Tips For Hosts
1. Guard Your Anonymity
Never include your last name, real email address, personal website URL, home address, phone number, place of work or any other identifying information in the comment section of your profile or in initial emails you exchange with potential guests. Please make sure your email signature file and sender's name is turned off or does not include identifying information. Take all the time you need to become comfortable with someone before revealing any personal contact information. Ask questions and make sure you are satisfied with the answers. Trust your instincts, move cautiously and be selective.
2. Keep your personal details private
Please do not give out your surname, phone numbers or address details to anyone over the Internet until you feel safe to do so. If you choose to share your personal email address with a potential Guest it is strongly recommended you create a new email address with Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or another free email service provider just for this purpose and ensure you do not include your full name in the sender's name. Also, avoid using work emails as it's often easy to work out who sally.smith@abccompany.com.au is. If sharing a contact number, mobile numbers are best.
3. Meet When YOU Are Ready
The beauty of meeting and communicating online is that you can gradually collect information and then make a choice about agreeing to provide accommodation to a Guest. You are never obligated to meet with anyone - regardless of your level of online contact. Even if you do decide to arrange a meeting you always have the right to change your mind (and if you do please notify the Guest as soon as possible as it is only polite). It is possible that your decision to keep the enquiry at the anonymous level is based on a hunch that you can't logically explain. Trust yourself.
4. Talk on the Phone
There's no need to jump straight from online chats to a face-to-face meeting. Use the phone as an additional checkpoint. You can tell a lot about people by their mannerisms on the phone. Use a mobile phone number for added security.
5. Choose a Safe Place
If you decide to meet face-to-face, be sure to pick a safe location, full of people and familiar to you. Always arrange to meet in a busy public place - and arrive and leave on your own, using your own transport.
6. Take a friend or family member along
When looking to meet your Guest in the beginning, ask a friend or family member to join you. It may be a good idea to give any person who could be cohabitating with a Guest or providing temporary premises to a Guest the chance to meet them in person. You are often able to validate your own feelings about a person if you are able to discuss them with someone you trust who had had the opportunity to form an opinion on the matter themselves. If you're not able to find a friend or family member to accompany you, tell someone where you are going, who with (include the person's name, phone number) and when you'll be back. Most importantly, stick to your planned return time, even if you have to arrange a subsequent meet-up to conclude your discussions.
7. Don't accept lifts
Initially, do not offer transport to a Guest, invite them back to your home or accept a lift.
8. Trust your instincts
There may be a good reason if you feel uneasy about someone. Don't tell yourself you're being silly. Diffuse the situation and remove yourself from it. There is no obligation to provide accommodation to anyone you do not feel good about. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Never worry or feel embarrassed about your behaviour. Your safety and that of your family is much more important than one person's opinion of you.
9. Don't get financially involved
Play it safe when it comes to your money. Never send anyone money or offer financial assistance to someone you have just started contact with. If someone mentions financial difficulties and needing assistance immediately proceed with all caution. The offer of accommodation should be made without financial obligation if possible and the acceptance of such an offer should also be free from a financial component.
10. Identify a scam
It is important that you are able to identify the motives of the person you are in contact with to avoid being caught up in any kind of scam.
Look out for:
- Mentions of being in some form of financial difficulty or needing financial assistance from you specifically. Relief and aid agencies should be assisting the Guest in the short term with these matters. Requests for goods and other items that do not take the form of a direct financial demand may be understandable and it is up to your discretion as to whether you agree to assist with these. Asking directly and specifically for financial assistance should be viewed with caution and you should consider carefully whether you can and should assist with these requests until you form a better understanding of the character of the guest.
- Persistent and unwanted contact from a Guest. You are under no obligation to offer a Guest accommodation in your premises and if you feel you are being placed under pressure you should politely decline to assist them and screen or block all calls/emails from the Guest.
- An unnatural unwillingness on the behalf of the Guest to answer reasonable questions or an avoidance of reasonable questions, which when asked come back unanswered or answered in an unclear, confused or contradictory manner.
How to prevent being scammed:
- Never provide direct financial assistance prior to meeting a Guest or prior to agreeing terms for the provision of your accommodation on a temporary basis.
- Document all agreements with the Guest in writing and make sure both parties sign the agreement. Even non-binding agreements can be of assistance in resolving disputes should they occur.
- When communicating never mention your financial status. Keep the topics to things like what you can reasonably offer and your preferred terms for the provision of temporary accommodation.
- If you wish to meet the person then you be the one to visit them or meet with them in a neutral, public place.
- Ask for details such as where they live (or did live), their mailing address and contact numbers. When agreeing a the terms for temporary occupancy politely request details like character references or ther identifying information like the contact details of their extended family. Make sure you speak to at least one other person unrelated to the Guest to confirm their status as requiring accommodation.
- If you come across Guests that you are just not sure about and you feel may be out there with the intention to scam then err on the side of caution and please do not enter into any arrangements with them. If you like you may leave feedback via the bushfirehousing,org site regarding your concerns although we cannot guarantee that we will be able to act upon them.
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