Introducing the NHS Homestay Hub: A Private Homestay Marketplace Facilitating Employee-to-Employee Room Rentals

[Dublin, 11th July 2023] - Homestay.com in response to the current housing and cost of living crisis is revolutionising the accommodation landscape, through the provision of its technology to facilitate a closed employee Homestay Hub. An initiative launched recently with the NHS provides a private homestay hub designed exclusively for NHS employees to rent rooms to other NHS employees. With a focus on convenience, affordability, and fostering a sense of community, the marketplace aims to streamline the process of finding affordable, comfortable and compatible housing solutions within the organisation. Homestay.com, while not commissioned by the NHS to provide this service, were keen to support NHS staff by providing this dedicated platform.

The NHS Homestay Hub provides a private marketplace for employees to connect with fellow colleagues who have spare rooms available for rent. This unique approach not only addresses the housing needs of both Domestic and International recruits in the NHS but also strengthens professional relationships and promotes a collaborative work environment.

Key features of NHS Homestay Hub include:

• Secure and Confidential Environment, where only NHS employees can list or search for available rooms.

• Seamless Room Rental Experience, offering a request based booking process and advanced search filters together with video messaging, making it easy for employees to find suitable rooms within their organisation. With detailed listings, including amenities, house rules, and preferences, employees can make informed decisions to find their ideal accommodation.

• Cost-Effective Housing Solution, where renting rooms from fellow employees can provide significant cost savings compared to other traditional accommodation options. The NHS Homestay Hub promotes affordable alternatives by enabling employees to find housing within their budget while reducing commuting time and expenses.

Here is what Yvonne Finlay, CEO of Homestay.com had to say about the launch, "We are thrilled to introduce the NHS Homestay Hub as a dedicated marketplace for employee-to-employee room rentals. Our Homestay Hub solution makes the housing search process convenient and efficient for any large organisation while fostering a strong sense of community among employees. We believe that this innovative approach will not only provide affordable accommodation options for NHS employees but also enable NHS employees to monitise their spare room during this cost of living crisis, we are delighted to launch this initiative."

Ian Burden, Head of Transformation, NHS England, commented with enthusiasm on the initiative “Homestay have been really supportive of the NHS and have established a secure part of their platform where members of the NHS can rent a room to other members of the NHS. This provides benefits for all of us because staff can earn extra money under the Government 'rent a room scheme', but also it provides somewhere for staff and students to stay in cost effective accommodation”.

Employees of the NHS can sign up to Become a Host and list their room or Become a Guest and book their room at https://nhs.homestay.com/

About Homestay.com

Homestay.com is an accommodation marketplace dedicated to the homestay travel experience. With more than 36,000 hosts offering places to stay across 150 countries, Homestay.com enables guests, professionals, students, interns to stay in the home of a local resident for long and short term stays. Focused as much on people as it is on places, Homestay.com puts hosts at the heart of amazing accommodation experiences. The company was founded in 2013 by Tom Kennedy, co-founder of Hostelworld.com and Debbie Flynn, a veteran of the education travel industry. Homestay.com is funded by Delta Partners Ltd.

Homestay.com has adapted its technology to facilitate private Homestay Hubs. A homestay hub brings together like-minded people with shared interests who want to stay in each other’s homes when they travel or relocate for work reasons. By connecting colleagues within the same organisation, or members with similar interests, Homestay.com’s technology opens up convenient, affordable, sustainable and community-driven housing solutions.

About NHS England

NHS England provides national leadership for the NHS and through a comprehensive Nhs-long-term-workforce-plan, it aims to put staffing on a sustainable footing and improve patient care. We support NHS organisations to work in partnership to deliver better outcomes for our patients and communities, at the best possible value for taxpayers and to continuously improve the NHS. We are working to make the NHS an employer of excellence and to enable NHS patients to benefit from world-leading research, innovation and technology. The new NHS England » Staff accommodation landing page sign posts staff to the NHS Homestay Hub.

For media inquiries, please contact: press@homestay.com