Help centre
Clear answers for the whole journey.
Learn how hosting, reservations, verification, safety, money, and privacy work before you commit.
34 answers
What is Village Miles?
Village Miles connects travelers with reviewed local hosts who offer a stay and clearly described local services or experiences. It is designed for villages, rural areas, and overlooked places across India—not only established tourist destinations.
Is Village Miles open for paid bookings?
Not yet. The current pilot does not collect real money or promise a commercial reservation. Public pages will clearly change when compliant payments and final booking rules are enabled.
Can I browse without signing in?
Yes. Anyone can browse published journeys and read Help and policies. You must sign in for private actions such as messaging, requesting dates, hosting, verification, or support.
How do I contact Village Miles?
General help is available here. A signed-in traveler or host can open booking-specific support from the relevant reservation. For immediate danger, contact local emergency services first.
How does hosting work?
Start by sharing host interest. Village Miles reviews the basic information and may send a private invitation. Invited hosts complete their profile and verification, create a detailed listing, upload evidence, submit it for review, and publish only after approval.
Who can apply to host?
An adult resident, owner, authorized family representative, lawful tenant, or local operator may express interest. Applying does not guarantee an invitation or approval. The person must be legally authorized to offer the stay and every included service.
What can a host offer?
The initial scope covers accommodation, ordinary local meals, low-risk local guidance, permitted local road transport, and clearly described rural or cultural activities. Higher-risk, illegal, licensed-but-unlicensed, medical, childcare, alcohol-centered, or adventure services are excluded.
What verification does a host complete?
The workflow may include unique phone verification, government ID, local address or connection, authority to offer the property, disclosed co-hosts, and listing evidence. Each status says exactly what was reviewed and is not a general safety guarantee.
Can I list a relative’s or rented property?
Only with documented lawful permission that allows hosting. Ownership, lease authority, owner authorization, family authorization, or a reviewed rural-record exception must be truthful and current.
When does my listing become public?
Saving creates a private draft. Submission locks it for review. It becomes public only after Village Miles approves the required identity, authority, safety, content, price, and listing checks.
Can I edit a published listing?
Yes, but material changes create a reviewable revision. The currently approved version stays public until the revision is approved, so confirmed guests are not silently given different promises.
How do co-hosts work?
A host may invite up to two active co-hosts. Each accepts using the intended verified phone number, signs in through their own account, completes required identity checks, and must be disclosed for the booking where they will interact with guests.
Does an Instagram profile verify a host?
No. Instagram can provide optional social context. It does not prove identity, ownership, legal authority, service quality, availability, or safety, and it never replaces Village Miles verification.
How does a guest reservation work?
Choose a published journey, select available dates and services, declare every traveler, and send a request. The host reviews the request and disclosed adults. Host approval reserves the dates, but payment and confirmation are separate steps.
Is a request a confirmed booking?
No. Requested means the host has not decided. Approved means the host accepted the dates, but confirmation still requires the platform’s payment or approved pilot-confirmation step and all required adult verification.
Why must every adult traveler be declared?
Hosts need to know who will enter their home, and Village Miles must link each adult to their own verified account before confirmation. Undeclared adults and account sharing are prohibited.
Can children have accounts?
Not in the current pilot. A responsible adult records only the minimum child information needed for capacity and safety and remains responsible for supervision and lawful consent.
Can the host change the stay after I request it?
Not silently. Dates, prices, services, material house rules, and disclosed participants must remain clear. A material change requires your informed agreement or a new booking record; otherwise you may decline or report it.
What happens if the host declines?
The request ends without payment. The dates are not confirmed, and you may choose another journey. A host must not discriminate or retaliate when deciding.
Where should trip communication happen?
Keep planning and material promises in Village Miles messages. Off-platform payment or contact-sharing can remove useful evidence and increase fraud risk.
What if the host cancels?
The host must cancel promptly and must not pressure you to cancel for them. During the no-money pilot, dates are released and no refund exists because nothing was charged. Paid-launch rules will require refund and rebooking treatment shown before payment.
Does Village Miles inspect every property?
No. Village Miles reviews submitted identity, authority, listing, and evidence records. That is not a professional building, fire, food, vehicle, or legal inspection. Hosts retain their legal and safety duties.
What must a rural stay disclose?
Sleeping and bathroom arrangements, privacy, locks, water, electricity, network coverage, road and terrain access, animals and insects, weather, mobility limitations, host presence, nearest medical help, transport dependencies, and material hazards.
What should I do in an emergency?
Contact police, ambulance, fire, or another appropriate local emergency service first. Then use Village Miles support when safe. Village Miles is not an emergency dispatcher and cannot guarantee rescue in a remote area.
How do I report a mismatch or unsafe condition?
Use the booking’s support option, describe what happened, preserve relevant platform messages and non-sensitive evidence, and state what help you need. A report starts a review; it does not automatically prove fault.
Are parties, weapons, drugs, or harassment allowed?
No. Disruptive gatherings, violence, threats, weapons misuse, illegal drugs, sexual exploitation, trafficking, discrimination, stalking, harassment, undisclosed surveillance, and retaliation can result in immediate protective action and lawful reporting.
Does Village Miles currently collect money?
No. Current confirmations are controlled no-money pilot records. Do not pay a host privately and do not treat a test confirmation as proof that payment protection or insurance exists.
Will guests pay a Village Miles fee?
The current product direction is no separate guest platform fee, but host commission, taxes, payment charges, and the final price model are not approved. Before paid launch, the complete payable total must be shown before confirmation.
How will refunds work?
Paid-launch rules must show the exact cancellation and refund outcome before payment. Host cancellation, material listing mismatch, missing services, unsafe conditions, and major disruptive events may override an ordinary cancellation rule where law or policy requires.
What happens if property is damaged?
Report promptly with proportionate evidence. Normal wear is not damage. Neither side may invent, inflate, threaten, or privately force payment. Village Miles reviews the record, but insurance and real damage collection are not enabled in the pilot.
Why is phone verification required?
It confirms possession of one unique Indian mobile number and reduces duplicate-account abuse. It does not prove legal identity or personal safety, and the number is not displayed to other users.
Which government IDs are accepted?
The pilot accepts a passport, driving licence, voter ID, or masked Aadhaar with the first eight digits hidden, plus a guided selfie. Full Aadhaar is not accepted.
Who can see my ID or exact address?
Only authorized Village Miles administrators through audited, non-cached review routes. Other users see limited verification status and booking-relevant disclosures—not document images, document numbers, phone, email, or the private exact address.
Can an administrator also travel or host?
A staff account is for administration and does not receive marketplace verification. Personal travel or hosting should use a separate marketplace account so participant safeguards remain accurate.