I will be traveling to Italy for three months this fall. My plan is to stay as cheaply as possible using only the lowest cost hostels, the servas program, and or couch surfer.org. I've come across this website: http://www.homestaybooking.com
which lists individuals who will offer a room in their home for a variety of prices. The low costs and the opportunity to stay with an Italian family (meaning cultural and linguistic immersion) for me is very attractive. Anyone heard of or used this? Could this be a scam?
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34133 posts
Lacel Sounds like fun. Have you got your visa sorted out? The visa waiver program under the Schengen agreement allows you no more than 90 days in any 180 in all of the Schengen counties together. Italy is one of those. If you stay 91 you risk severe penalties. You may be planning your 3 months to be less than 90, if so hurrah. If you are planning 91 or more you will need to either alter your plans or obtain a different visa. My impression is the servas program basically involves room and board in exchange for (unpaid) work. Many immigration departments frown on visitors working as they believe it may be depriving Europeans of the work. You will need to prove sufficient funds and airline tickets to not rely on the State.
Posted by
Lake Forest, CA, USA
1633 posts
You could also look into staying at a monastary.
Posted by
Tinton Falls, NJ
792 posts
Lacei, I am familiar with "home exchange" where you swap homes with people and I find that a wonderful way to travel. I'm not familiar with "home stay" but I took a look at the website. What concerned me is that they do indicate that the host will make money on the arrangement, but I don't see anywhere where it explains how that financial arrangement works - that concerned me. I would try to find positive reviews about it before considering it. With the home exchanges, absolutely no money changes hands between exchange families and the website only gets a small annual fee for the website membership.
Posted by
Vancouver, WA, USA
1 posts
This site certainly looks legitimate to me, and when I searched for negative reviews, I could find nothing. Also, they do give details about how payment works. You basically pay 10% via credit card using the website, then pay the people you are staying with directly when you arrive. You also have the chance to contact the family in advance and do back and forth communications before you book. Given they have hundreds of people in multiple countries you could contact, it is much too involved to be a hoax. It sounds very promising to me, and I am likely to try this out sometime in the future. Below is info copied from the website with details on how payment, etc, works. Step 3 You have agreed with a family the conditions and price of your stay with them. If each party is happy, you can make your booking online or upon request. Booking and payment procedure: To block the periods you have chosen, you are requested to pay homestaybooking a deposit of 10% of the total amount of your stay. via a credit card (VISA/MASTERCARD)
via PayPal (www.paypal.com) Step 4 Once the booking has been confirmed by the family, both of you will receive respective private contact details in order to organise your trip. When you arrive at destination, you will pay directly the balance of 90% to your host family.