r/homeexchange

im new to home exchange and have completed my profile and put pictures of my house etc. I tried to book something for late June in the south of Spain but 5 people declined me. I followed all advice and messaged them in spanish (as I am spanish but living in another country). however I assumed that it was just a month before summer and that area is very busy, so my fault for not booking with more advance!

I have started messaging people for my next holiday in the 18th December. another city in Spain. I got 3 people already telling me that it doesn’t suit them or the dates are not convenient. however they marked thoae dates as available for guest points? my membership will end in may and I’m just losing faith. i cannot advertise my first residence without first having somewhere to go.

i am polite, offer a videocall as I acknowledge that having no reviews might be a put off for some and my profile is fully completed with a picture of my family of 3.

any advice on what to do? feel like I have wasted the membership money as it is a lottery to get accepted into a house

Does HE sanction if you exchange for GP in your own city? I’d like to let my parents sleep at a friend‘s house. Because they are a little short on GP I would like to use the opportunity to give them some guest points.

what is the deal with people only bringing up charging a cleaning fee but not being transparent and showing that up front in your advert?

asking for it when negotiating the stay seems random/arbitrary and lacks transparency.

i don’t typically agree with cleaning fees but understand people do and that’s fine, would just rather exchange with people who like for like do not expect someone else to pay to clean their own property.

What happens if you don’t rate a guest that was in your home? Will their review be published after a while?

Would you deduct a star for communication if they arrived an hour before the agreed time and didn’t let you know when they had left?

What if they didn’t entirely follow check out instructions, but everything was still mostly clean?

What if they left some food and drinks in the kitchen, in the fridge and on the counter (tidy, not messy) without asking if you wanted it or not?

Bonjour !
je suis ouvert à toutes les destinations, qui est intéressé d'un swap sur Paris ?
Durée et période flexible, je peux faire du télétravail

Merci !

My policy clearly states my home insurance does not cover the home if used for short term rentals, I reached out to my agent asking if a home exchange would be considered a short term rental and they would not give me a clear answer. Curious if any US users have had issues with home insurance coverage due to using home exchange? Or if anyone with good knowledge of this area of the law can speak to it?

How likely are you to accommodate a last minute stay if your calendar is showing available for guest points?

I’m talking next day.

I am currently staying at someone’s house who lives in a more rural area of the US. We agreed that I would help with taking care of their cats. They have indoor / outdoor cats. They said the cats need to get inside at night but are otherwise easy. I have been here two nights now and have unsuccessfully gotten their cats inside after multiple hours of trying (in the rain) both nights. I explained this afternoon to the owner my challenges and they simply said please do your best as I am very attached to my cats and to keep them inside for the rest of the trip once i get them in. The cats were outside when i arrived. This is feeling above and beyond a reasonable expectation at this point as i am here for a wedding and vacation. At this point I feel like an unpaid pet sitter. Is this normal with home exchange? I’ve been doing this for 2 years and have had nothing but lovely experiences hosting and being hosted.

completely last minute, but wondering if anyone has a place that could be booked for points this weekend? The filters in the website are not being helpful in finding places by some body of water or anywhere that will looks like it won't be boiling.

Happy to hear suggestions of places to check out too! We are a couple, one from London and another from Paris.

We recently swapped homes and after almost 15 years of 5 star reviews we had a 4 star cleanliness review. When we pressed for more details apparently we left some crumbs on the kitchen floor, a few hairs in the shower and at our house there were some cobwebs on the outside of windows. They didn’t have a proper working vacuum and very few cleaning implements so we assume they have a cleaner. I won’t go into a list of things we found wrong at their home but of course we gave them a great review and 5 stars. Funnily enough I found their oven was pretty dirty and scrubbed the tray clean. They also left a pile of dirty washing at ours which we have cleaned and are getting to them at no cost.

If we rented our house out I would hire in a professional cleaning team could charge about 4000€ per week rental but enjoy sharing our home with others. In return we hope the homes match their descriptions and are tidy and hygienic. May be some people expecting an airbnb type arrangement.

Is it possible to get their review removed from our account? Even though it is a glowing write up, that 4 star makes my blood boil. Rant over…

Hi everyone! I'm planning a trip to New York with my son, and my daughter—who is currently studying in Louisiana—will be joining us there. It's purely an adventurous family sightseeing trip to experience the city together, and we're planning to stay for at least two weeks. ​I'm looking to arrange a swap via HomeExchange, but knowing how high demand is for NYC, I want to make sure I time everything right and approach hosts the best way possible. We have plenty of experience on the platform—over 30 successful exchanges under our belt and great reviews, so our profile is well-established and reliable. Still, I know NYC hosts get inundated with requests, so I want to maximize our chances. ​If anyone has successfully secured an HE stay in NYC, I'd love your insights: ​Timing: What's the 'sweet spot' for sending inquiries for NYC? Is 6+ months out ideal, or do hosts prefer looking closer to the date? ​First Impression: What's the best way to highlight our 30+ exchanges in that initial message to give hosts full confidence in us? What do NYC hosts value most in guests? ​Neighborhoods: Any recommendations for well-connected neighborhoods where members might be more active or open to exchanges (e.g., specific parts of Brooklyn, Queens, etc.)? ​Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I just stayed in a lovely clean apartment in a major city with beautiful water views.

However the apartment had no wifi. This was not disclosed in the home description, in fact the amenities listed both wifi and high speed fibre internet.

Maddeningly I could also see a wifi network that had the apartment number listed. The home guide inside the apartment helpfully explained that if I wanted to use the smart tv to stream I could tether it to my phone. It further said that the owner did not want the expense of monthly wifi because the travelled a lot.

I am about to review and I was going to mark down in the as described category.

I consider wifi an essential amenity. I even filter for it in my searches. It was rather inconvenient not having it.

How many stars do you think is fair?

We need some basic filters to make this process easier.

1. Bed Size and Number - When traveling with only adults I should not have to search through 100 properties to find out they only have children's beds or a crib which would not be suitable. I know what sized bed I want when traveling and its quite important. H.E. already has the data for this in all listings.

2. We should be able to filter out non-paying members. Those who do not have an active membership and a badge are not likely to return my request for an exchange, especially if its going to cost them to pay to host. So I want to filter them out. Yes sometimes a request with them will work.

3. Why do we have smokers welcome as a filter, but not smoke free homes? Smoke free homes should be searchable.

Does anyone know why home exchange has historically been so opposed to filters?

Hey there! I've been on home exchange for 5 years, with more than 30 exchanges on count and super happy to be part of this community!

In some cities it has been sometimes a bit more difficult to find a place to stay, but never to the point of Venezia, in Italy. I've been trying to exchange there in September for some days (between the 9th to the 13th aprox) because my partner is teaching a course at the Academia de Belli Arti de Venezia, but it's been impossible to find anything!

Has anyone experienced something similar with this city?

And does anyone have a recommendation for a place to stay there (including Lido or Mestre)?

Cheers! Love this community!

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 am getting ready to list my 2nd home on home exchange. Im not too sure what I need to do first. The house is on an acreage, in a mountain town in BC Canada. It is actually an up/down duplex and we use the basement apartment for ourselves. The main floor apartment would be offered for exchange. I have renovated it, and furnished it nicely. Ill have it finished and ready to go this week. We are a 3.5 hour drive from the nearest International Airport, and 1 hour from a regional. Our guests will definitely need to have rental cars. I have never done short term rentals before. Is it ok that this main floor apartment isn't our primary home? I have it set up so that the unit has its own entrances (2) and its own decks (2) and its own driveway, and yard.

I use the basement apartment most summer weekends, and occasionally in the winter. Will guests think its weird if we use our apartment while they're there? What do you wish you knew before you listed your home? Thanks for the guidance!

Did you ever accidentally break something small when on a home exchange, or have something broken in your home when hosting (e.g. a dish, cup or some other small item)? How was it handled?

Hi 😊 I’m new to HomeExchange and looking forward to organising my first stay.

I’m looking for a HomeExchange in Paris from 20-27 September (or longer).

I’m a 30-year-old lawyer based in Dublin, Ireland.

I’ve been working towards a move to Paris for far too long now and, while I have a pretty good level of French, I’m going to be taking intensive French classes in the city during the period. I’m also hoping to spend plenty of time exploring museums, parks, and different corners of the city while I’m there.

I’m a respectful, discreet, and very tidy person, and I would look after your home as if it were my own.

Thank you so much.

I'm a newbie to HE and I absolutely love the idea. I've done many airbnb sits/ hosting , even early on when I was literally staying in someone's bedroom with their things however I do feel like if I had someone I don't know stay at my home, I'd practically want to pack up most of the home in order to feel comfortable with someone staying there while I'm not here, simply due to the amount of things I have....I probably wouldn't notice if something went missing for some time which would be stressful for me/ if I pack away thing that I don't want people to use, then I'd have to pack up as if I'm moving house and just leave an airbnb level of things out for use.

Maybe I'm not the right person to host but if you did feel this way and have enjoyed HE hosting, what made you go from " I have to move most of my life into the garage before they come" to " I'll make space for them and a few things may go AWOL but it's no big deal?

Edit: Examples of things: wine collection that's hefty to move, nick knacks, substantial jewellery collection and just things that occupy a space that the house guest would want to use such as wardrobe space.