Being a good guest

General considerations

• Try to appreciate the time, money and effort spent on your behalf
• Gifts: gifts are not mandatory, since the idea behind a hospex is to stay at someone's place for free. However, something typical from your country, the offer of cooking a meal, or a nice picture of your hometown cost you nothing and rarely go amiss.
• Money: You should be able to pay for your travel-related expenses, since host should not be expected to provide anything except a place to stay for the night. If your host provides you with meals, entertainment, or transportation, offer to share the expenses. If your host does not accept payment, pay her/him back in some other form like cooking a meal, doing the dishes, helping her/him with something, sharing skills, etc.
• Try to be aware of cultural differences
• Avoid asking unnecessary personal questions
• If your host has children, do not be derogatory, impatient or dismissive toward them

Before arriving

• Communicate clearly with your host about when you are going to arrive and leave
• Make sure you know how to reach your host's place or wherever you agreed to meet
• Exchange alternative mean of contacts (cellphone, email, etc.)
• Try to be on time if you arranged a specific timeframe

During your stay

• Schedule: adapt to your host's schedule and organize yours to to have some time to spend with her/him
• Be as tidy and use the least space possible: try to keep all your belongings in a single spot - that would also help you to find them when is time to pack!
• Plan to be self-sufficient for meals. Your host may invite you to share their meals, but there's no obligation to do so. If that's the case, offer to help in some way: buying groceries for the meal, washing dishes, taking part in the preparation, etc. Do not insult your host's cooking
• If you have specific dietary requests, make sure to inform you host in advance (or even put them in your profile)
• PC and Telephone: Don't use your host's computer or telephone unless he/she gives you explicit permission. Offer to pay for all phone calls. Don't download any program onto their computer. Check to see if they prefer the computer logged off, shut-down, or left on when you finish using it.
• Be social and communicative: do not ignore your hosts and other guests, do not whisper, and don't always speak a language your hosts don't understand
• Say thank you

When leaving

Clean up after yourself. Just clean up a little bit more than you think you made, since you will probably forget to clean up some other things.

After leaving

Leave a comment: hospitality exchange works because people can trust others. That's why it's important to leave a comment. If you have a bad experience, this is even more important, although it might be more difficult. Just remember that other hospitality exchangers depend on you leaving comments.