As a collaborative community, Worldpackers is based on the transparent feedback of each exchange to promote the quality and safety of experiences. Here, you will find more details about the policies that regulate our community.
Policy for the Quality and Safety of Experiences
Worlpackers is a global community of conscious travelers and welcoming hosts that has been promoting thousands of unique connections and experiences since 2014. These exchanges aim to develop and transform the world into a more socially and environmentally sustainable place.
We promote win-win experiences which create opportunities for development for travelers, hosts, and their projects. Our experiences are based on our main pillars, which are respect, inclusion, collaboration, and learning.
Being a member of the Worldpackers community - either as a traveler or a host - means to become part of a collaborative community formed by users of all origins. Therefore, there is no space for any type of discrimination, be it related to gender, race, religion, nationality, or ableness.
We know that each region has widely varying cultural norms, beliefs, customs, and laws. For that reason, we expect hosts and travelers to act in accordance with local laws and treat each other with respect and empathy, even when opinions differ from the norms or beliefs of the context in which they are inserted.
The pillars mentioned are expected to be respected by all the members of our community before, during, and after each experience. Here at Worldpackers, we believe that collaborative experiences go beyond exchanging skills for accommodation with the host, it is also about the connection created between the project team, other travelers, and the local community.
We understand that experiences can be subjective and lead to different perspectives. Therefore, we expect the entire community to be open to giving and receiving feedback with empathy, keeping in mind that the purpose of the reviews on the platform is self-development. For this reason, we always seek to understand both sides and present opportunities for the improvement of future experiences.
To ensure the collaborative purpose and safety of members of our community, we rely on the feedback sent by WP members about each experience. This feedback can come from public reviews left on the platform or from our private support channels. Feedback can be given proactively by the travelers and hosts or requested by the Worldpackers team.
Therefore, if a member of the WP community receives recurring negative feedback from other members of the community - be it through a public or private review or one of WP’s private support channels - this member can be deactivated from Worldpackers.
We consider as “negative feedbacks” all the testimonies from members of the community that indicate that the experience was not aligned to what was agreed between traveler and host on the platform and/or not aligned to our collaborative purpose and the pillars of our community.
For hosts
Categories of reported issues
In Worldpackers, we categorize the reported situations regarding hosts as:
- Technical issues: when aspects of the experience described in the host’s position are not aligned to the experience itself. For example; number of hours not being respected, perks not being offered, or volunteers being required to perform tasks that are not aligned to what is described in the position.
- Non-technical issues: when communication and relationship issues take place between travelers and hosts, or when the host is not aligned to the collaborative purpose of the platform. This can also happen when the host promotes an experience that requires too much from the volunteer;
- Extreme issues: we consider feedback as extreme when they involve situations and conflicts that compromise the physical, moral, and/or psychological integrity of travelers.
What can lead to a host profile being deactivated on Worldpackers?
- Inappropriate and/or violent communication with members of the Worlpackers community or the Worldpackers team can lead to deactivation without prior notice and with reactivation subject to the team's evaluation;
- Infringement of any clause in our Terms of Use may lead to the deactivation of an account on Worldpackers without prior notice and with reactivation subject to the team's evaluation;
- Reports of non-technical and extreme situations with evidence and/or official documents - such as police reports - lead to the immediate deactivation of the host’s profile without prior notice;
- Recurring negative feedback - be it through a public or private review or one of WP’s private support channels. We consider as recurring:
- Technical issues: three or more instances of negative feedback, or >=25% of all the feedback received about the experiences provided by the host;
- Non-technical issues: three or more instances of negative feedback, or >=25% of all the feedback received about the experiences provided by the host;
- Extreme issues: two or more instances of negative feedback, made by any member of the community (travelers and hosts).
Feedbacks can be hybrid, which means they can involve more than one category above. In case we receive hybrid feedback involving extreme issues, the criteria for extreme issues will be considered for the profile evaluation.
Hosts Reactivation Policy
Worldpackers believe in the development of the community, therefore profiles that were deactivated due to recurring negative feedback can be reactivated. Hosts can request to be reactivated subject to the analysis of the Worldpackers team, according to the criteria and steps below:
- Technical issues
- Host profiles will be suspended for at least one month after deactivation due to recurring negative feedback regarding only technical issues;
- If there is interest in reactivating the profile after this period, a reflection of possible improvements will be proposed between the WP team and the host to align their experience with the collaborative purpose and correct the recurring issues indicated by travelers.
- Non-technical issues
- Host profiles will be suspended for one to three months after deactivation due to recurring negative feedback;
- If there is interest in reactivating the profile after the established period, a reflection will be proposed between the WP team and the host to align the experience promoted by the host with the collaborative purpose and correct the recurring issues indicated by the travelers.
- Extreme issues
- Profiles can be suspended from Worldpackers for up to 5 years, counting from the date of deactivation;
- After this period, the WP team can assess the reactivation request through an analysis of the current management of the project, conversations made via any channel chosen and agreed upon between the parties, and/or with an exercise provided by the Worldpackers team to be executed by the host.
Issues reported with evidence and/or official documents lead to the suspension of the host’s profile for 10 years.
Important
- After being reactivated, if a host receives negative feedback of any kind, it may have its account deactivated again and with suspension for longer than 12 months for technical and non-technical issues, and 10 years for extreme issues;
- These policies will also apply to any new profiles submitted on the platform by the host and/or project that had their profile deactivated;
- Requests for reactivation should be sent by the host via e-mail to support@worldpackers.com, with the subject titled “Reactivation Request”.
For travelers
Categories of reported issues
In Worldpackers, we categorize the reported situations regarding travelers as:
- Non-technical issues: when communication and relationship issues take place between travelers and hosts, or when the traveler is not aligned to the collaborative purpose of the platform;
- Extreme issues: we consider feedback as extreme when they involve situations and conflicts that compromise the physical, moral, and/or psychological integrity of other members of the community - be it of fellow travelers, guests staying in the host’s property, members of staff or the hosts themselves.
What can lead to a traveler profile being deactivated on Worldpackers?
- Inappropriate and/or violent communication with members of the Worlpackers community or the Worldpackers team can lead to deactivation without prior notice and with reactivation subject to the team's evaluation;
- Infringement of any clause in our Terms of Use may lead to the deactivation of an account on Worldpackers without prior notice and with reactivation subject to the team's evaluation;
- Reports of non-technical and extreme situations with evidence and/or official documents - such as police reports - lead to the immediate deactivation of the traveler’s profile without prior notice;
- Recurring negative feedback, be it through a public or private review or one of WP’s private support channels. We consider as recurring:
- Non-technical issues: three or more instances of negative feedback, or >=25% of all the feedback received from members of the community (travelers or hosts) about their experiences with the traveler;
- Extreme issues: two or more instances of negative feedback, made by any member of the community (travelers and hosts).
Feedbacks can be hybrid, which means they can involve more than one category above. In case we receive hybrid feedback involving extreme issues, the criteria for extreme issues will be considered for profile evaluation.
About the membership
- According to our Terms of Use, the amount paid by the membership may not be refunded if the traveler’s account is deactivated;
- According to the Travelers Reactivation Policy, if the traveler has their account reactivated following a deactivation, the original expiration date of the membership will be maintained.
Travelers Reactivation Policy
Worldpackers believe in the development of the community, therefore traveler profiles that were deactivated due to recurring negative feedback can be reactivated. Travelers can request to be reactivated subject to the analysis of the Worldpackers team, according to the criteria and steps below:
- Non-technical issues
- Traveler profiles will be suspended for one to four months after deactivation due to recurring negative feedback;
- If there is interest in reactivating the profile after the established period, a reflection will be proposed between the WP team and the traveler to align the experience provided by the traveler with the collaborative purpose and correct the recurring issues indicated by the members of the WP community.
- Extreme issues
- Profiles can be suspended from Worldpackers for up to 5 years, counting from the date of deactivation, according to the WP Team evaluation;
- After this period, the WP team can assess the reactivation request through conversations made via any channel chosen and agreed upon between the parties, and/or with an exercise provided by the Worldpackers team to be executed by the traveler.
Issues reported with evidence and/or official documents lead to the suspension of the host’s profile for 10 years.
Important
- After the reactivation of the profile, if a traveler gets new negative feedbacks of any kind, they can have their account deactivated again for longer than 12 months for technical and non-technical issues, and 10 years for extreme issues;
- These policies also apply to any new profiles created on the platform by the traveler who was deactivated;
- Requests for reactivation should be sent by the traveler via e-mail to support@worldpackers.com, with the subject titled “Reactivation Request”.
Travelers on the WP Trips or WP Pack plans for Couples/Friends
We consider exchanges done by pairs as a single experience. Therefore, if a member of a WP Trips or WP Pack plan for Couples/Friends has their account deactivated for any of the reasons mentioned above, it may also incur charges to the second account involved in the partnership.
The possible changes are the deactivation of the profile and/or expiration of the current plan.
Worldpackers Positioning
We are always open to listen to both parties and ready to share the best practices we have learned from our hosts and travelers from around the world since 2014. As the Worldpackers community grows, we will continue to ensure that our processes and practices are aligned with our goal: to promote collaborative experiences in a transparent, safe and welcoming community.
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