Hosting is very easy! All you have to do is pick your students up in the evenings from the designated Meeting Point from 6.30pm, give them a cooked tea (using our tips to ensure you stay on budget), have a chat, get them to shower and then go to bed by 9pm. In the morning you give them a help-yourself style breakfast of toast & cereals, provide then with our standard packed lunch (which fits the budget), and drop them back to the designated Meeting Point by 7.40am latest. As the groups are out all day visiting the UK tourist attractions, this really is an easy and fun way make extra money around your full-time job and/or family life.

Our Spring season runs from February to the middle of July and our Autumn season from September to early December – but you don’t have to host every group, making it very flexible.

The students and their teachers generally arrive by coach on a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday evening and stay for 3-5 nights at a time. Then the following week we have new groups arriving.

All of our centres use local Car Parks as their meeting points. Meeting points are shown on the centre page for your location.

We realise that it’s a bit scary to start with as you don’t really know what to expect. Will the company like me? Will the students like me? Will they look after my home? What will happen if I have any problems? These are all questions that everyone is worried about when they think about starting their hosting journey.

At WHF, every team member is also an experienced host. We have all been there in your shoes so we know exactly how it feels – and that is why we pride ourselves on giving you a superb package of support from the time you first contact us for information or a chat, through to your Home Visit and the in-depth Welcome Pack we talk you through and leave with you for reference.

It doesn’t stop there. Our coordinators will be there 24/7 if you need any advice whilst the group are with us – and because we do everything exactly the same for each group, you will soon get used to how we work and how you need to organise yourself during the stay.

But don’t take our word for it, take a peek at our Host Reviews to see what they really say about hosting.

If you are still not sure and would like to have a chat with one of our new or long-standing hosts rather than a staff member, then just get in touch via the contact us page and we will ask one of them to give you a call.

The simple answer is YES! We want to give the groups a diverse range of experiences which they can then share with their friends and teachers. As long as you meet our criteria, then your age, gender, ethnic background or relationship status really doesn’t matter.

You must be able to take a minimum of 2 students, maximum 4 - in a separate bedroom to your family members. Students can share a room, and actually prefer this, but they can't share with your family members.

No mattresses on the floor/airbeds are allowed – it must be proper beds. Single beds, trundles & bunks are all ok and, once they have given it a go, many hosts invest in bunks to double their income.

We also need households to host the accompanying teachers & drivers. There is no minimum or maximum number you can take, but you must have suitable rooms, beds & bathrooms.

You will be provide your guests with an “English Experience” by providing certain foods, talking about manners and encouraging them to chat in English. It’s nothing difficult and we will give you full details of what to do when we visit.

We look for households that will make the students feel very welcome and who will enjoy the experience of hosting themselves. It is great fun and an easy way to earn extra income!

Your house must be clean and tidy. We are not expecting show home or hotel standards - just good standards of cleanliness.

In a nutshell, the way we work is that if we would be happy to place our own children with you, we will take you on and if not, we will tell you and we can go from there to rectify the problem or part ways with a smile.

Although not everyone will be hosting for the money, it is always nice to be able to treat yourself or your family member to those little extra treats – and hosting is a great way to earn an extra tax-free income.

By hosting 4 students overnight for a 4-night stay you will receive a tax-free cash sum of £272 on the first morning of the stay. The money is classed as tax free under the government’s Rent a Room scheme.

That means if you host 4 groups each month you could earn up to £1,088 extra cash, tax free each month for just a few hours “work”.

The beauty is that hosting is incredibly flexible. We have new groups arriving weekly and they only stay for 3-5 nights at a time, so you can dip in and out to suit your life commitments. There are no weekends involved either, and the students are out most of the time.

Obviously if you take less students or the stay is less nights, the rate drops accordingly, but it’s all extra income and we show you how to budget carefully to make a good profit no matter how many you choose to host.

Interested in finding out more? Complete our online enquiry form on the Become a Host page and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.