Factors to consider before becoming a homestay host in the USA

In this article, you are going to learn about the qualities needed for you to become a homestay host as well as information on what is required, who can be one, things you need to consider before becoming a host, and the general challenges presented by hosting. While there could be advantages to be gained by both the homestay host and the guest, you will need to be totally sure that you are ready to host before you decide to take up the opportunity. Hence, it is important to ensure that you are not planning to become a homestay host for the wrong reasons. It has to be about more than just the money you'll make. You have to consider whether you will be comfortable living with other people in your home, you have the resources to host, and also the permission to host, among other such issues.

Are you comfortable sharing your home?

Finding someone to come and stay in your home could be the answer to your financial challenges, but before you make the decision to become a homestay host, you may want to consider how you feel sharing your space with someone else. It will be important to spend some time thinking about how things turned out before when you shared a room or house with someone else. Apart from considering how you, the decision maker, feel about hosting someone else in your house, you may also want to consider the rest of your family. Hence, the decision to become a Homestay host should be one that is not made just by a single individual, but by everyone who will be affected by sharing the home. The whole process of deciding if this is right for everybody would need planning to ensure that everyone in the family understands what is expected of them. This will assist everybody to prepare themselves and also to understand that there could be challenges living with someone they don't know.

Do you have the time to offer an experience to your guests?

While you may not be expected to be available to your guests all the time, you will need to consider how much time you have available for them. It is important to remember that one of the reasons why your guests are not living in formal facilities like hotels, boarding rooms, and lodges is because they expect the host to provide them with some of their time. It is therefore important to consider what would be normal so that you don't look like you are interfering with your guests' privacy while, on the other hand, you also don't want to ignore them altogether. There is generally no hard and fast rule to this because normally people interact naturally. However, what is important is to ensure that there is a deliberate effort to ensure that the guest does not feel unwanted. Thinking about this will also allow you to filter potential guests based on their expectations before you accept them.

Do you have space?

The issue of space will involve not just deciding whether you have the physical space to host someone, but also making sure that you have the permission from your landlord to sublet. In the event that your lease does not allow you to sublet, you may be in breach of the lease if your landlord knows that you are subletting their property without permission. While it may be easy to think that the landlord will never know, you need to remember you cannot always control the behavior of your guests. Sometimes your landlord may require you to pay a little more if you want to host people. Another important consideration regarding the use of space will be your insurance company. Insurance companies don't like surprises such as hearing that you were hosting someone who smoked and inadvertently started a fire. You may discover you need to pay a business insurance premium if you are hosting people in your home. We will discuss the issue of insurance in more detail later.

Do you have the essentials?

Remember, if you are going to host people in your home, they are going to need things like plates and other utensils. So, if you lock things away for any reason, you may end up causing great inconvenience to your guests who may want something while you are away or at work. If you feel uncomfortable with people using your things, then maybe homestay hosting is not something you want to do. Apart from just having the essentials like linen and kitchen utensils, it's important to consider the state of these utensils or other furniture. You wouldn't want people sleeping on a bed that makes them wake up feeling as if they were sleeping on top of a rock, or a pillow that is too stiff. Of course, this is still your home and there may still be things you do not want your guests to have access to. If this is the case, then you may want to designate a particular closet which is not accessible to the guests and is kept under lock and key. Ensure guests are informed about the reasons why the closet is under lock and key. Also, ensure you inform them they can access everything else which is in the unlocked closets. If guests know where to find things, they will not go through all your stuff just to find basic essentials.

Cleaning

While you may be okay living in a dirty house when you are on your own, once you have guests, this may no longer be okay. Hence, you will need to consider issues related to how the house will be cleaned, dishes washed, and the laundry is done.

Qualities of a good Homestay host

While there is no expectation for you to be perfect, there are certain things required from you if you want to be a good homestay host.

Being a family

Your hosts want to live with a family that has some semblance of order. If you are a group of people living together but eating your meals in different rooms, never talking to each other but always staring at the television or your phones, you are certainly not an example of a good homestay host family.

Have ideas about how to have fun

Proper families love to do activities together such as play games, travel and celebrate special occasions like birthdays. The idea of being a family involves creating happy memories and this is an experience your guests are also looking for. A good homestay family balances work, study, and fun. This is called spending quality time as a family.

Keeping guests safe

Safety is extremely important whether you are hosting a guest or not. It becomes even more important if there are guests staying in your home because an injury may have legal ramifications. Hence, ensure that the guests know the rules. Guests should also have an idea of what needs to be done during an emergency, which numbers to call, and which parts of the area could be dangerous to visit at certain times of the day.

Understand the importance of privacy

Even though the idea is to make the guests feel that they are part of your family, this should not be understood to imply that they no longer have any privacy. A good family does not burden the guests with the obligation to take part in activities they are uncomfortable with such as visiting sick family members in hospital, etc.

Caring

A good host family cares and isn't in it just for the money. This means ensuring that your guests are okay and comfortable. It also means including the guest in the conversation. Caring also means that the family doesn't spend most of the time fighting and arguing in front of guests. In simple terms, it means being respectful and courteous.

Challenges homestay hosts can encounter

It's easy to get excited about all the benefits that being a homestay host can present but like everything else in life, you'll discover that there may be challenges to hosting guests in your home. It's important to know these challenges so that you have an idea of how to deal with them.

Culture

Usually, guests come from different cultures, and embracing cultures from other countries can be a great way of opening up horizons. However, in the event that cultures are not properly managed, this could lead to complications between the host family and the guest. While these differences may not look big in the excitement of the guest staying with the family, if not properly handled they may spiral out of control. Differences in culture mean host families need to be open-minded. It's important that such families are willing to learn about the cultures of the people they accommodate in their home. It's important to do this so that the host has an idea if the cultural differences could be a deal breaker. While there is no need to learn everything about all cultures, it would certainly help to know about cultural differentiation and the strategies that can be used to deal with conflicts of cultural nature.

Unrealistic expectations

Most people coming from outside the United States usually arrive in the country with expectations which are sold by the American media. This could lead to frustration on the part of the guest. Guests may not realize that the images portrayed in the media are actually exceptions to normal life. Another challenge linked to unrealistic expectations is that guests may arrive in America expecting the family they will live with to be the same as the family from which they come. For example, someone may come into the country with the idea that they will live with a family of a certain race only to discover that this isn't the case once they have arrived in the country. Sometimes guests may also arrive in America believing that the host family will be able to spend as much time with them as the guest requires. This could lead to disappointment when the guest finally arrives and discovers that families in the United States are quite busy and don't have unlimited time to help them sightsee. It's important that hosts understand this challenge and are able to explain to their guests how much time they're able to spend with them. Advance planning could be a good way of managing expectations.

Food

Another potential problem between hosts and guests is the issue of food. People arriving in the United States, particularly those from Asian and African countries, generally find the food in the US very different from that consumed in their own country. To ensure that this does not become a challenge, it's important that hosts and guests are open about issues relating to food and how everybody's needs can be accommodated.

Smoking, Pets, and Decency

The issue of smoking should also be addressed as certain families may not accept smoking in their premises at all. There is also a need to agree on the issue of pets and sometimes guests may need to get used to the family pets.

Conclusion

As you can see from the information above, being a homestay host in the USA is both a fun and challenging thing to do. One of the most important things to remember is that, as a family hosting guests, you have to care about more than just the money. The process should involve creating memories for both the guest and yourself.