Is HostingPower.ie Legit?

If waiting for the arrival of my Irish student visa was the most excruciating part of coming to Ireland, looking for accommodation in Dublin would take second place.

I had unsuccessfully attempted to book dorm-style accommodations (all fully booked), messaged people on the widely-suggested Daft.ie (no response) and tried just about every other housing option suggested by DIT. Little did I know that my saving grace would come from a suggestion on Reddit.

HostingPower is a website that caters specifically to international students looking to do exchange programs or earn their undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in Dublin. I got pretty excited when I saw their home page and read the information on their “About Us” page because I felt like I had finally hit the jackpot. Unfortunately, I had a bit of trouble finding testimonials online from students to check the legitimacy of the company. Because of this, I figured I should write a testimonial to ease the minds of those that are still wondering if the site is a scam.

Here are some things you must know about Hosting Power, starting with the most important one:

The website is legitimate.

Yes, it is not a scam. I’ve lived in my host’s home for a month now and things are pretty much how I expected them to be!

You book a room before arriving in Dublin.

This is a pretty important thing to remember. If you have been fruitlessly attempting to book a place before you arrived in Dublin, then this site would make all your worries disappear. However, I know that most people prefer to see the place in person first before committing so you may not be comfortable with Hosting Power’s methods. It may ease your mind to know that Hosting Power does check the rooms and homes before they approve them on their site; and based on what I’ve seen online, they all seem to be in pretty good condition! In my opinion, booking with the website is a good option to consider, especially if your other prospects aren’t working out. Do take note, though, that you can only input “move-in” dates that are at least a week after you make your booking request!

There is a fixed weekly rent that includes ALL bills.

You pay your host directly with your rent every week (I’m assuming the value depends on many factors such as size and location), and this is typically done with cash but you and your host may prefer to do bank transfers. The rate that you pay won’t change during your booked stay so you don’t have to worry about increasing rent prices!

You pay a service fee to the company.

Much like booking a space on Airbnb, Hosting Power charges service fees that you have to pay online before your booking. However, the money will not be taken from your account until your host actually accepts your request. I’m not entirely sure of the exact amount that you would have to pay, but for my ~ 4-month long booking, the service fee was over €400/close to €500. You can check this by visiting the site yourself, choosing a room, inputting your dates of arrival and departure and clicking “Book Now”.

You share a house with others and you can’t have overnight guests.

In all bookings on Hosting Power, you get your own private room; in some cases, you also get your own bathroom. Although, other spaces are shared spaces, and not all areas in the home may be available for you to use. If you are looking to get a studio apartment with maximum privacy or to share a place with friends OR if you were hoping to have people sleep over any time you want, this site is definitely not for you.

In my case, Hosting Power was the perfect solution for my accommodation troubles. All I really needed was a safe, long-term place to stay close to campus for the entire duration of my exchange program and have a quiet space to be able to read, blog and Skype with loved ones. If you’re the same type of person – Hosting Power is your bae.

The best way to get more important information is by exploring the site yourself and checking their FAQs page where you can find most, if not all, of the things I talked about above.

Good luck with your accommodation search in Dublin and I hope you have a lovely time there!