Frequently asked Questions

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General Questions / Registration

Is membership free?

Yes the membership is free. The open source website is run by BeVolunter a non-profit organisation of volunteers who created BeWelcome to promote "friendship and better understanding across boundaries" and not for personal gain.

I am a new member. How can I be sure that other members from BeWelcome are trustworthy?

Here are the features at your disposal to improve the safety on BeWelcome network.
* the Friends network
* the Comment system
* the Verification system

Of course, your own judgment is the your best security. If you are nervous about hosting or meeting someone, just don't do it.

Can anybody become a member of BeWelcome?

Yes. Everybody who likes to travel, wants to share stories of their adventures, and would like to meet interesting people is invited to signup for BeWelcome. This website is a significant resource for travel information and provides many tools that can help you to plan your next trip or document a previous journey. BeWelcome is also a great way to meet friendly and like-minded people from all over the world.

If during the sign up process you are not accepted due to your age, please contact us and we will try to find a solution.

Is joining free of charge? How can you provide a service like this without a membership fee?

Joining BeWelcome is free of charge. However, we encourage you to dedicate some time, if you can, and contribute to the community through hosting, meeting other members or helping to run the site.

Although the website is completely run by volunteers, we do have some costs (servers etc.). We hope to cover those costs through donations. We also have an online shop where you can buy some souvenirs or presents for your hosts, family, friends ... BeWelcome is a non-profit project, so all generated income is only used to pay for the bills.
See: How is this project financed?

I am very interested in joining, can you tell me how does this work?

BeWelcome is an hospitality exchange network.
It's very simple: Everyone on the network has a profile. Members can look for profiles of other members in their destination of travel, check out their profile and if they wish, send a message to that person. Most members in BeWelcome offer hospitality to travellers and/or can show you nice spots. If that sounds good to you, sign up, fill in the form and submit it.
You will need to give your email address as well as your physical address. Though both are required to sign you up, your email address will be invisible to other members by default and your address and real name will be accessible only by registered members. Of course, they can also be hidden. We will immediately send an email to the email address you supplied and ask you to confirm your registration.
You can browse the site straight away, but will not yet have access to other members' profiles nor be able to use some tools. That's because all new profiles must be approved by volunteers. Which should only take a few hours (or a few days if volunteers are traveling themselves :) ).

Is your service intended for families as well as individuals?

Yes, of course! We do ask people to sign up individually, since every profile is associated with one member, so the information about hobbies, interests, gender etc. does not get too confusing.

It means we don't have family accounts, but we encourage families to join and use BeWelcome. You can even show you are a family by adding a relation to your partner or children.

We also have a group you can join called Families where you can find other families using BeWelcome or members willing to host / meet families!

Why are couples required to register separately?

First of all, it is difficult to keep profiles 'clean' if they refer to multiple persons. Secondly, groups often travel or host separately and therefore need individual profiles in order to clarify contact information and comments written about individuals.

We also have taken into account the experience of Servas, a hospitality website that has had many problems when couples split.

We therefore have decided to ask people to sign up for individual accounts if they both want to log into the site. You can show your relation with your partner or roommate. Thus your profile picture will be connected to your friend or partner's profile and vice versa. Still, you will have two independent accounts for practical purposes.

I have a second address and I can also host there. How can I inform other members about this?

At the moment you can only be listed with one address. You could add your second address to your profile summary and thus inform people about it. Please be aware, however, that you cannot be found in the city's list of your second address. In the long run we hope to be able to provide a better solution than that.

How can I get information about my potential hosts or guests? What is my protection against criminals coming to visit me?

Of course we cannot guarantee your safety. However by reading the profile of the member carefully and also comments that other members wrote, you can make an informed decision whether to trust this member or not. If there has been any really serious complaint about a member, we will either put a warning on that profile or remove this member from BeWelcome. We will not tolerate abuse to this site or to our members. If you are a woman, you might want to take a look at this information for female travellers. For additional security, we have a verification system. So, if on a profile it says 'Checked Identity', the chances that the registered name is not real is very low.

Will other members be able to see all my personal data?

BeWelcome allows you to decide for yourself what kind and how much information you want to make visible on your profile. The only required information that will be made visible on your profile is your user name and the city and country you reside. You can hide your real name (or part of your real name), address, birth date and even your gender. Since your email address will not be displayed for spam and other security reasons, members have to contact you through the site. All other display information is optional.

However, keep in mind that the site is about making connections between real people and most people are very hesitant to reply to or contact users with empty profiles. For this reason, we recommend that your profile adequately presents your personality without revealing your private information such as your address or phone number.

Is there a way to speed up the signup process? I would like to use the site as soon as possible.

Normally our signup process is quite fast. If you are having problems, please contact us and we can check your status and tell you what is missing.

I have lost my password. What can I do?

Get a new password here.

A new password will then be sent to your mail account. Please change the password soon to prevent abuse and to make sure you will remember your password more easily.

What is hospitality exchange?

Hospitality Exchange, also known as accommodation sharing, Hospitality services, and home stay networks, often refers to centrally organised social networks of individuals who trade accommodation without monetary exchange. While the concept of free accommodation could also include house swapping or even time share plans, it is associated mostly with travellers and tourists staying with one another free of charge. Polish sociologist Paula Bialski even calls it "emotional tourism", because meeting locals indeed involves a lot of emotions and maybe this is exactly how it differs from the mainstream package tour.
Since the 1990s, these services have increasingly moved away from using printed catalogues and telephone lines, but members often use Internet websites. These have grown exponentially since 2000 and as of March, 2007 over 500,000 people are registered users of these networks, which vary in operational structure, layout and geographic focus.

However, Hospitality Exchange offers much more than just free accommodation. Some members do not offer a place to stay, but instead provide dinner, a guided tour, tourist information or will help find a cheap hostel or alternative means of accommodation. Also those travellers who face most difficulties - like people with disabilities - find great opportunity and help in networks like BeWelcome, where members can both invite travellers with wheelchairs (according to the accessibility of their place) and use the search function to find the very same hosts.

Motivation and quality of social networking
Why do people join social hospitality exchange networks? The basic motivating factors for membership - and they very much influence the quality of later social exchange - include:

to meet interesting, open minded, people
to meet locals and to gain an insider view
to save money through the offer of free accommodation
the wish for flexibility and freedom of choice when travelling
to get contacts, pursue effective networking
to improve language skills

Factors influencing the quality of exchange within Hospitality and culture exchange networks
Based upon those motivations the main factors which influence the quality of exchange have been identified to be:

the need to be ready and willing for interaction with other members
a friendly approach of members resulting in interest and curiosity
the mutual seriousness and effort put into the process of establishing contact between two members
an open and positive atmosphere within the network
an un-judgmental approach towards other cultures
A common ground facilitating successful communication

Opportunity, risk and limitations
But what are the opportunities, risks and limitations of how Hospitality Exchange Networks can influence the quality of social exchange between host-guest relationships?
The opportunities include:

to discover culture and traditions through the eyes of a local
an understanding of cultures which can remove stereotypes and misunderstandings
broadening of education
promoting peace
make people care about situations and conflicts in other cultures
make them realise differences and help overcome them

The risks include:

incomprehension, misunderstanding and stereotype thinking based on individual experiences with members
generalisation of culture according to experience
‘Black sheep’ abusing the network (burglary, spam or dating)
failure to cope with confrontation of different habits and customs

The limitations include that:

Hospitality Exchange networks mainly address open-minded and curious people
a high level of tolerance is needed
members are not representative for entire culture
access may be excluded to some part of the community : lack of technical equipment, financial resources, old people, social prejudices

(taken from a bachelors dissertation written by BeWelcome member kiwiflave).

BeWelcome: one project, many target groups
BeWelcome is a project open to many different interest groups and backgrounds. Leisure travellers, ex-pats and business travellers, scientists, local communities and the tourism industry as a whole - all take advantage of BeWelcome.

You want to know more?
BeWelcome Mission Statement
BeWelcome - a new way of travelling? Wikipedia about Hospitality exchange.

List of significant Hospitality Exchange Communities

BeWelcome

Couchsurfing
GlobalFreeLoaders
Hospitalityclub

Servas