Another Home Exchange Question
I'm not one of the two people who posted in 2024 about Home Exchange:) I didn't see my questions answered, so I'm trying my own post.
I was looking at the website and wondered what it was like having people stay at your place?
If it was for part of the time you were gone, did you leave the key somewhere?
What if they had plumbing or other issues?
If you paid via points because no one had borrowed your house and you couldn't do a direct exchange, did it still end up being a financial benefit for you?
Were there lots of people who wanted to use your house for the dates you were gone, so you got points back?
I could see a pressure if I paid $ w points bc no one had borrowed my house yet, someone paid house exchange points in return, so I'd have to go on another trip to use those points to feel like I saved any money. And then if I had a bad experience, I might not want to. So I'd have points I couldn't use.
Anyone use this and Airbnb? What's the advantage of home stay--people are nicer because they're also thinking that their house might be habited by someone like you?
I had bad experiences with Airbnb, but I'm new to the idea of spending $$ on vacations. (Was I the only kid who went on a road trip if we were lucky?)
But my husband did go.on amazing vacations as a kid and we went on a wonderful trip this summer due to generous friends, so I now see his point.
Thanks for any words of wisdom!
Parent Replies
I used the platform in 2020 and took a trip to Washington, D.C. in February, staying at someone’s apartment. I paid with points, and the host was abroad at the time. Unfortunately, the experience wasn’t great. While the apartment was in a good location, it was not clean. The host hadn’t washed the bedding before our arrival — it was covered in dog hair and had an unpleasant odor. We landed at 10 p.m. and ended up having to wash and dry the bedding ourselves, as well as clean the bathroom because it was too dirty to use. The points I used to pay were from sign up bonus.
To make things worse, we had to cut our trip short because the host needed to return early due to COVID travel restrictions.
One of the main issues I found with the platform is that many listings don’t have enough reviews, making it hard to gauge what kind of experience to expect. At the end, we left a decent review for the place we stayed at because of location. Had we have to pay for hotel in a similar location, it would've been at least $200 a night.
We were also supposed to host two families from France in July 2020, for non-simultaneous point stays that were arranged back in January 2020. Both had to cancel because of COVID, so we never ended up hosting. Most of the inquiries we received were for the summer and primarily from French families. As far as screening people to exchange. I had video chat with them. I also get a fair number of solicit messages asking if I want to stay at their place. I guess that was a way for people to get more points.
Since you mentioned having a bad experience with Airbnb, my advice when booking is:
This approach should help minimize the chances of a bad stay. The only truly bad experience I had on Airbnb was when my partner booked a place in New York. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize the "room" was actually a walk-in closet, and the shower was in the kitchen — separated only by a curtain, not a proper enclosure. The host also lived in the apartment, so there was no privacy, and to make matters worse, it was infested with cockroaches. When I later looked at the listing, I noticed it only had photos of the living room and various decorative items — no pictures of the bathroom or sleeping area. Since then, he’s never been allowed to book anything again. Thankfully, I haven’t had any major issues on the platform since.
There was one minor inconvenience where a place didn’t provide soap or shampoo, and we had to go out and buy them. But in fairness, the listing did state that toiletries weren’t included.
I don't think you can count on people on the platform being nicer to your place. It really depends on the individual. See how it goes first if you have a spare bedroom and try hosting non-simulatenous exchange.
We did this at our apartment in NYC, there was a concierge so we just left the door open with key inside but you could use a lockbox with code or hide the key somewhere or ask a neighbor/friend to hold it and the guests can pick it up from them. They had no plumbing or other issues, I assume if they had we (or they) would have called the plumber and if it was really bad moved to a different location.
Whether it is a net benefit I think depends most on where you would stay if you didn't use home exchange. Best I can tell people who live in big cities like NYC, Paris, London, Bay Area generally will receive many requests and not have too much trouble finding someone who wants to stay in your home (unless there is something especially unattractive about it). I do think it is better obvious value to just do a straight swap, but the points theoretically allow you to be more flexible in dates and locations. We swapped our very nice 2 bedroom apartment for a small one bedroom in Paris because the dates worked and it was easy. I was happy with this trade even though I don't think it was a equivalent value in terms of what each would have costed to rent.
The advantage over airbnb is usually the cost savings. Airbnb hosts are generally very nice (to me at least) as are home exchange hosts. We still keep in contact with some people we met through home exchange because they were so great. If time is money for you don't overlook that it can take a decent amount of time to write and respond to messages to find an exchange that works on both ends. There are ways to minimize this like targeting places that are second homes so more availability etc, but still it generally takes longer to arrange an exchange than book an Airbnb.
I hear you on spending $$ on vacations, I started there but have come around to the idea that it's worth trying to make them happen. You seem a bit uncomfortable around the home exchange idea but if you can talk yourself into a chill mindset around it and work out a good swap it is one of the best ways to travel affordably.