FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Is HC just another Hostess Agency?
2. As an exhibitor, how do I find the personnel for my event?
3. Does HC have free services?
4. Which services are charged a cost?
5. Which payment methods are accepted by HC?
6. As an Exhibitor, why should I use HC instead of the Hostess agency I am currently using?
7. Are there any advantages for Hosts?
8. Is HC staff checking people and companies identity?
9. Will HC staff call me for an interview? (for Hosts)
10. Which information do I need to provide to get HC membership and on which basis is approval granted?
11. I have submitted my personal details but I haven’t got access data yet, why is this taking so long?
12. Is HC legally liable for the actual hire and payment of both parties?
13. Has HC any Help desk contact available?
14. Which languages are supported on HC?
15. I cannot find the city for my event in the list, nor is my event listed, what to do?
16. As an Exhibitor, how can I make sure that I will get what I paid for?
17. How do I make sure that the contacts shown as available are effectively answering to my contact inquiry? (for Exhibitors)

 

Q1) Is HC just another Hostess Agency?
No, HC has introduced a new and convenient concept in the job market of Hostesses and Exhibitors. In brief, HostessChannel is a contact exchange service based on an online “self-service” platform where the hostess marketplace is self-regulated by demand and offer parties.
HC differs from an usual Hostess Agency in that there are no intermediaries and everything is managed at ease online from both parties (hosts and exhibitors/promoter) without restrictions and according to your personal needs.

Q2) So, as an exhibitor, how do I find the personnel for my event?
On HC you use a search function on the selected dates, in the required geographical area, for the desired amount of people. This concept is quite similar to the well-known hotel room or flight ticket booking service.
Available people will appear in the search results including a browsable list of set-cards. Depending on your credit, you can then book the desired person(s) who will be notified by the system. After the booking is confirmed by the selected hostess, contact details will be provided to you for further agreements and her/his calendar will be automatically updated so that the booked people will not be shown as available for other Exhibitors on the same day(s).

Q3) Does HC have free services?
HC offers completely free service for hosts/hostesses and free registration for exhibitors.
The HC staff holds however the rights to suspend or delete accounts if proved abuse is detected or reported by the users community.
Exhibitors without a premium membership (i.e. with no credit) have also access to most of its functions and free catalogue search.

Q4) Which services are charged a cost instead?
Fees are only involved on Exhibitor's behalf to complete a booking and only after the Hostess personnel has accepted his request. See our Prices for more details.

Q5) Which payment methods are accepted by HC?
To become premium members as an Exhibitor you can use standard bank transfers or PayPal payments.
Please take into consideration about 2 working days for the transfer to be completed and verified before the amount is credited on your account.
All transactions are completed through a German bank account. Euro is the therefore the used currency.

Q6) As an Exhibitor, why should I use HC instead of the Hostess agency I am currently using?
By using HostessChannel you get obvious advantages.
First, contacts are exchanged upon exhibitor’s request and without intermediation. This means your expenses for hired hostesses/hosts will be minimized up to 90% when compared with common agency fees, simply because the usual payment "per hour" is NOT REQUESTED from our side.
Secondly, HC provides to you Exhibitor a broad card index where you can draw Hostess contacts from. So, in this respect you benefit from the same advantages a hostess agency can offer you, plus the freedom of choosing yourself the people that you consider suit you best for the event. This way you have much more control over your choice and you can do this comfortably anytime form your office desk.

Q7) Are there any advantages for Hosts?
The major feature offered by HC to Hosts lies in the personal availability calendar. Hosts are able to change anytime their availability status on any day and for each supported city, so that they can decide when and where to be contacted for job offers.
In addition to this, since HC does not act as an intermediary, there are huge financial advantages for Hosts too. Along with the possibility to create a personal account with setcard profile, Hosts can also specify a desired hourly pay and take advantage to negotiate the final honorary settlement directly with the exhibitor. No deduction is kept by HC on the Hostess pay!
Finally, the registration and services for Hosts are completely free of charge.

Q8) Is HC staff checking people and companies identity?
Work permit where needed to work on the selected countries of the events will be requested from all registered hostesses and hosts.
Prior to membership approval companies who apply for Exhibitor's account will be requested to prove their identity if the information provided is not sufficient for us.

Q9) Will HC staff call me for an interview? (for Hosts)
HC personnel intervention is normally not required for establishing business contact with Exhibitors since the system does it already for you.
No agent will call you to negotiate fees or regulate contract clauses between parties. This is left to each case independently.

Q10) Which information do I need to provide to get HC membership and on which basis is approval granted?
Membership application is submitted online on our registration page.
For exhibitor’s account in addition to the basic personal information we will need:
- a valid company address,
- corporate email and website,
- business telephone and fax number
which will allow our staff to check that your contact is reliable. The verification process from your submission can take a maximum of three working days depending on workload.
Please note that no free email accounts will be accepted for Exhibitors' accounts.
For Hostess subscription we require:
- electronic copy of a valid EU work permit for non-EU citizens
- valid phone number and email address
- recent photos in jpg, png or gif formats (portrait and full body)
For better profile visibility we also suggest to provide us with:
- Social security number,
- electronic copy of your Trading licence if available.
All required details are marked with a red star on the registration form.

Q11) I have submitted my personal details but I haven’t got access data yet, why is this taking so long?
New Exhibitors accounts are validated one by one by HC staff to verify that Companies are eligible for membership.
Only relevant companies will be admitted with proved activity in the field of Exhibition related services. Also real fax numbers and job permit copies are prerequisites for admission.
This way the community is protected against abuse, guaranteeing at the same time that everybody feels safe and quick communication / employment is in the right place.
Normally you will receive your personal login credentials the same day you submit your registration.

Q12) Is HC legally liable for the actual hire and payment of both parties?
Since HC offers a freely browseable service and there is no control by HC staff upon the actual exchange and hire contracts, HC cannot be held responsible in any way for any Host/Hostess identity verification or payment settlement.
Therefore no legal responsibility is taken. See Disclaimer for further details.

Q13) Has HC any Help desk contact available?
We offer an Email based contact form which can be used to forward your questions.
Technical Support as well as extra services is also offered to registered users only on a case by case basis, should the need occur. For urgent matters we are also reachable over the phone (German based landline and mobile phone numbers).

Q14) Which languages are supported on HC?
HostessChannel is a service currently operating in Europe, but serving people from virtually all over the world, as long as you can communicate with us in the supported languages.
The following languages are currently supported:
English, German, Italian, Russian.
The website sections are all available in the above languages.
We plan to support other languages as much as possible in the near future.

Q15) I cannot find the city for my event in the list, nor is my event listed, what to do?
HostessChannel is continuosly adding locations where the major exhibitions are taking place. If you believe a particular city or Event should be included in our list then as an Exhibitor you have the possibility to forward your event request using the relevant form inside your account.
We will evaluate your comments based on the market relevance and take the first opportunity to add your locations accordingly.

Q16) As an Exhibitor, how can I make sure that I will get what I paid for?
HostessChannel works as a pre-paid service. Credit is however only deducted when the Host/Hostess has confirmed attendace to your event request. At this point contact details will be made available.
This way you only pay when the Host has agreed and accepted your job offer.

Q17) How do I make sure that the contacts shown as available are effectively answering to my contact inquiry? (for Exhibitors)
Hosts’ account are checked at the time of registration and constantly monitored afterwards to see if they are really active and encouraging people to keep their profile regularly updated or delete if no use is required any longer. For improved reliability the profiles with the most recent calendar update will also appear first in the search results. This is an additional guarantee that the Exhibitors will contact first the people who are more active so chances are that their calendar is up-to-date and reducing reply time.
Please inform us should a Host not reply in a reasonable time. We will check if the person is still using the account and may opt to clarify the situation directly with her/him, therefore the risk for Exhibitors is minimized. After 3 days the request has been sent you have however the option to cancel the booking request, thus preventing a double booking if you wish to contact other people with the same request.

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