New Zealand Homestays

Why homestay accomodation

Home-stay accommodation places international travellers with local families.  You will live with a Kiwi family who will provide your meals and accommodation.  In a home-stay environment, you will have your own bedroom but will share the bathroom and living areas with the rest of your home-stay family.  This style of accommodation provides tourist with the best opportunity to undergo an authentic New Zealand lifestyle.  Home-stays are also ideal for travellers who have never lived away from home.

New Zealanders are renowned for their friendliness and hospitality.  In a home-stay situation, you will be treated as a special guest, and may even come to be seen as a part of the family.  You will receive home cooked meals and all the other perks of living at home.  You’ll also benefit from the local experience of your host family, and get to see and do things that may not be in the tour guides.  In return, you will be expected to assist with domestic chores.

Some home-stay families host more than one traveller at the same time.  In this situation, you will have the chance to meet someone new and make a new friend.  Otherwise, you will benefit from the full attention of your host.

Home-stay families are screened before they are allowed to take in students.  Home-stay families must be sensitive and tolerant of other cultures and any cultural differences – for example, a home-stay family hosting a Hindu traveller will know not to offer beef for dinner.  Sometimes, they may even speak your language.

Qualmark has a list of guidelines in place for home-stay accommodation, such as the installation of smoke alarms in guest rooms and providing wheelchair access if necessary.  Qualmark endorsed home-stays assure the safety measures that you would experience in a hotel.

New Zealand also has a wide range of other ‘stay’ style accommodation, including farm-stays, marae-stays, ski-stays and orchard-stays.