We can’t stress this enough, but preparing your home to welcome your HomeExchange guests is a bit like preparing your home to welcome friends of friends. You’re not a hotel service.
What your guests expect is:
a clean and tidy house or apartment
clean sheets on the beds (unless you’ve agreed on a different arrangement)
a bit of wardrobe space, if possible and necessary, depending on the length of your guests’ stay
And as a bonus:
a small guide to the house, with instructions and recommendations (if you need a template, we have one for you here: Our HomeExchange Guides - HomeExchange )
a welcome note and/or gift (not to be taken for granted!)
To find out more, download our little checklist for hosts here.
And just as a little reminder, we’re all different individuals in this community. Good communication is key both before and during the exchange so don’t be afraid to ask questions and clarify things so that things go as smoothly as possible
I think that home instructions are absolutely necessary and not a bonus. Imagine showing up at a house with no Wi-Fi password, or not knowing where the dishwasher detergent is? Or how to work the thermostat or television set?
I think that a part from the fundamentals (clean bed sheets and towels, Wi-Fi password, emergency numbers, possibly some fresh water when they arrive), it is nice to leave a map of the city, a list of the POI of the neighborhood (meaning: supermarkets, pharmacies and good restaurants and bar) and some advices about things to do that maybe are not well-known.
Clean, clean, clean! Nothing worse to show up to a house that is smelly and not properly cleaned. I use a company that do organising for me before our guests arrive. It’s expensive but so worth it.
I understand it’s not a hotel and will not be absolutely spotless, but it’s a must to leave your house in as good condition as possible for your guests.
I am considering this a homestay and write instructions for main appliances and such like I would for a friend but I was expecting less Short term rental and more a hosting someone in my home. I typically don’t buy gifts for a house guest so to me some of the expectations for HE are confusing.
I have not hosted international guests but one thing that crosses my mind is my instructions are in english and on paper. Is there a place on the site aside from the communication string that we can post house operating instructions so they can translate if needed. This part doesn’t change per visit
I have a document that I update every year. It has:
Instructions on how to use appliances and electronics
Medical emergency info: where to go for Urgent Care and/or hospital
Transportation info and links
Nearest resources: groceries, pharmacy
Local Contact for help or questions
Over the years I have had a plumbing problem once in my place and once in an exchange, a medical emergency where our exchanger needed to get to the hospital,
and a power out in both our place and in an exchange. I cannot stress how important it is to have a local contact for you and your exchanger.
If you open Google Translate in a browser window, you can paste your language on one side and the app will translate it to the language of your choice. Yay for technology!
If you’ ve done your original instructions on the computer you can just copy them onto a translation site and print them out ( I’ve done mine in English, French and Spanish).
Have you noticed the guest type has changed this summer to be expecting more a hotel type service, with needing perfection and making concierge type requests? I say we are not an Airbnb, but the guests this summer seemed to expect Airbnb or Hotel.
Oh I’m sorry to hear this!
One of my priorities for the coming months is to work on better educating newbies who join HomeExchange of our values and our differences with other forms of short-term rentals so I hope it’ll help
