When can I host you ? How much time can I host you ? How to improve your chances to be my guest ? What if we are a large (>4) group ? (or a family) What can I offer ? What I ask you ? To get a quicker reply and last minute requests... Some things you must know ...
A mention about days that in calendar are marked with "0 people":
Normally it means that for that day there is someone not
yet 100% confirmed, or I am not sure if the second guest room will be available,
so it could be possible that if you send a request
you will be put in waiting list, to have a confirm or deny within 48 hours.
In either case do it only if you are one or two people since usually the
places that could resurface are at maximum two!
it would make me greatly easier to accept you, if you
spontaneously, in your first email message, give me the answers to the usual
questions: email and phone number for each person in the group,
their occupation, time and date of arrival and departure and mean of
transportation used, if you have food intolerance and if you have preference
for single or double beds.
Hospitality exchange is also cultural exchange, and here dining around a table
is the main moment for this. So be aware that I expect guests to have every day
dinner (at 2115, but if necessary we can delay it a bit) together.
Also, I have had oftern request from people that ask for them and
travelmates, but says that would give their travelmates full info and contacts
only once I would have accepted their request. I accept a group ONLY AFTER
having had a two way email contact with each one in the group.
If your plans do not fit this rule please avoid to ask me at this time
my e-mail address for contacts: leo5csi@trail.it
that is a greeting, but can be also another thing !
If
you arrived here it is because you wanted to come in my home.
We
say "patti chiari amicizia lunga" (clear pacts, long
lasting friendship), so read carefully:
The dates for which I can take in account requests at this time are:
If you do not want a review on mosquitoes' michelin guide of restaurants,
better you get some cautions
Many museums open as early as 08:15 (and have also reduced fares for that time)
so it is anyway a good time to visit the city
However to give opportunity to bigger groups to find an accomodation together,
since I am one of the very few hosts in Firenze able to host 5 or more people,
such larger groups may ask and have confirm also for further dates
until a reasonable future.
Also, irrespectively of what is written in the calendar, one-day stays can have
a final confirm only a maximum of one week in advance.
my e-mail address for contacts: leo5csi@trail.it
Preferred stay is 2 to 4 nights, but I can make exceptions, just ask.
Normally
I will confirm once we have had an e-mail exchange and all personal
informations; according the period of the year I may have one to
four rooms available for guests.
Only two have single beds. So, if you are more than one
person, when requesting, tell me if you prefer single or double beds.
If you say that is just a preference for single or double, but not a
constraint, this would help a lot.
In case your group, of an even number of people, asks only single beds,
tell me if you accept to share the big room, that has three single beds,
with other guests, or to be split in two different rooms.
In your request
please state clearly the exact date (and where possible approximate time and
mean of transportation used) you expect to arrive, and also date and time
when you plan to leave.
Include also a list with the complete names and e-mail of all the people
in your party, as well at least one working GSM/LTE phone number that I can use
to call you while arriving and. -very important- an indication if some of
you have dietary constraints.
I will consider the request complete only when I will have all these
informations
"dates are flexible"
does mean that in case I had no availability in the day[s] you ask,
rather than declining, I may offer you an option to shift dates, not that
you reserve you the right to change dates last minute!.
Once accepted, the dates become fixed.
I expect that, unless differently specified,
you reply after my confirm message no later than 2 days, if arrival date
is more than 2 week apart, 24 hours in the other cases but within
3 hours if request were sent less than 48 hours before arrival
(keep phone on, if last minute I may directly call you)
Note that if you ask to change the dates
after I have confirmed, not necessarily means that you will still be
accepted.
I can host even groups of 5 or
more people, up to 9: since I am one of the few ones in my town that is
able to host such a large group, to give them more chances I may also
accept requests for dates more than 5 weeks ahead, up to a reasonable future.
For groups of 4 or more usually I can carve out two more places
when availability in the calendar says 1 or 2 less than the required number.
about last minute requests: I cannot accept less than 48 hours in advance
requests from groups of 5 or more; smaller ones can try also last
minute (but not after 11:00 of day of arrival); on certain days, also,
I might restrict acceptance to big groups only it they arrive at a time
much earlier than the usual 20:45 limit.
(but see also notes on availability after the general availability
calendar at beginning).
Note about families: a family is defined as a group of two
or more people when there is at least one person that is a parent of
another one in the group.
I will host families so defined only if at least one of following conditions
is true:
a. at least one of the person among parents or kids has been my guest before,
or I have been their guest;
or
b. at least one of the parents and at least one of
their kids has (proved by references) had at least one experience as a
guest (not by the same person) somewhere out of their home country;
or
c. cumulatively in the group there are at least 6 previous
experiences with at least two as host and two as guest, by at least two different people.
If in your group you have kids under 14 please read
the informations for this case.
Some people complained that I had too many rules: I wrote the rules here, so you can decide if they are reasonable for you and then send me a request or not.
If you send a request very close to arrival date remember to give answers, in your request, to the questions about the kind of bed that you prefer, the time you plan to arrive and leave and if you have food intolerances. This would help to know immediately if there are problem or on the other side accept immediately.
I will try to reply to your
request in the shortest time possible, but since often I receive more
requests than I can accommodate (Firenze has a lot of people coming
...) I have to ask also you to be quick in replying, so to be helpful
to as many people is possible.
So, if your request is for more than 8
days in advance, I can wait for your reply even 24 hours, but if you
require hospitality in short advance, I ask you to reply within a few
hours, in general I will wait one eight of the time remaining to your
arrival (1 to 6 in the night is neutralized).
If I will not receive an answer within that time and have other requests
I will consider it as cancelled.
If you expect not to have internet access for some time
please post in your message a note about when you will be able to
read and reply to the message.
If I think we need a quicker turnaround in replies, I will call
you in voice, so please keep the phone on: sometimes I need some
immediate clarification, or I had problem replying by e-mail.
I am not picky if any person
in the group does not have a personal profile on an hospex community,
but I ask as a minimum that the person
that makes the request indicate name and personal contact [email
address], for each one in the group, so i can reply individually
and ask further informations.
In particular I ask that all the people in the group share a common
language with me.
I can make an exception about this rule only if there is just 1 person
not sharing my -or the other guests'- languages, but at least two people
able to translate.
If you are one of the people that do not want to have a cellphone, or do not want to give to other people their personal number you can buy a SIM just for the trip!, otherwise I will be usually unable to host you, expecially on last minute or when you cannot adjust your arrival time to my movements. If there is more then one group for dinner not knowing where they are when they are late is not nice. Read here for more explainations