6 things to verify before becoming a house guest

Planning a trip to a new country or you are a student visiting on an exchange program, while looking out for accommodation, many a times you are offered stay-ins as house guest. These house hosts are registered with the government, educational institutions or travel operators, to host travelers for a short duration. However, since they are not known from beforehand, the question of security and transparent etiquette remains. Here’s how you can verify before agreeing to be a house guest.

What should you keep in mind before accepting an invitation to become a house guest?

Here are six things that you must not forget before sealing the deal for being a house guest.

Look up their official registration: Any family who offers space in their house to accommodate house guest must be legally registered with an agency to be eligible to host guests. Always check up the list and see reviews or feedbacks of their hosting. This assures that they are genuine hosts and that you would be safe with them.

Verify from people: If you are part of an exchange program, then you can discuss your stay with previous batch – members and find out their experience. More than looking up anything online, word of mouth still has validity, even today.

Be transparent about schedule: Remember you are staying at someone’s home, thus it would be mandatory from your end to be crystal clear about your plans. Always make a written agreement of your stay along with agreed upon dates, duration, meals (if any) etc. Sometimes, hosts go an extra mile and organise meals, events and even day outs for their guests. If your schedule is too restricted, make sure to inform beforehand.

Respect house rules: Every house has certain rules. When you are living in a house as a guest, check what rules are applicable. Mostly these include time of breakfast, time of arrival at night, choice of meal – vegetarian, non-vegetarian or vegan etc. Once you know these, respect them.

Back-up for emergency situations: Even though no one would want to get stuck in an emergency situation, but always verify if your host would be in a position to help you out during emergency situations. If you have to extend your stay, inform of such a possibility beforehand or check if they have immediate commitments after you leave and it would be a hindrance if you prolong your stay. Also, request them for emergency contact numbers including legal authorities, hospital, fire-fighter stations etc.

Check on the neighbourhood: Before agreeing to put up in someone's house try to gauge what neighbourhood they stay. How far or near would it be to your daily destinations. Also, check on with them if the neighbourhood community would be comfortable with your presence for a short time so that you dont have to face any adverse situations later on.

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