International hospitality exchange is a form of accommodation whereby visitors from a different country stay in a house or apartment of a local friend or host during their overseas travel. It is altruistic in nature. Homestay is a broader notion encompassing hospitality exchange (when it’s free.) The key aspect of non-altruistic homestay which differentiates it from the usual renting is that the host is very near (typically lives in the same house, apartment, etc.), and is not a hospitality professional or a commercial entity. 

Hospitality exchange can provide several opportunities to home stay guests:

• Savings on accommodation costs
• Personal connections with people from a different culture and/or social class
• Local perspective and information about the city that is not easily found in guidebooks
• A deeper understanding of the life of the locals
• More interactions with foreigners, thereby strengthening intercultural understanding and reducing prejudices and intolerance
• Opportunities to stay in areas under-served by hotels or hostels
• Opportunities to stay in unique properties such as igloos, cabins, and castles
• Compared to staying in a hotel, a home stay may result in a lower carbon footprint

Visamate is a hospitality exchange network that facilitates linkage between international guests and hosts. Our network model is a gift economy and is shaped by altruism and cyber-utopianism.