How can we help?

Yalu is a marketplace in Sri Lanka that connects travellers with local hosts. Hosts share authentic, first-hand experiences — from sunrise hikes and cooking classes to whale watching and tea-plantation walks — and guests discover and book them directly. The goal is life shared: real moments hosted by the people who know a place best.

Signing in is passwordless. Enter your email address or your WhatsApp number and we send you a one-time code (OTP). Type the code back in to sign in — that is it. You can start from the "Log in or Sign up" button in the header.

No. Yalu never uses passwords. Every sign-in is verified with a one-time code sent to your email or WhatsApp, so there is nothing to remember and nothing to leak. Just keep access to your email or phone number and you can always get back in.

Creating an account is free for both guests and hosts. You only pay when you book an experience, and hosts only see a service fee applied against confirmed bookings. Browsing experiences and hosts costs nothing.

Open an experience, choose your date and the number of guests, and send a booking request to the host. You will see the price up front before you confirm. Once the host accepts, your booking is confirmed and the details appear in your bookings.

Most experiences are request-to-book: you send a request and the host reviews it before confirming. This keeps availability accurate and lets the host prepare for your group. You are only charged once the host confirms — if they cannot host you, your request is declined and nothing is taken.

Prices are shown in the currency you choose from the language & currency selector, and you can switch it at any time from the footer. Totals for a booking are calculated before you confirm, so there are no surprises at checkout.

Yes. Open the booking from your bookings list and choose to cancel. Each experience follows the host’s cancellation policy, which is shown on the experience before you book, so check the terms for that specific experience to see how a refund is handled.

Absolutely. Guests can plan multi-stop trips across Sri Lanka, lining up several experiences in different places into a single itinerary. Add the experiences you love as you browse and shape them into a trip that flows from one region to the next.

Tap "Become a host" and follow the guided onboarding. You verify your phone with a one-time code, set up your host profile, and describe the experience you want to offer. Once your profile is ready you can publish and start receiving booking requests.

From your host dashboard you can create an experience with photos, a description, pricing, group size, and location, then edit or pause it whenever you need. Keep your listing accurate and detailed — clear experiences earn more trust and more bookings.

Each experience has an availability calendar where you open the dates and times you can host. Guests can only request slots you have opened, so blocking dates you are unavailable keeps your schedule under control and prevents double-bookings.

When a guest requests a booking you get a notification to accept or decline. Requests expire if they are not answered within 48 hours, so respond promptly to keep guests happy and protect your response rate. Accepting confirms the booking for both of you.

Your earnings from confirmed bookings are tracked in your host dashboard, where you can see what you have made and what is due. Payouts are released for completed experiences according to Yalu’s payout schedule, minus the applicable service fee.

A trust score is a signal of how reliable a host or experience is, shown as a percentage on profiles and experience cards. It reflects things like verification, reviews, responsiveness, and a track record of great bookings — the higher the score, the more the community has vouched for that host.

Trust circles are the network of people who vouch for a host. When a guest has a great experience they can add the host to their trust circle, building a web of real relationships. Seeing that someone in your circle trusts a host makes it easier to book with confidence.

Hosts go through verification as part of onboarding, and verified hosts are marked as trusted on their profile. Verification, combined with reviews and trust circles, helps you know that the person you are booking with is who they say they are.

After an experience, guests can rate and review the host, and those reviews are shown publicly on the host and experience pages. Honest reviews feed into trust scores and help future guests choose — so leaving one after your trip helps the whole community.

Use the language & currency selector — it is available from the footer on every page. Pick your preferred language and the currency you want prices shown in, and Yalu remembers your choice as you browse.

Open your account settings to update your name, photo, contact details, and preferences. A complete, up-to-date profile helps hosts recognise you and builds trust when you send booking requests.

You can sign out from your account menu. Because sign-in is passwordless, getting back in later is simple — just request a fresh one-time code by email or WhatsApp whenever you return.