to ask more questions.

For those hosts availing of our Standard payment option, the guest pays a 15% booking fee (maximum fee of 250 $£€) of the price of stay to confirm the booking. You’ll receive the price of the stay directly from the guest on arrival. You should include in your homestay profile how you would like to be paid, for instance by bank transfer, cash, PayPal or another payment method. We also recommend that you communicate with your guests after the booking is made and prior to their arrival and confirm your preferred payment method with them. Some hosts (depending on your country and currency) can avail of our Deposit payment option. If you sign up to this option, guests must pay 25% of the price of the stay and the 15% booking fee to confirm the booking. This 25% deposit payment is paid to you 2 business days after the scheduled arrival date. The time it takes for the funds to arrive in your account depends on your bank. There is a small host service fee (3% of deposit/minimum charge 1 $£€) for availing of this option to cover the transaction fees (credit card fees, bank transfer fees and currency conversion fees). This fee will be automatically deducted from the payment made to you. The payments are made via a third party service provider, Payoneer. Please note with either payment option selected you can still request guests to make a full or part payment in advance of arrival. These payments should be made by bank transfer or PayPal at your agreed time with the guest. You must include this on your homestay profile along with your cancellation conditions. The guest must be fully aware of this before they complete the booking online.

A host lives in every homestay listed on Homestay.com. We don't list entire homes. We understand that you won't be there all the time, but we ask that you always welcome and orientate your guests. Just like there are different kinds of guests - tourists, students, business travellers, people relocating for work and solo travellers - there are varying kinds of hosts too. Some hosts like to be a personal tour guide and cook for their guests, others are busy professionals renting their room long term and let guests do their own thing. Whatever kind of host you plan to be, make sure it’s clear in your listing as it's important guests know what to expect.

Accidents can happen anytime, anywhere, so for peace of mind you want to be prepared. Please check with your insurance provider to ensure you are covered for renting out a room in your home.

You set the room price you want to charge guests. If you are unsure about how much you should charge, we recommend that you look at other rooms listed in your area on Homestay.com to see what other hosts charge or contact us for advice. Consider how much you’d feel would be reasonable to ask a guest to pay while allowing you to make some money. Remember, the price you set is the price the guest will pay you. Homestay.com charges the guest a 15% booking fee which is calculated on top of the price of stay. Any other extras you want to charge for, such as laundry service or cleaning fee, are a separate arrangement between you and your guest, but you must disclose these potential charges on your listing so guests are aware of these before they book. We see demand for long-term bookings so we encourage you to add weekly & monthly prices. Lots of our guests are individuals so it's a good idea to set a reasonable single occupancy price too.