Top Host Tips

Do everything you can to paint an accurate picture of what a guest can expect. Take pictures, explain the lay of the land and the surrounding area. This will make for a great experience for all if the guest knows exactly what to expect.

Creating a welcome kit for your guest can help enhance their experience at your location. You can make a simple information sheet or you can create a welcome box for your guest. Any information you can provide for them will be helpful and make their stay more enjoyable.

Make sure your guests have a phone number to reach you. Your phone number can be set and changed in your User Profile, accessible from a link on the User Dashboard under your profile picture. From there you can edit your phone number using the blue "Edit" button next to the personal details section.

Try to get a feel from your guests when they arrive. Some guests are simply dead tired, and they want to set up and crash. Others might want to get together around a campfire. The amount of interaction you want to have with your guests is completely up to you but if you can tell a guest is tired, it's best to save the longer conversations for the next day. 

Please be sure to leave a reference once a guest has confirmed their stay. It is important to provide honest feedback so that future hosts know what to expect. Don't want to leave a negative reference? You can always send a private comment and we will handle accordingly.

That leads us to our next important tip, please report any negative guest behavior. All guests sign our courtesy contract and should exhibit common courtesy while staying at your location. If you experience any guest who does not, we want to know about it. Your comment will remain private.

Most people use a GPS while traveling. However, if you know that it's difficult to find your location be sure to include specific directions so your guest doesn't have any trouble getting to your location. Any specific landmarks or identifiers you can use will be helpful. Everyone knows how frustrating it can be to get lost on the road. 

If you have specific rules or expectations of your guests, please state them clearly in your house rules. Each guest is required to accept your house rules when they submit a request, so they are very important in ensuring everyone has a pleasant stay. This includes any expectation you may have for compensation from the guest for use of electric, water, etc. 

Please do not include any personal information on your host profile. Each profile on our site is public, so anyone can see the information. That is why it is important to not use your full name or put your phone number and address on your profile. We want to ensure that no one has your contact information unless you accept a stay request from them. 

Try to remember to update your host calendar when you know you will be away or unable to host. That way you don't have to worry about requests coming through while you are away and possibly receiving a low response rate.

Those are just some of the many host tips we have for being a great host. Do you have other tips we didn't mention? Leave a comment below, we'd love to hear them.