How to Get Free Accommodation While Traveling

Did you know that you can stay for free while traveling? There are many different ways to do this, and you can choose the one that suits you best. When I recently shared these methods on my Instagram page, I realized that many people are unaware of these opportunities. Therefore, I wanted to prepare a much more detailed article on free accommodation. You wouldn’t believe how many people travel the world for months using these methods. I hope this article can help those who want to explore the world on a small budget. So, here we go; here’s my article on how to stay abroad for free…

Free Accommodation Methods

I will go through the methods in order and share the proven and reliable sites you can use for each of them. Don’t forget to like the article and share it with your friends.

Free Accommodation Apps for Hospitality Exchange

In this system, people from different parts of the world open up a room in their homes to travelers and allow them to stay for a day or a few days. Most of the time the hosts themselves are people who like to travel the world, or at least like to get to know people from different parts of the world and their cultures. It is a chance for you to learn about the city and country you are visiting from the people who live there. You can get the most local advice from them and hear stories that no one else knows. By the way, there are also those who just meet and show you around the city without accommodation in these apps, so keep that in mind if you want to socialize more. You create your own profile on these apps. The profile includes details such as where you are from, your hobbies, photos, countries you have traveled to. I recommend that first-time applicants take care to create a proper and very detailed profile. You send a message to the hosts who are available to host guests in the date range you will go to the city and ask for availability. If the host is available and likes your profile, they approve it.

If you want to benefit from this system for a long time, I recommend that you don’t just look at the hosts as free accommodation, but that you spend as much time together as possible and chat with each other about your own cultures. No one is opening their home for free for no reason, people want to spend time with you. If you don’t like socializing, this method is definitely not for you. Maybe you can even cook a local dish for the hosts one evening, they will appreciate this kind of gesture. Of course, you don’t have to spend all your time with them or make gestures. For example, I was bringing Turkish delight, I didn’t cook for anyone but I chatted a lot. I am still friends with all of them on facebook. It is also important to keep your room and house tidy. After all, these systems are based on trust and eventually they will write reviews about you and you will write about them.

Don’t forget to read reviews when choosing a host, don’t stay in a crazy person’s house just because you got a free room. You can even stalk them a bit if you can find them on social media like facebook, instagram etc. Try to get all the important information about the house you are going to stay, so you won’t be disappointed when you go there. Below are the apps that use this method, some of which charge a small annual membership fee, some of which are free, you can use the one that is easiest for you.

couchsurfing.com

bewelcome.org

trustroots.org

staydu.com

warmshowers.org

Free Accommodation Apps in Exchange for House Sitting

House Sitting has become the most popular method of free accommodation among travelers in recent years. Homeowners who have plants or mostly pets at home are looking for someone to take care of them when they want to go on vacation for more than 1-2 days. For this, they advertise on the sites I will share below. They usually go on vacation for a few weeks or even a few months, but sometimes it is possible to find short-term listings for 4-5 days. In the listing, all the important details such as the dates between which they will be on vacation, the features of the house, photos, photos of the animal they want you to take care of and the things they expect you to do are shared.

For example, we have a lot of plants in our house and we have two cats. I take photos of the house and the plants and cats you have to take care of. I write that you have to water the plants every other day, that you have to renew the cats’ water every day, that you make sure their dry food is always full and that I expect them to be given wet food once a day. If this is too much for you, you look at other offers, if it’s right for you, you apply to my place, and if I like your profile, I accept it. After the stay is complete, you write comments about each other and become a reference for those who will look at the profiles later.

Since this is the first time you will be trying this type of accommodation, my advice is to first create a detailed profile with your photos giving all the information about yourself. Since you are new to the system, there will be no comments about you, maybe you can mention other references, for example, if you have your own pets or if you have taken care of someone else’s pets before. If you don’t like pets, don’t choose this type of accommodation just because it’s free. Once you are accepted, if you take care of the house and the animals as if they were your own during your stay, you will have long-term continuity in this system. If you have online work to do during your stay, don’t forget to ask if the house has wifi that works properly. Find out if there are any bills to be paid etc. Below I share all the sites I know of that use this method. Some of them charge an annual membership fee, but when you consider the service you get in return, these fees are almost free.

trustedhousesitters.com

housecarers.com

mindmyhouse.com

nomador.com

housesitmatch.com

horizonapp.co

Free Accommodation in exchange of Volunteering

In this type of accommodation, they expect you to do a job or help them in some way. You’ll probably wonder what these jobs might be, so let me try to give you some examples. For example, you might work in a hostel and your job might be to prepare breakfast in the morning, serve it to the guests and pick up the leftovers. From morning until noon you do your work and you have the afternoons free for sightseeing. You could work on a farm and your job could be, for example, to pick fruit and vegetables or to take the animals for walks and feed them at certain times. Some hosts may want to learn your national language and you give them language lessons at certain times every day. Some hosts may want you to look after their children on weekend evenings or while they are at work. The subject of work is open-ended, I will write down many sites below, you can apply to all the ones that suit you.

In addition to accommodation, they usually provide food and sometimes even a small amount of money. It also gives you a lot of experience in terms of work and skills for the future. That’s why this is one of the most popular ways to travel for free.

When looking for a job, do not apply for a job you cannot do just to get free accommodation. Apply for a job that you think you can do and do your job properly in order to have a long experience in this system. Be sure to read the conditions of the job you are applying for and the reviews about it. Some workplaces may see you as cheap labor and may overwork you and not compensate you, or may treat those who come to work in a bad way. The conditions of your accommodation may be bad, the food may be terrible, etc. Read reviews about everything. Such situations will take away your enjoyment and maybe even discourage you from traveling.

worldpackers.com

wwoof.net

workaway.info

helpx.net

helpstay.com

talktalkbnb.com

lingoo.com

Free Accommodation Apps with Home Exchange

To be honest, I’ve never experienced it, but it’s one of the free accommodation methods used by thousands of people. There was a movie called The Holiday, I don’t know if you’ve seen it but it starred Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz and they exchanged their houses. If you have a house of your own and it has a location and decoration that can attract tourists, you can try this method. Some may say that if I have enough budget to have my own house, why should I look for free accommodation?  I mean, after all, you may be paying a loan and traveling may have become a bit of a luxury for you. Compared to other methods, I think this method is the most suitable for families, keep that in mind. I am also sharing sites where you can check this method.

homeexchange.com

homeforswap.com

lovehomeswap.com

homelink.org

holidayswap.com

Finally, of course, staying with friends living abroad is the best free accommodation method. Those friends are great friends, keep in touch. 😉

I hope my article on free accommodation will be a guide for you and make traveling around the world easier. If there are any other topics you would like me to write about, please feel free to write in the comments. Have a good trip in advance!

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