Quite often, our student support get inquiries from students,

"I see many photos posted on the homestay profile. But which one represents the room I'm booking?"

The frustrating thing is, we don't know. Then students turn to the hosts asking about the same thing. The same homestay host might get this kind of inquiries over and over again. Some hosts got so creative that they marked the room number on the photos that they upload. 

Quite some photo editing skill involved.

​We want to make categorizing rooms either. Just assign the corresponding label on the homestay photos page.

Public, including students, will then be able to see the room type in the gallery view of the homestay info page.

No more photo editing necessary!

When a student pays to book a homestay and a host confirms the booking, the contract is finalized on homadorma. The student needs to move to the homestay on the move-in date specified on the contract.

But there is a challenge: the move-in date may not be as fixed as we think. When a student pays to book a homestay, many of them have not even applied for visa yet. Many students simply indicated an "approximate" date as the move-in date on the contract. After visa is granted, student needs to figure out an exact arrival date that works with the school calendar, and flight schedule. It becomes even more challenging since the hit of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the school is not even sure whether to take the class online or offline and the previously booked flight getting cancelled in the last minute.

So we launched a few feature that allows students to request to modify move-in date, even after the booking is confirmed by the host. When you receive such request, your booking status page may look similar to the image below

If you'd like to accept the request, you may simply click Accept. The move-in date on the contract will be updated accordingly. We will also adjust the payment date of the security deposit on our end.

Note you do not have to accept the request if you do not feel like doing so. Clicking Reject means that no changes to the contract is made. The student is still required to move in to your homestay on the date specified on the contract.

It's as simple as that! We will keep you posted when a new feature launches on homadorma next time!

International students entering Canada are required by the government of Canada to go through the process of a minimum of 14 days mandatory quarantine. If students show symptoms during the quarantine, are exposed to another traveller with symptoms, or test positive for COVID-19, the student must begin an additional 14 days of isolation.

The initial 3 days must be spent at a government designated hotel. The following 11 days or longer can be spent at a place that's "suitable" for quarantine. So are homestays suitable places for quarantine?

Government of Canada set up the following general guidelines of whether a place is suitable for quarantine. Note students may be asked by the officers at the border to verify such information.
1. stay for 14 days or possibly longer
2. have access to the necessities of life, including water, food, medication and heat without leaving quarantine
3. can avoid contact with others who did not travel with you
4. have no visits from family or guests

Most homestay hosts who agree with students living there are able to meet the above criteria 1, 2, and 4. The only challenge is:
Can student avoid contact with others who did not travel with him/her in a homestay setting?

More specifically, government of Canada gives a few examples of shared living places NOT suitable for quarantine:

source: https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/isolation​

While some homestays are able to offer private living space to the student, and avoid contact with others not travelled with him/her, other homestays are only able to offer the place in a shared setting. If students decide to quarantine in a homestay, here are our recommended steps to take.

1. Contact hosts on homadorma.com. Communicate with the host about the quarantine plan.
2. Verify with the host that he/she allows students to quarantine in the homestay
3. Verify with the host that he/she is able to provide the quarantine place that meets the requirements published on government of Canada website.
2. After booking the homestay, ask the host to issue a letter of statement in the following format:

"I, John Doe, is willing to accommodate the traveller, Jane Doe, at 123 ABC avenue. I confirm that the place of accommodation is a suitable place for quarantine where the traveler:
1. stay for 14 days or possibly longer
2. have access to the necessities of life, including water, food, medication and heat without leaving quarantine
3. can avoid contact with others who did not travel with you
4. have no visits from family or guests

I confirm that the place of accommodation is not a Congregate living settings, including settings with vulnerable populations.

Name
Date
Signature:

It is our understanding that by issuing such statement, you are able to give the border officer an extra layer of confidence that the place is ideal for quarantine. However, please note Homadorma does not have authority to determine whether the place is suitable for quarantine, and that the student is at his/her own risk when choosing a homestay as a place for quarantine. Homadorma assumes no liability should the student not allowed to enter the Canadian border due to not able to meet the quarantine criteria set by the government of Canada.

Homadorma has been conducting on site interview with homestay host for almost 10 years. We are dedicated to creating a safe environment for our students, and combat fraud in the home rental marketplace.

The widespread of Covid-19 posted significant challenges on our staff interview procedure. Sending our staff to the host family poses a health threat to the host families, the community, and our staff. As a result, we have decided to suspend the face to face staff interview, and replace it with virtual staff interview.

​Check more details about the Virtual Staff Interview

​During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to keep health and safety in mind. We’ve created the following guidelines for hosts, based on guidance from the World Health Organization and the Government of Canada. Hosts should also continue to monitor government travel advisories and follow all national and local guidelines.

This Health and safety guidelines is to help address health and safety concerns but these measures cannot eliminate all risk. Especially if hosts are in a higher risk category (ex: people above the age of 65 or people with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease), we recommend obtaining professional guidance and taking extra precautions when hosts are making the decision to confirm a staff interview on Homadorma.

​When the staff interview re-opens a city/area, hosts in that particular city/area will receive emails from Homadorma host support asking them to fill out a questionnaire to confirm their health and safety status. Once we receive the confirmation from hosts, they will be contacted by our staff interviewers shortly for interview time scheduling.
​
You as a host should not confirm a staff interview if:

• You or your family members are actively infected or have tested positive with COVID-19 in the past 30 days
• You or your family members suspect you are sick or have been exposed and are awaiting test results to confirm or deny a diagnosis of COVID-19
• You or your family members are showing symptoms or are concerned about possible infection of COVID-19
• You or your family members have had close, sustained contact with an individual confirmed or suspected to be infected with COVID-19, within the last 14 days

Clean the spaces
Please make sure the following spaces are cleaned before the interview:

• Student room(s)
• Washroom(s) accessible by student(s)
• Common area and backyard (if applicable)

One person interview
We require a maximum of 1 person per household to attend the face to face interview. Family members not attending the face to face interview may choose to stay in other rooms if necessary.

Hosts should review the checklist of the staff interview prior to the interview at
​ https://www.homadorma.com/en/why-staff-interview, and make sure that they have everything ready.

Follow physical distancing guidelines
When hosts are in a common area or shared space, maintain physical distance from the staff interviewer at all times, as recommended by the relevant regulatory authorities (ex: approximately 2 metres according to the Government of Canada). Hosts should avoid physical contact with the staff interviewer.

Wear a mask or face covering
In case that hosts are unable to maintain the physical distance, please wear a protective face covering at all times as recommended by regulatory agencies or authorities such as the Government of Canada. The staff interviewers will only ask hosts to take off the mask for a very short period for the purpose of ID verification.

All staff interviewers are required to follow a similar procedure that our hosts do. Below are what hosts can expect from us:

Confirmation of the health and safety status
When the staff interview re-opens a city/area, the local staff interviewer(s) will be required to fill out a questionnaire to confirm their health and safety status. Once Homadorma receives the confirmation from the staff interviewer(s), they are allowed to contact hosts for interview time scheduling.

Follow physical distancing guidelines
When staff interviewers are in a common area or shared space, maintain physical distance from the host at all times.

Wear a mask/face covering and a face shield
Staff interviewers will wear a protective face covering and a face shield during the interview process. The staff interviewers will take the face shield off if it affects the views while photographing.

Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions or concerns by sending emails to the host support team. Contact information can be found at Help Centre after you login.