FAQs Page

General questions & registration

• How does BeWelcome work? What is it all about and how can I join?
• Is joining free of charge? How can you provide a service like this without a membership fee?
• Can anybody become a member of BeWelcome?
• Is your service intended for families as well as individuals?
• Are couples required to register separately?
• How can I be sure that other members of BeWelcome are trustworthy? How can I get information about my potential hosts or guests? What is my protection against criminals coming to visit me?
• Will other members be able to see all my personal data?
• I have just signed up for BeWelcome but I have not received a confirmation e-mail and cannot log in to my account. Can you help me?
• I have a second address and I can also host there. How can I inform other members about this?
• I have lost my password. What can I do?
• I heard that BeWelcome is an open source project. Where can I find the source and more information about that?
• What is hospitality exchange?

Using the site: profile

• What should I write on my profile?
• How can I change my profile?
• How can I change my user name?
• How can I change my e-mail address or physical address?
• How can I hide/unhide my name or physical address?
• How can I change my password?
• How can I upload, change or delete my profile picture?
• Who owns pictures that I uploaded to BeWelcome? (e.g. profile picture or pictures in the Gallery)
• What is the purpose of comments, and how do I submit a comment about another member?
• Can comments be edited?
• Can I write a comment on myself?
• How can I add friends to my profile?
• How can I add a family member or close friend to my profile?
• What are groups and how do they work?
• I have seen that some people have a profile in different languages. How does this work?
• How can I leave BeWelcome? How to delete my profile?

Using the site: contact

• How can I contact another member?
• How can I find other members' e-mail addresses?
• Can I display my e-mail address on my profile?
• Do I have to provide my phone number?
• Can I contact members in languages other than English?
• Where can I see the messages that I have sent through the BeWelcome website?
• How can I delete messages from my BeWelcome inbox?
• Can I stop messages from going to my e-mail account? For me it's enough to read them on the website.
• I'm looking for travel companions. Can you help me?
• Are there any older people using BeWelcome? How can I find them?

Using the site: hosting and being hosted

• How do I find a host?
• How can I contact another member?
• How long can I stay with my host?
• Is there a minimum period of time hosts should be able to host guests?
• Will my host be able to host more than one guest?
• I need a last minute host (for today or tomorrow). What can I do?
• I need a host for a month or longer, can you help me?
• A member has contacted me and arranged a date for his stay with me. He/she never turned up though, nor did he/she notify me of any changes in his plans. What should I do?

Using the site: cool tools

• What is the "BeWelcome Forum" and how does it work?
• What are groups and how do they work?
• How can I add friends to my profile?
• What is a “blog”?
• How does the blog tool work?

Using the site: bugs, problems, abuse

• I have found a dead link, a weird profile or another problem on the website. What should I do?
• I found a profile that does not comply to the rules and the values of the site (e.g. there is a link to a pornographic website). Can you remove this?

BeWelcome organisation in general

• How is BeWelcome organised?
• How is this project financed?
• How can I help BeWelcome?
• Do I need to become a member of BeVolunteer in order to volunteer for BeWelcome?