3 Ways To Be A Better House Guest When Staying With Friends While Traveling

For many travelers, one of the fastest ways to save a bit of money on your trip is to stay in someone else’s home. But if you’ve ever let someone stay in the home that you own, you likely know how having someone else in your space can be a nuisance and inconvenience.

As a guest, that’s the last thing you want your host feeling about you. So to help ensure that this never happens to you in the future, here are three ways to be a better house guest when staying with friends or family while you’re traveling.

Be Considerate About The Length Of Your Stay

While it’s great that your friend or family member was willing to let you stay with them for free, it’s your responsibility to make things easy on them and to not wear out your welcome. As part of this, you should be very considerate with how long you stay in their house.

According to Real Simple, you should let your host know when you plan to arrive and how long you will be staying well in advance of your travel dates. Additionally, if your host shares with you that they have plans while you’re there or plans that will be coming up soon after your departure, you should give them enough time and space to do whatever it is they need to do without burdening them or getting in the way.

Keep Things Clean and Help With Chores

When staying at someone else’s home, you might have a room to yourself or you might be sharing common space with the rest of the residence of the home. Either way, it’s important that you keep things clean both for yourself and for the rest of the household.

Erica Lamberg, a contributor to Reader’s Digest, advises that you take it upon yourself to take up as little space as possible with your own belongings. Not only this, but you should also be more than willing to pitch in wherever you see a need, especially when it comes to cooking or cleaning.

Don’t Bring Any Surprises

Although you might like to have some surprises when you’re traveling, surprises for a host likely aren’t something they’re looking forward to. Because of this, you should talk to your host about all your plans regarding your trip, especially those that would affect them.

For example, Debby Mayne, a contributor to The Spruce, advises that you don’t bring any additional pets or people than those you’ve already disclosed. This could present big problems for your host if they don’t have the space or resources to accommodate these surprises.

If you’ll be staying in the home of a friend or family member while on your upcoming travels, consider using the tips mentioned above to help ensure that you’re the perfect guest while you’re there.