We advise students and guests in general to provide Xenia Homestay or their host family with the arrival details at least a week before the arrival date. In this way, the host can prepare themselves for your arrival and make sure they are home to offer you a warm welcome in person. If you fail to offer your arrival details or do not arrive at the expected time without giving notice, you are risking an arrival at the homestay when the family might not be home to welcome you. You are responsible for providing these details to ensure a smooth and cosy welcome.

On arrival day, the host will welcome you into their home, introduce you to the rest of the family members, if any, and if they are around at the time of your arrival. They will show you into your bedroom, and will give you a tour of their home, explaining the areas of the house and how everything works. We always advise that you exchange numbers with your host for easy day-to-day communication. If your arrival is during unsocial hours, this might take place the following day when everyone is rested. 

From the moment you arrive at your homestay, you become a member of the family. Which means that you will be treated the same as all the other members, and you will fit into the family routine. You will be offered house rules or guidelines to help you settle into your new environment and you will be welcomed to ask any questions directly to the host family, without hesitations or feeling embarrassed. You should treat your new home with the same respect you treat your own home back in your country, and you should try to familiarise yourself with the customs and habits of the new country – there are certainly cultural differences from place to place which everyone is aware of and needs to be mindful of. A host family is not a hotel, so you should not be expecting hotel services. In a family home, people live in the house, sleep, eat, interact and do house chores routinely and you will be welcomed into this routine. After all, this is why you are requesting a Homestay Host! 

As a member of the family, you will have access to all the communal areas of the house – kitchen, sitting room, dining area and the family bathroom (unless you have requested and booked private bathroom, in which case you will have your own bathroom). You will be allowed to lightly use the kitchen, such as the kettle, perhaps a cupboard to keep your snacks, but you are not allowed to cook unless you have requested Self-Catering. You are expected to use the communal areas reasonably and with respect, ensuring you clean after yourself and leave everything in the same way you find it so the next person can use it. You are entitled to a front door key, to be able to come and go easily and discretely, especially during unsocial hours. You will also have access to laundry facilities, which you can either use yourself to wash your clothes or you can give your clothes to the host, and they will do it alongside the family washing. The internet and the telephone can be used discretely and at reasonable times and lengths, but you should always ask for the host’s permission in advance. Local calls are charged in the UK, hence you may arrange for family and close friends to call you at convenient days and times but you may be asked to use public telephones to make calls internally in the UK or abroad as these come at a cost. You may also consider purchasing a ‘pay-as-you-go’ cell phone. 

The general rule is that you should always ask for your host’s permission if you wish to invite anyone over. Either for a short visit during the day, or for an overnight stay, your host is the one who decides whether it is suitable, appropriate, or acceptable into their home. Don’t forget that this is their family home, and some people might not feel comfortable with you bringing home someone that is a stranger to them, especially if there are young children and/or teenagers in the family. Always be thoughtful of your host’s feelings about visitors and their family circumstances.