Dear friends,
Young police officers with families often have difficulties finding affordable holiday accommodation on internet booking platforms, but for around 20 Euros per night, it is possible to book a fully-equipped apartment for the entire family in the centre of Paris, TimiÅŸoara or Berlin. It is not a secret: all you need to do is look on the ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë website at and click on the latest edition of the ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Hosting Book.
History in ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Hosting – the first Hosting Sections’ Meeting
How to promote ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Houses? How to find new hosting options? How to provide our members with the best possible service?
These are some of the issues we deal with during Hosting Sections’ Meetings (HSM). HSM are the new-format biennial meetings involving all ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë sections; and the first HSM was held in Bucharest, Romania, from 4-7 October 2018. Perfectly hosted by the Romanian section, it was professional, friendly, and organised in an extremely efficient manner.
Vossie Vos, member of the ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Socio-Cultural Commission (SCC), is the leader of the ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë hosting project. Over the years, there have been a few problems concerning ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Houses: questions relating to ownership, budget restraints for maintenance, and ensuring we have enough people willing to act as house managers. A few of our ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Houses unfortunately closed. Looking into how we could offer a broad spectrum of accommodation to our members, we therefore decided to develop ‘other accommodation’ options further: properties that are owned and managed by private persons or ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë members, which offer discounted rates for our members.
The SCC introduced new rules during the IEC 2013 in Copenhagen to regulate what the ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë offers to its members in terms of accommodation, which in turn led to the development of a new Travel Form and Procedure and the new Hosting Book, gathering all relevant hosting data in one place. It is updated regularly and ready to be uploaded onto all ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë websites.
Thank you to all sections who contribute: the success of the Hosting Book, which showcases our 49 ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Houses and countless other accommodation options, relies entirely on the continuous input of each ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë section.
Effective management requires continued development, which is why we initiated the Hosting Sections’ Meetings. The aim is not to praise our activities, but to discuss how to advance our project further.
Participants of our first HSM in Bucharest came from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Moldova, Portugal, Romania and Sri Lanka. Each section was able to present the accommodation offers in their country, as well as share ideas for future development with all other participants.
The Hosting Sections’ Meeting will be held every 2 years, and Section Sri Lanka have expressed an interest in hosting the event in 2020. The topics discussed in the HSM concern all ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë sections: use of the Travel Form, electronic reservation of ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Houses, and the verification of ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë membership internationally, to name but a few.
Our main aim is to offer a large variety of affordable hosting options to young ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë members worldwide.
An exciting project for the ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë!
Servo per Amikeco,
Gal Sharon, ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Vice President and Chairperson of the SCC