Both the web and app versions could be much improved. It would likely be a costly upgrade but I would love if you could tell if the other person you are messaging has read the message, like on Airbnb.
I have occasional unbooked days at my Airbnb property and would love to leverage it for stays when I'm travelling. I'm on Home Exchange now but I find trying to book stays is challenging - it can take 10-30 requests to find someone to host me. So much time is spent making requests and the culture is very different - on the one hand, you are encouraged to think of it as a less transactional, more personal platform ("don't ever use the term 'booking' on HE!") but on the other hand, ignoring requests is considered normal and there is no real platform-enforced nudges to encourage better behavior.
What platforms do AirBnb hosts use to swap homes? Searching the web and this subreddit, it seems like Airhostswap and Hostshare might be a better fit for me.