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Your Local Host
What is a Local Host?
A Local Host is someone who lives in Ho Chi Minh City and shares the parts of it they know well: where they eat, take coffee, shop, train or practise a language. Local Hosts are not licensed tour guides, and nothing we offer is a tour: it is private travel time with a Local Host, and nothing beyond that. Anything outside it can be reported to us and can lead to removal from Elite Trip.
Which languages do Local Hosts speak?
Each profile lists the languages that Local Host speaks. Host Match lets you begin with the language you prefer, and for a Concierge trip our team chooses your Local Host with your language in mind. Help with being understood is part of every experience price.
What is the difference between a Local Host and a Gold Host?
Every approved host begins as a Local Host: interviewed, ID-checked and building a record of completed bookings. Gold Host is given by our team to hosts with a long record of reliable days and warm feedback from guests. It cannot be requested. The level sets the price of fixed-length experiences and nothing else. It is not a safety rating: every host passes the same checks.
How do I become a Local Host?
Apply from the Become a Local Host page. The application takes about 15 minutes and saves as you go. It asks for 3 to 10 clear photos of you, and a short video if you would like to add one. Our team reviews every application and interviews you before a profile goes live. You choose your days, your hours and the experiences you offer, and your phone number and address are never published.
Booking and paying
How do I book a Local Host?
Open a profile, choose a date, a start time and what you would like to do, and send a Booking Request. A note helps: a market you have read about, a match you want to watch, a quiet evening. Nothing is paid online. When your Local Host confirms, the details arrive by email and in your booking.
Where do we meet?
Always in a public place approved for your booking, which you both see in advance. Private homes, hotel rooms and other private rooms cannot be booked, and karaoke only takes place in approved shared or public rooms. For a Concierge trip, the first morning begins in your hotel lobby, where your Local Host meets you.
What does the price include?
Fixed-length experiences have one price for 3, 4, 6 or 8 hours, set by the host level. The profile shows the full amount before you send anything: the host fee, the service fee and an estimate of what you may spend on the day. It pays for the time, the planning and the language help of your Local Host. Food, drinks, transport, tickets and anything you buy are paid separately. Active experiences, group days and Concierge trips are quoted for you instead.
When do I pay?
On the day, in cash, to your Local Host, once the experience is over. No card, no deposit, no checkout online: nothing is taken in advance, so nothing ever needs refunding. You pay the price your booking showed.
How do I change or cancel a booking?
Cancelling is free until the cutoff shown on your booking. Because nothing is paid in advance, there is nothing to refund. To move a booking to another time, write to our team with your booking reference as early as you can.
What happens if my Local Host cancels?
You owe nothing, because nothing is paid in advance. The booking comes back to our team rather than to an automatic system, and you are told what happens next: a replacement Local Host, or the booking closed with nothing to pay. If a Local Host does not arrive, nothing is due either.
Safety
How are Local Hosts checked?
Our team interviews every Local Host and checks their identity document against their face. The verified badge appears only after that check. We also review their photos, profile, languages and the experiences they offer, and Family & Senior Travel hosts need a separate approval. Reviews come only from completed bookings.
Is Elite Trip suitable for a woman travelling alone?
These are in place on every booking. The first meeting is in an approved public place you both see. Local Hosts are interviewed and ID-checked. Messages stay inside the booking, and phone numbers show only while it is active. You confirm your arrival and the finish is recorded. You can share your plan with Trusted Contacts. A Safety and support button reaches our team, and the Safety page lists the local emergency numbers first.
What should I do if I feel uncomfortable?
Leave if you need to. Then write to our team with your booking reference and a few words about what happened. Safety cases are handled before routine questions. If anyone is in danger, call the emergency numbers on our Safety page first.
Concierge, families and planning
What is Concierge?
Concierge is a trip arranged for you. One Local Host plans your days, reserves the tables and the car, and meets you at your hotel. Tell us your dates and who is travelling; asking costs nothing. We reply with a plan and a written quote, with cars, tables and tickets listed separately, and you choose your Concierge Host before anything is confirmed. Each Concierge Host has been interviewed and ID-checked by our team.
Can I book for my family or a group?
Yes. The Family package plans the day around your family: a car or van, an easy pace, rest stops and a plan for the weather. The Group package covers friends, teams and celebrations, with transport, Local Hosts and timings in one quote. Both are quoted, and you receive the full price in writing before anything is confirmed.
What is Family & Senior Travel?
It is for the times you cannot be there yourself. A Senior Travel Host spends time with an older parent or relative: conversation, meals, walks, errands and appointments. At a hospital or clinic they help with transport and language, wait beside your relative and keep you informed. A Family Host can accompany or look after someone in your family. Both are approved separately. They are not doctors, nurses or carers: they never give treatment, handle medication or explain results.
What is Host Match?
Four short questions: your language, what you enjoy, your pace and your budget. Host Match then shows the three Local Hosts who suit you best, with the reasons. If none of them is free, tell us what you like and our team will find someone.
Is Elite Trip available outside Ho Chi Minh City?
For now, bookings are open in Ho Chi Minh City only. The Vietnam Journal covers the rest of the country: the regions, what things cost, getting around and where to go next. If your plans include another city, ask our team before you travel.
Will I need a visa for Vietnam?
Visa rules depend on your passport and change over time, so we do not summarise them here. The Vietnam Journal has a visa and entry section with the official source for every rule, the month we last checked it, and a checker for your passport. Read it before you book flights.
Can I read Elite Trip in my language?
Yes, in 11 languages. Choose yours from the language menu at the top of any page, and the same page opens in it.
Where to go next
The Help Center walks through your account and bookings step by step. For anything else, our team replies in person.
