Hospitality exchange is a kind of program that let travelers connect with the local residents in cities they are visiting. It is another term for home stay where the travelers get to live with a local in their house for a definite amount of time. When travelers have found the right kind of person to stay with for their home stay program, they will be able to live there for free or for a cheaper fee compared to living in hotels in which it can get very expensive.
This option has its own pros and cons and the most obvious reason for the former is the cheap costs compared to other forms of lodging. The most important advantage that a traveler can get from this program is that they are able to learn about another person's social classes and culture and seeing the area of your choice from their own perspective. The disadvantages you get though are the restrictions it imposes on the traveler such as schedule for leaving and arriving at home, lesser privacy and awkwardness between the guest and the host that makes the vacation feeling unpleasant. The ones that really get a lot of home stays or hospitality exchange are foreign exchange students in which they choose to have the home stay program rather than going with dormitories or hotels. It is important for the traveler to stick to the rules imposed by their host.
Home stay network is a group that organizes such programs. Below are some of the organizations that connect the host and guest, each differing in requirements for restrictions:
- The biggest organization is the CouchSurfing Project, founded in the month of January, year 2004. It first started as a non-profit organization but became a for-profit in the year 2011.
- Hospitality Club used to be the biggest home stay network project website that was founded in the year 2000. Becoming members were free and each of them is verified by volunteer team.
- Zotel provide a $40 per night lodging around the world with certain quality standards and trust is built with it through the connections between the hosts and the guests.
- GlobalFreeloaders had over 30,000 members at the month of December, year 2005 where they presented Australia well.
Before you contact any of the home stay networks, be sure to do an extensive research about their group or may end up with a host that will make your vacation unpleasant.