FAQs Page

General Questions / Registration

• I am very interested in joining, can you tell me, how this works?
• Can anybody become a member of BeWelcome?
• I have a second address and I can also host there. How can I inform other members about this?
• Is joining free of charge? How can you provide a service like this without a membership fee?
• 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?
• Is your service intended for families as well as individuals?
• Why are couples required to register separately?
• I have lost my password. What can I do?
• Is there a way to speed up the signup process? I would like to use the site as soon as possible.
• Hospitality exchange or just free accommodation?

Using the Site: Profile

• How can I change my profile?
• Can I ask help to translate my profile?
• I have seen that several people have a profile in different languages. How does this work?
• How can I change my physical address or email address?
• How can I hide/unhide my name or physical address?
• How can I upload a photo to my profile?
• How can I change my password?
• Who owns pictures that I uploaded to BeWelcome (e.g. profile picture or pictures in the Gallery)
• How can I change or delete my profile picture(s)?
• How can I change my user name?
• 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?
• What is a group?
• I would like to promote BeWelcome by adding a link to the signature of my email. How do I do that?

Using the Site: Contact

• How can I contact another member?
• How can I find other members' email addresses?
• How can I see all the messages I’ve sent through the BeWelcome site?
• How can I delete messages in my BeWelcome inbox?
• What is spam?
• How can I find out whether messages sent to several members were considered spam?
• Can I contact members in languages other than English?
• Do I have to provide my phone number? I don't like being contacted by phone at all.
• Can I display my email address in my profile?
• Can I stop messages from going to my email account? For me it's enough to read them on the website itself.
• I'm looking for travel companions. Can you help me?
• Are there older people using BeWelcome? How do I find them?
• I have found a dead link / other problem on the site. What can I do?

Using the Site: Accommodation

• How do I find accommodation?
• How can I contact another member?
• How long can I stay with my hosts? Will my host be able to accommodate more guests?
• What is the usual duration of hospitality? Is there a minimum period of time hosts should be able to accommodate guests?
• I need a last minute host (for today or tomorrow) what can I do?
• I need accommodation for a month or longer, can you help me?
• Can you help me find a family to host my child for one year?
• A member has contacted me and arranged a date for his stay with me. He never turned up, however, nor did he notify me of any changes in his plans.

Using the Site: Cool Tools

• How does the Blog tool work?
• How does the Forum work?
• What is the "Add a relation" tool?
• How does the Chat work?
• What is a "Blog"?
• What is a group?
• How can I add a new group to the list of groups available?
• What are "tags"?

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?
• How can I leave BeWelcome? How to delete my profile?

BeWelcome organisation in general

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