Homestay Hosting: All About the Money

There are typically two meal plans for homestays—full board (three meals a day) or half board (breakfast and dinner only). We’re paid around $1,000 for a full-board student, and $900 for a half-board student. This rate is for 28 days or four weeks (not per month).

When we started hosting, most students chose the half-board option, but in the last few years, almost all our students pick the full-board option. (Perhaps the world is getting more frugal? One can hope!)

We have no real preference for either meal plan (it’s not in our control anyway), but if I had to choose one that’s ‘better’, I’d pick full-board. This is simply due to economies of scale—it doesn’t take a lot more money or time to cook extra food because you can buy and cook in bulk. That would bring down the per-serving cost of all your meals.

This depends on how many bedrooms you have available (it’s usually one student per bedroom). Some schools do allow for double occupancy in one room, so you may have more capacity than you think!

It wasn’t often that we were able to book a double occupancy stay, but it was great when we could! You’re paid a little less per student, but you’re earning a lot more from one bedroom, so it was worth it.

Obviously, the more months you’re available to host, the higher your occupancy. But which months you host also matters.

It may be different in other cities, but in Vancouver, the busiest time for homestays is summertime. Vancouver becomes Raincouver from October to April, so I can see why this is the case!

It’s especially important when you’re new to hosting that your availability is wide open from May to September. Schools and agencies are more likely to favour you in the quieter months if you help them by accepting students in the summer.

However, if you prefer not to host in the summer, all hope is not lost! International students who attend your local elementary or high school typically only stay in your home during the school year—which would leave your summers free.

Note: Some schools handle their own homestay placements, while others use agencies. As a host, there’s no difference between them, so there’s no need to worry about working with one versus the other.

The more schools and agencies you’re on the roster for, the higher your chances for full occupancy throughout the year.

You do have to maintain a balance though—the more organizations you work with, the more often you’ll have to turn down placements due to overlapping dates. And the more often you turn down placements, the less favorable you’ll be to that school or agency.

That said, all the schools and agencies we worked with never took issue with us working with their competitors. They understand that your priority is to have the occupancy level you need. Just try to be fair and flexible, and you’ll be fine.

The more flexible you are with the types of students you host, the more that’ll be offered to you. What do I mean by ‘types’ of students? Here are some common preferences that schools and agencies allow you to select from:

• Female or male
• Minors or adults
• Students with allergies and/or food restrictions

Let’s break down each preference:

Female or male

Most hosts prefer female students—so if you’re open to hosting either gender, you’ll have higher occupancy. We ended up with mostly female students, but hosting male students was just as enjoyable for us. (Also important to note: most schools only allow you to host one gender at a time.)

Minors or adults

If you decide to host elementary or high school students, all of them will (of course) be minors. Many families prefer to host younger students because they’re closer in age to their own kids. This makes things more fun since it’s easier for the kids and students to bond over common interests.

However, minor students will be more dependent on you and you’ll tend to worry more about them than if they were adults. You definitely need to be more hands-on with younger students. The upside is you’re paid more when hosting minors—typically around $1,200/month (versus $1,000/month for an adult student).

If you choose to host adult students, you won’t have to set curfews or worry quite as much about them. They’re independent and can get themselves around the city, tidy up, do their own laundry, and make their own breakfast. You can also have more serious and in-depth conversations with them about their country, world events, etc. Adult students are definitely more hands-off! However, the pay is lower due to the lower demands.

We’ve happily hosted students of all ages (as young as 14, all the way up to 86 years old)! When our kids were little, we preferred (and needed) the lower demands of adult students. But now that our boys are a tween and teen, hosting teenaged students has been a lot of fun for all of us.

Neither age group is better or easier—they’re just different. The best way to figure out your preference is to give each age group a try.

Students with allergies and/or food restrictions

This was one preference that we were strict about—we never hosted students with major allergies or food restrictions.

Since no one in our family has allergies, we’re not very allergy-aware. We didn’t want to put an allergic student’s well-being in jeopardy by hosting them, so we said no to any students with serious allergies.

We also said no to students with major food restrictions/preferences because we’re foodies and love eating all types of food. To have to restrict our diet for several months would be the ultimate in deprivation for us!

However, we were happy to be flexible with minor accommodations. One student had a seafood allergy, but seafood is pretty easy for us to avoid for a few months, so that was no big deal.

We’ve also hosted students with an ‘aversion’ to veggies (surprisingly, there are quite a few of those!) or spicy food. Those were really easy preferences to manage, so we never minded dealing with them.