FAQ for Guests

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Just type a location into one of our search boxes (on the homepage for example) and fill in any other details of your stay if you wish (number of guests and so on). Click ‘search now’ to get a list of available properties.

HouseTrip runs on a very secure system. We go to great lengths to ensure that you are in safe hands, and that your money is also safe – every step of the way.

We have the following security measures in place for our guests:

• Withholding payment: We collect the advance payment from guests and hold it until two days after the beginning of their stay. Consequently the host does not get paid until they have honoured their commitment to provide the stay.
• Our review system: Guests are asked to review properties at the end of their stay. Only guests who booked the property through HouseTrip can generate these reviews, thereby ensuring they are genuine and trustworthy.

Once you have made a request for a property, you can then message the host in order to pose any questions you may have, or reply to a message they may have sent you. Go to ‘My Inbox’ to find the ‘conversation’ between the host and yourself. If, for example, you have sent an availability request and want to ask a question, click ‘Availability requests’ on the left hand menu to find the sent request conversation.

Go to the property description page to see a location map.

After your stay you will receive an email from HouseTrip asking for your feedback.

Please bear in mind that HouseTrip only allows reviews from guests who booked properties through HouseTrip, and through the HouseTrip payment system. This helps us maintain honest reviews from real past guests.

Just go to your account page to view details of your bookings, under the “My Bookings” tab.

It’s up to the host to arrange exchange of keys with their guest directly. If they can’t hand keys over to their guest in person (or entrust someone else to), they may use one of the following options:

• A lock box: They set a code on a lock box which is fixed next to the door and contains the keys. They just need to give you the lock box code.
• Keyless door locks: If they have a keyless entry lock, they can email the code to guests (and change it between guests).
• Mail keys: We don’t recommend this method as mail can get lost or arrive late. A few hosts however still use this solution. If they do, we ask them to use a secure, recorded delivery service.

After a booking is accepted, both host and guest receive each other’s contact info (email, phone, full name and address). It’s a good idea to immediately contact one another regarding the details of the trip (arrival time, flight info, directions, etc).

If email and phone attempts don’t receive a response, please contact support@housetrip.com and we will intervene and help you.

You will need to contact your host directly. They may be amenable to you changing your dates if the property is available – but if you modify the length of your stay, your host may apply new charges.

When you confirmed your reservation, you also agreed certain terms with your host. If those terms changed, you should contact your host immediately and find out if you will incur new charges.

We recommend you choose several properties you like and make requests for each. This will increase your chances of getting replies. We encourage hosts to reply as quickly as possible to all requests made through HouseTrip.

If you’re particularly keen and can’t get a reply, just call us or drop us line. We’ll try to contact the host directly and get an answer for you.

Heaven forbid this should happen, but if it does, please contact us immediately. Our secure system holds your money until two days into your stay, so at the very least your reservation money is safe. We will also do our utmost to find you alternative accommodation.

In the event of this happening, your host would receive no funds for the transaction and after investigation, be permanently removed from the HouseTrip website.

’On request’ means that you need to make an availability request with the host before booking (you can do this in one simple click on the property description page); ’Instant booking’ means the host’s calendar is always updated and you can therefore book directly.

First make a request to the owner from the property description page. You will receive the owner’s answer directly by email and be provided with a link to book directly through our website.

On the property descriptions page is a ’book now’ button. We call this method ’instant booking’ because that’s just what it is.

If you find an ’instant booking’ property that fits the bill and is available on the day you want it, just click ’book now’ and pay the rental price immediately using your credit card (remember your money doesn’t go to your host until you’ve arrived safely and have been in the property for 48 hours).

We’ve done our best to list the most common features and amenities in the property details listings.

If you still have a question that’s unanswered, ask it to the owner or drop us a line.

The hosts can change their prices at anytime; prices of travel products typically fluctuate based on demand and offer.

Just type a location into one of our search boxes (on the homepage for example) and fill in any other details of your stay if you wish (number of guests and so on). Click ‘search now’ to get a list of available properties.

Go to the property description page to see a location map.

Just go to your account page to view details of your bookings, under the “My Bookings” tab.

Your host will provide information about check-in and check-out procedures, directions, keys and an emergency contact. You will need to check with your host in order to arrange all these details with them. We strongly recommend doing so prior to your arrival.

Guests and hosts will receive each other’s contact information (email, phone, full name, address) as soon as the booking is confirmed. Both can contact one another regarding the details of the stay.

Yes. Once your booking is confirmed, you will receive your host’s contact details (including phone number). They will get yours too.

Check-ins typically happen during the afternoon or early evening. After you’ve booked, contact the host to tell him/her about your arrival time.

Some owners prefer to keep the full address confidential until their guest has confirmed their booking.

Check the complete description of the property on our site where you will find the number of rooms, beds and any extra beds that are available.

For a more specific questions, just ask the host directly. After sending an availability request, when the host answers, just click ’answer the message’.

It may mean the property has extra beds or convertible couches. If in doubt, check the property page for details or contact the host.

We are a relatively new company, but we are growing rapidly and new properties are always being added to our site. If a property doesn’t hasn’t had any reviews, it’s most likely because it’s just been added to our website. It doesn’t mean the property is unsafe to book and actually new properties are often cheaper than established properties with lots of reviews.

Hosts don’t have a time limit to answer questions, but we do encourage them to respond as quickly as possible. You can always contact us +351 213806120 or send us an email to support@housetrip.com if you don’t get a reply fast enough.

Hosts have up to 36 hours to accept a booking, however, we constantly monitor our bookings to make sure they accept them as soon as they get them.

It may be that someone else booked your property in between the period you received a positive response and the time you took to book it. This is why we advise all guests to act quickly once a decision has been made. You are not guaranteed your property until you make your payment.

You can always contact us at +351 213806120 or send us an email to support@housetrip.com and we will gladly help you find a suitable accommodation for your stay.

When you search for properties, we only show you properties that fit with the length of your stay. However it may happen that some owners have forgotten to update their minimum length of stay on HouseTrip and you may therefore rarely run into this problem.

When hosts reply to requests about availability or bookings, they have the option to use our message templates. We have created these templates in order to facilitate and speed up the communication between hosts and guests. The hosts chooses the template of his choice and then can manipulate essential data such as dates, rental amount or the property name.

You can now proceed with the booking process and conclude the payment by clicking on the booking link (in your email) or button (in your HouseTrip account).

Our advice is to act quickly, as the property is still available to other guests until you make your payment.

There could be two reasons for this:

1. The property isn't available, but the host owns another property which may be of interest to you.
2. The property isn't available for the full period you've requested. Instead of simply generating an instant negative reply, we give hosts and guests the option of finding a common denominator, in case their needs and availabilities are flexible.

You are free to book as many properties as you wish. Please contact us too – it means we know that the multiple booking isn’t the result of a mistake or a misunderstanding.

Absolutely. At the moment most of our properties are in the top city destinations, but we are working on expanding our offer to even more cities and to other beach, country and mountain destinations. Feel free to send suggestions to marketing@housetrip.com.

'Entire property' is a house/apartment/studio that is rented in its entirety to the guest who books it. 'Private room' is a room that may be in a shared property. Make sure you make it very clear what you are offering in your property description.

Sure. If the property is available, just go for it!

Yes. You pay the full amount online through the HouseTrip secure payment system. Once paid, your money is safe and the cancellation policy for both you and the host applies.

You will need to pay your full stay amount online. You will provide your credit card details during the booking process.

We accept payments with most major credit cards.

Yes, you can view and print your receipt by clicking ‘My bookings’ in your personal profile.

Make sure you let your host know about your plans and keep their contact details to hand in the event of any changes to the agreed plan. Guests and hosts have each other’s contact details to ensure events run smoothly.

This depends on the hosts. The cleaning fee may be an additional cost, or may be included in the price.

Yes. Your deposit will be refunded as long as there is no damage to the property.

In order to book with HouseTrip, you’ll be asked to pay the full rental amount at the moment of your booking (using your credit card). You don’t pay any booking deposit and nor do you directly exchange money with your host.

Our system protects all our customers against most scams. Hosts understand that by offering a perfect stay, as advertised, they will receive full payment. Guests can rest easy knowing that we don’t release funds to the host until 48hrs after the planned check-in date.

You can pay in €, £, $ and CHF.

On the top right of each page is a flag and currency indicator. This is what you are currently viewing. Click there to see other options and change if need be.

Make sure you check the complete description of a property before you book. Before booking, you’ll also see all the details about fees in your booking summary.

No. You will only be charged if your booking is accepted.

For security reasons we can’t allow payment on arrival. When you pay online, you are immediately covered with our Payment Protection Policy. We hold the money until 48 hours after you arrive in order to make sure your check-in was successful. Only once you’re safely and happily in the property will we forward your payment to the host.

For the moment we have four cancellation policies that your host can choose from. These are:

1. Relaxed:
   • Bookings cancelled up to 2 weeks before the start of the stay will receive a 85% refund (after service fee)
   • Bookings cancelled up to 1 week before the start of the stay will receive a 42.5% refund (after service fee)
   • Cancellations must be made by 12 midday CET (Central European Time) on the appropriate day
2. Moderate:
   • Bookings cancelled up to 1 month before the start of the stay will receive a 85% refund (after service fee)
   • Bookings cancelled up to 2 weeks before the start of the stay will receive a 42.5% refund (after service fee)
   • Cancellations must be made by 12 midday CET (Central European Time) on the appropriate day
3. Firm:
   • Bookings cancelled up to 2 months before the start of the stay will receive a 85% refund (after service fee)
   • Bookings cancelled up to 1 month before the start of the stay will receive a 42.5% refund (after service fee)
   • Cancellations must be made by 12 midday CET (Central European Time) on the appropriate day
4. Strict:
   • Bookings cancelled up to 2 months before the start of the stay will receive a 42.5% refund (after service fee)
   • Cancellations must be made by 12 midday CET (Central European Time) on the appropriate day

Contact us as at +351 213806120 or send an email to support@housetrip.com and we'll help you with your cancellation.

In the unlikely event of this occurring, please contact us as soon as possible at +351 213806120 or send us an email to support@housetrip.com. We will happily help you find an accommodation. Otherwise, we will refund you the total amount already paid.

We'll email you when we've refunded you. Refunds issued to credit cards may take about 3-5 business days to process.

In cases of severe weather or natural disasters, we still uphold the cancellation policy that was agreed at the time of booking. However, we encourage hosts to issue refunds under these circumstances. Any refunds beyond the cancellation policy are ultimately their decision, but travel insurance should protect you against a total loss of funds.

If you notice a bug on our website, we'd really like to know. Please contact us as soon as possible at +351 213806120 or send an email to support@housetrip.com.

If you have more questions or want to find out more about a specific property, you can always reach us at +351 213806120 or send an email to support@housetrip.com.