Couchsurfing is a time-honored tradition that allows those young, or young at heart, to explore the world without worrying about sleeping arrangements.

Being a couchsurfer has its own blend of problems and issues, but being the host to couchsurfers is another deal altogether!

Today we are gonna go over some of the basics on how to be a good host. This will help you form a great foundation for all manner of guests.

The Key on How to Be a Good Host

When someone is couchsurfing, they focus on travel and don’t stay in one place for long. That is why hosting them is often for a single night or two, so it isn’t a massive commitment.

The Couchsurfing website has profiles of both those looking to stay and the hosts themselves. Once you get the hang of what you want to provide, set up your profile there.

If you are still looking to prepare your place for guests, then Homelization has a lot of guides and tips for getting a home in top shape!

1. Know What You Offer

You are opening your house to someone and as such you need to know what parts of your house are open and which are still private.

A lot of this will come down to ground rules. Set a thorough batch of ground rules and don’t offer what you don’t want to give. If you are uncomfortable with smoking or pets or multiple people, set the ground rule.

There is no point in bending over backward to accommodate people. If you are uncomfortable hosting the reason to do this goes away.

2. A Gateway to Entry

Have a quick test to ensure your guest understands your rules. This can be a quick citing of your ground rules or some code in your profile.

This allows you to control people who skip over the rules and considerations, which can often be bad guests.

3. Screen Your Guests

Of course, the gateway to entry works both ways. Couchsurfers allows users to have their own profiles, so check the profiles of your prospective guests.

You can catch some red flags from the profiles, such as vague details or older photos. As well, if anything about them contradicts their profile, it may be a sign that they are not who they say they are.

4. Balance the Cleaning

A big part of being a guest at someone’s house is offering to help out as a form of repayment. While it is not required and not everyone will do it, it is a nice and common thing.

Don’t expect the help, though. Accepting an offer is one thing, demanding service is another. You need to balance between what is reasonable and what is not.

Getting some help with the dishes after a shared meal? That is fine. Expecting them to vacuum your entire house so you don’t have to? That is a bit much.

5. Relax and Enjoy

The biggest thing about all of this is to never make it feel like a chore. If you consider this a second job, you have your perspective wrong.

Couchsurfing is a chance to explore the world and yourself. The point is to get a chance to learn new things and new people. Your benefit for hosting is to be a part of that journey and to share a connection with a passing stranger.

If you feel pressured or stretched thing by hosting, then it may not be the thing for you.

Living Life in the Moment

Understanding how to be a good host comes down to the dynamic of expectations. When you are opening your house, the rules are in your court. You might think you are being rude, but the only one to get hurt is you.

Couchsurfing can bring in a lot of interesting people, and when you are hosting you want to be able to hold interesting conversations. We here at Geeky Posh have all sorts of topics you can brush up on to make the evening fun.