Why become a Host for LSI students?

Hosting Foreign Students

Hosts responsibilities

• Provide a warm welcome and treat the student like family
• Advise the student about the homestay neighbourhood and their route to school
• Allow access to common areas in the house (e.g. kitchen, living room, garden) and to keep these shared areas clean and tidy
• Furnish bedrooms with a comfortable, standard bed, wardrobe, drawers and study desk
• Student rooms should be cleaned weekly and fresh bed linen and towels provided
• Give access to the laundry facilities so students can launder their own clothes
• Where provided meals should be shared with the family and be varied and nutritional
• Keep the school informed about any problems the student may be experiencing
• Respect students’ different cultural backgrounds and to be sensitive to their particular needs
• Encourage the students to practice their speaking at home
• Be present in the home during the student’s stay
• Supply a key so the student can have easy access to the homestay
• Provide adequate bathing facilities so students can take a daily bath or shower

School responsibilities

• Handles invoicing and student payment for all accommodation costs
• Remunerates homestay hosts on a fortnightly basis direct to their bank accounts
• Matches students to host providers according to the meal plan option offered by the host
• Gives feedback from student’s evaluations regarding their homestay
• Provide details of student arrival times where students have booked an airport transfer
• School accommodation officers will liaise between the student and homestay host when issues arise and will find alternative accommodation for the student where issues cannot be resolved
• Provides an emergency phone number so that students and homestay hosts are able to speak to LSI staff outside office hours and provide assistance where necessary

How we place students

For LSI, it’s essential that hosting students is a positive experience for both our students and homestay hosts. When students apply for homestay accommodation they are asked to fill out their requirements and preferences. The school accommodation officer will then find the best homestay match. Whatever the request, whether it’s a special dietary need, a wish to stay in a family with young children or a home with no pets, LSI will accommodate students in the most suitable homestay for them.

Similarly our homestay hosts can also express their preferences. Some hosts prefer to have older students, or maybe are only able to offer B & B. The school accommodation officers use their knowledge of homestay hosts to place the students in the most appropriate accommodation. LSI has a good success rate in matching students to homestay host with many students spending their entire stay with the same host.

Once LSI receives a student’s registration form, the student will usually be placed with a homestay host no later than two weeks before the student’s arrival date. Hosts are provided with basic information about the student including their age and nationality and students are sent a profile of the homestay host they will be staying with.

At busy times and with late bookings, homestay hosts may be contacted at short notice. However hosts can always decline a student if the circumstances are not right for the them.

The Screening Process

Who can become an LSI homestay host? Our hosts include retired couples, families with children, single people and professional couples, the unifying factor is the willingness to provide a warm, homely environment where LSI students are treated as family members. Many of our homestay hosts are from diverse cultural backgrounds and may speak other languages, but all hwill speak the local language as a near native speaker and be able to share knowledge of the local culture with their students.

Once LSI receives a request to become to host students, an application form will be sent out. The school accommodation officer will then arrange a visit to view the accommodation, both the common areas and the room allocated to the student. The prospective host will be asked to supply details about themselves, including interests and hobbies, and this information would then be used to create the profile that is sent to any student. The homestay host profile is used to find suitable matches between a host and LSI students.

Where an  application is successful, the new hosts are contacted by the school and maybe asked to provide additional information such as a gas safety certificate, a fire risk assessment or even, if the homstay host will host minors, a criminal record check.

After all the final checks have been completed, the homestay host will be ready to receive their first student.

Remuneration

Students pay their accommodation costs directly to the LSI school where they are studying. LSI then remunerates the homestay hosts on a fortnightly basis. Payments are made by bank transfer.

• Accommodation rates are paid on a daily rate on a breakfast only, half board or full board basis
• Payments for accommodation upgrades available eg private bathroom, more central locations, special diets
• High season supplements paid between June and August (US, Canadian & UK schools)

For specific accommodation rates contact the relevant LSI school.

We believe it’s key to happy and warm relationship that students feel integrated into the family rather than being seen as paying guests. By removing direct financial contact it removes possible sources of tension, conflict and alienation. For this reason LSI requires hosts to inform us directly when any changes are requested by the students, and LSI will adjust the homestay host’s payments accordingly.