How Hosts & Locals works
RuinMyTrip started as a place for honest travel reviews. Hosts & Locals adds the part a review cannot give you: the people. It runs on one free account, and you can be a traveler, a local and a host at the same time.
One profile, three roles
- Traveler. Everybody. Post a trip or a buddy post with a city and dates, and find people going at the same time.
- Local. You live somewhere and are happy to meet travelers. You choose what you offer, from a coffee to a neighbourhood walk, and roughly when you are free. Being a local never means offering a bed.
- Host. You would offer a traveler a free room or couch. You apply, a moderator reviews it, and you can pause it any time. Every stay request is yours to accept or decline.
Meeting a local, step by step
- Search a city on the Hosts & Locals page, then filter by language, interest or what a local offers.
- Press Ask to meet. The request carries no message, so it cannot be used to send anything unpleasant.
- The local says yes or no. A no is never announced, and nobody is asked to explain.
- After a yes, private messages open between the two of you. Agree on somewhere public for the first meeting.
- A day after you connect, either of you can leave a reference about how it went.
Finding a travel buddy
The travel buddy search covers dated trips, buddy posts and locals together. Search by city or country and by dates, filter by interests and travel style, and ask to join. Trips show the city and dates you chose to publish, never a hotel, a flight or a live location. Search travel buddies.
Staying with a host, step by step
- Find a host on a city page and read their profile, house rules and references.
- Press Ask to stay: your dates, how many of you, and an introduction. You need a confirmed email, a name and a sentence about yourself on your profile, and to be 18 or over.
- The host accepts or declines. A decline is never explained.
- After a yes, private messages open. Agree where and when to meet there: RuinMyTrip never stores an address.
- Confirm the stay. Either of you can cancel before the first night, and either of you can report the stay at any time.
- After the last night, each of you can leave a reference.
Hosting is always free: no payments, no fees, no paid listings. Never send or accept money for a stay. We do not check identity documents, so read profiles and references before you agree to anything. A host shows a city and, if they choose, a neighbourhood, never an address.
References
References are what members say about each other. They can only be written after a real connection here, a local who accepted a request or somebody you traveled with, and only once that connection is a day old. Nobody can write one for themselves, and each person can write one per member for each kind of connection. If a reference about you is unfair or untrue, report it and a moderator will review it. References are separate from place and city reviews.
Messages
Nobody can message you until you have both said yes. Your email address and phone number are never shown. You can block anybody from their profile or a conversation, and report any message.
Read the safety guide before you meet anybody. No check is a guarantee of safety.