As inflation rises and wages remain stagnant, many people in Frome are looking for ways to supplement their income. For those with a spare room, Wiltshire Host Families Ltd (WHF) offers an attractive and flexible solution.
From March, the award-winning company is expanding into Frome, giving local residents the opportunity to earn up to £340 for a four-night hosting week – completely tax-free.
WHF, which already operates centres in Melksham, Trowbridge, Warminster, and Westbury, has been providing short-term stays for school groups for over 15 years. Despite challenges posed by the pandemic and Brexit, the company has rebounded strongly, winning the Prestige Awards for Hosting Company of the Year and Host Provider of the Year in consecutive years.
Val Rideout, managing director and founder of WHF, explained, “Hosting short stay students is great fun and because each school group only stay 3-4 weekday nights at a time and go out every day sightseeing, it doesn’t adversely impact on your home or work life. It’s also very flexible, in that you can dip in and out to suit your circumstances taking as many or as few groups as you want, within reason. Of course, the extra money is a great bonus too!”
“Bookings for next year are already flooding in, and as a result we are expanding to accommodate much larger groups, with a centre opening Frome from March. This will give more local people the opportunity to join us as hosts and supplement their incomes accordingly. As part of that expansion plan, we are looking to recruit more hosts as soon as possible.
“I’m passionate about giving the groups a great English Experience and will be looking for hosts who can take a minimum of two students (maximum four) and make them feel welcome. Our role is to support the hosts, students and their teachers throughout the stay and make sure that everyone has a great time.
“We already have proven systems in place to do this and we will be visiting all the new hosts to assess their suitability, explain exactly how we work and answer any questions they may have. Once they are on our register, we will be allocating them students according to their availability and the group’s matching requirements. In fact, we will be there every step of the way with help and advice whenever needed. We can’t wait to get going in Frome this March!”
The new Frome centre will be based from The Cork Street car park, which is where the coach will park overnight, and will be the pick-up / drop off point for the hosts families. The coordinator is Gill Cook who will be there to meet the host families each morning and evening.
Val added, “We love the diversity of our hosts. We have single ladies, couples with or without children, single parent families and retired folk – all different ages and from different backgrounds and cultures. Everyone brings a different experience to their students – and this is then shared with the school group, as a whole. Although the students are only at home in the evenings, hosts can give them some great memories to take back with them. With living costs rising, there couldn’t be a better time to join Wiltshire Host Families Ltd, and earn an extra income, completely tax free!”
For more information about hosting in Wiltshire, please visit www.wiltshirehostfamilies.co.uk or ring 07707 704822
Pictured: The Wiltshire Host Families team with their award: Haydn and Pauline Briggs, Trowbridge co-ordinators; Claire Dew, operations; Jess Hopper, group administrator; Jo Cass, operations manager; and Judith Laird, Westbury co-ordinator.
