Comments on: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Being a Help-X Host https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/ A travel journal following a family on their overland trip around the world. Fri, 27 Sep 2019 10:21:53 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.5 By: Brittany https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/comment-page-1/#comment-4853 Fri, 27 Sep 2019 10:21:53 +0000 https://wanderingfootsteps.com/?p=6083#comment-4853 Wow, thank you for sharing your HelpX experience. So interesting! You sure do seem like a very experienced host and in it for the right reasons. I guess HelpX hosting is always going to be a mixed bag, and, as with life, we have to learn to take the bad with the good, huh? Thank you again!!

]]> By: Ingrid https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/comment-page-1/#comment-4848 Wed, 25 Sep 2019 09:43:10 +0000 https://wanderingfootsteps.com/?p=6083#comment-4848 Hi, I have been a Helpx host now for about 8 years and probably hosted 60 people in total. I am a bit soft-hearted and tend to bend-over backwards for my Helpx guests, taking them to see the night markets or glow worms in the forest, loaning them bikes , taking them to local events like free theatre or music events etc. I do feel that it is quite time-consuming having Helpxers, its like my input almost equals their input, except that I get to do the nicer things (like hosting) while they get to do cleaning, gardening and physical work. I have made a few mistakes with HelpXers and now I try and be much stricter about work requirements so that they don’t take advantage of me. Mistakes I have made: agreeing to host a family with 2 little kids. (What was I thinking!!!) Allowing a totally lazy German guy to stay when I should have kicked him out after the first day. Being too tolerant of two French smokers who drove me crazy as I detest smoking. Hosting a vegan with a big appetite: Soo much work to make him food. On the positive side, we really have met so many interesting people from all over the world and I like hosting people. Also, we have got so much work done on our property that I couldn’t have got done without them. Being a New Zealander, i am very well-travelled, so it was a bit like being a traveller again without having to leave our country. Also, I felt like it was a bit of paying things back for all the good experiences that I had when I was young. The worst thing that happened was a Finnish lady stealing my engagement ring. After that, I never felt comfortable hosting again and we didn’t host much. Now we have the HelpXers staying in accommodation separate from our house, don’t let them in the house if we are not here, and we only have Helpxers a couple of times a year for specific projects that we need doing. So i feel happy once more. At one time, I wrote a long booklet setting out guidelines for helpxers because there were lots of little annoying things that people did and when I added them all up, I had a book of sorts (!) e.g. don’t leave wet towels on beds, clean your room, don’t leave the door shut as we aren’t a hostel, take your outdoor shoes off when inside, take 3 min showers, if you break something on the bike tell me, do not keep the heater on in your room at nighttime, etc. The list goes on. But most of these really just come down to common courtesy and I don’t bother with giving that to people now. I have gotten stricter and last year I kicked a HelpXer out when she rolled her ideas and said “not again” when I told her the days job was gardening. After all, it’s an agreement and if someone doesn’t keep their side of the bargain up, then the agreement can be terminated.

]]> By: Brittany https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/comment-page-1/#comment-4656 Tue, 11 Jun 2019 20:11:19 +0000 https://wanderingfootsteps.com/?p=6083#comment-4656 I understand your point, Robert, but perhaps you are not familiar with the organizations like HelpX and Workaway? People who volunteer to work in exchange for room and board do so freely and willingly because they want to learn new skills or travel affordably. They sign up for these organizations and ‘job postings’ because they want to, which means it’s a mutually agreeable situation for both the volunteer and the host. Hope that makes sense! 🙂

]]> By: Robert https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/comment-page-1/#comment-4617 Fri, 31 May 2019 20:15:45 +0000 https://wanderingfootsteps.com/?p=6083#comment-4617 Hello,
It seem to me that you only want cheap manpower, even free, and that remember me to slavery. A roof and food in exchange for work? isn´t that abusive??

]]> By: Heidi Allen https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/comment-page-1/#comment-3694 Thu, 27 Dec 2018 09:12:29 +0000 https://wanderingfootsteps.com/?p=6083#comment-3694 Hi there, just happened to come across your review of helpx and I could not agree more to what you said about it. We are hosting for helpx for 8 years and there are many times we struggle too.Yes, they are so called volunteers but their payment is food and accomodation so I try to guess to provide the equivalent to their input. In NZ they actually need a WHV because food and accomodation is considered a payment y the inland revenue department so I do not feel bad about providing what I feel is a fair payment.For some this is very little and for some we struggle to provide enough.Some helpers are magnificent, some you forget about as soon as they leave and 3 times I have asked them to leave.It is a big invasion of your privacy and we love the helpers who notice that and are able to give us that privacy when desperately needed.Food can be a big issue and we stopped giving the helpers free range mainly because we are in a very rural place and we shop only once a week and all food is shared.I have all the important parts in writing but it is quite hard to convince most helpers to read it, the debrief at the start is vey important but even then heaps is lost in translation at times so many times our patience is tested.Still overall the positive outweighs the negative but real friendships only develop every now and again.

]]> By: Brittany https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/comment-page-1/#comment-3005 Sat, 31 Mar 2018 17:15:07 +0000 https://wanderingfootsteps.com/?p=6083#comment-3005 THank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post, but it seems that your comment is coming from a place of anger. My post was an honest account of my experience as a host, and I admitted to errors we made as well as our point of view as hosts,, which I feel is valid. I don’t take any of it back. HelpX is a great organization that brings people together who need help with projects and those wanted to travel and gain new experiences. We were upfront with our needs and what we provided, so I don’t think we misinterpreted the spirit of HelpX.

And, for the record, I HAVE been a volunteer. For 14 months, at three different organizations, in Nepal. All of which is archived in this blog.

]]> By: Fede https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/comment-page-1/#comment-3003 Thu, 29 Mar 2018 04:54:25 +0000 https://wanderingfootsteps.com/?p=6083#comment-3003 Bourgeois like you who think the best part of it is to receive help is what f***** HelpX up. If you want tho get the job done and are not willing to show at least gratitude then submit to your monetary logic and PAY someone to do it. It’s revoltive to see stingy abusers getting advantage of travellers who are VOLUNTEERING (I’m wondering if you have ever fullfilth that other role…I think the anwser is quite obvious). This should be about exchange and helping people who really need it, social organizations, people trying to raise community awareness and spirit, people who actually care about other peolle, not some selfish middle class folks with rentals who only care about themselves and their little projects. Look around lady, the world agonizes and you are still worried about your minutia oranic dietary issues… stop looking at your belly button, for a CHANGE.

]]> By: Kati Brown https://wanderingfootsteps.com/the-americas/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-being-a-help-x-host/comment-page-1/#comment-2786 Sat, 09 Dec 2017 11:57:22 +0000 https://wanderingfootsteps.com/?p=6083#comment-2786 Hola, thanks so much for sharing your experience. Im currently volunteering in colombia and i couldnt agree more on setting expectations early on 🙂

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