I have been using the HomeExchange platform for house exchanges for 3 years. The platform allows for targeted searches with filters and is really easy to use. The annual cost is very reasonable in my opinion, even if you only do one exchange a year (beware, you might really enjoy it and always want to travel 😅). It allows you to travel while immersing yourself in the local culture, at a lower cost, with all the comfort a house or apartment procures. Everything is based on respect: respecting our hosts’ homes, while our guests also respect our home 👍
We made our first home exchange in July 2024 and are very happy with the outcome! Well and patiently guided as “rookies” by more experienced Mandy & Paul with whom we exchanged home. We stayed in their house in Bath and they stayed in our apartment in Stockholm. We can warmly recommend this way of experiencing a new place and look forward to our next exchange in the future. Kind regards, Mildred & Per
I have been exchanging home through HomeExchange for 7 years now, it has become my favorite way to travel! HomeExchange site gives me the confidence to open my house to strangers, that I might not have otherwise. Not only the site works great, the groups and experienced members help everyone to navigate and complete the exchanges. The review system works, and the fact that HomeExchange provides a guarantee helps a lot. We have had wonderful experiences over the years!
Extremely disappointing experience. Exchanged for a flat that was nothing like what was advertised. No support from HomeExchange and nearly impossible to reach anyone for help. Communication was painfully slow, and no alternatives were offered. Guest points required for this flat were absurdly high. Meanwhile, HomeExchange undervalued our top-floor apartment in central Paris with a low guest point rating compared to other flats. We won't be renewing our membership, which, by the way, is non-refundable after just one booking—even if it turns out to be a disaster.
I am pleased with Home Exchange for providing a platform that gives those who want to travel another opportunity. I have hosted a number of guests in my home, so that I have points to use in my travels. The guests have all been delightful. I will be using my points in the near future and am very excited about visiting Italy and the hosts that are providing me a place to stay. One improvement that would give me greater comfort as a member is to have a response team in place to answer all questions in a reasonable time. Every situation that I have requested help for, from the site, has never been responded to.
Love the concept and the whole experience! Thanks to Home Exchange we stayed at and visited many awesome places in Europe, USA and Canada for “free”. So much easier for families (on a budget or not) as you can find homes with all the amenities and baby/kods-friendly.
We had a great time in this home exchange house! The air conditioning worked well, which was very nice during the hot days. Our kids had lots of fun with all the toys and the inflatable pool. The whole house was clean and tidy. The only small downside was that there were only four real beds, but it didn't take away from our wonderful experience.
We visited France for 1 month All on Homeexchange.com, In no other way would I have been able to afford the accommodation in France without HomeExchange!
All i
I need to ask the web desighners is to put a translation button on Discriptions of homes and profiles, very difficult to write good enquiries if 15 to 20 mails to an area needs to be send and each needs to be translated in full to know what the Hosts offer!!! Please HE this is very important for English speaking geusts!
Die Home Exchange Community ist das Herz der Plattform. Die Mitglieder sind offen, ehrlich und hilfsbereit. Bisher lief jeder Tausch, egal ob als Gastgeber oder Gast, reibungslos und war ein tolles Erlebnis.
I’ve been member of HomeExchange for years and I love this way of traveling. The only bad aspect is when you have a problem, for example your exchange is cancelled by the other party, the promised help HomeExchange offers is not good. They write to other members asking if they can host you and they wait very long time for answers. If this doesn’t work, they supposedly pay a hotel for you but only of a certain amount per night (quite low). In my case the area I was visiting was quite touristy and it was impossible to find a hotel for that price. And the more you waited the more expensive hotels were. In the end I solved the problem myself. Half of my group booked and payed a hotel and for the other half I myself wrote to many members until I found a family who hosted us for GP.
Date of experience: July 21, 2024
Reply from HomeExchange.com
Hello Diana,
Thank you for your review.
Cancellations represent less than 1% of all exchanges registered on our platform. While this is a very low percentage, we understand that these situations can be stressful for everyone involved. That is why our team diligently follows up on every single cancellation to ensure a solution is found for all parties involved.
Our first approach is usually to contact members in the area to see if they can host the member who received the cancellation. This method is very effective, as we are able to find a replacement exchange in more than 90% of cases.
For the remaining situations, if HomeExchange is unable to find at least one alternative accommodation with basic amenities equivalent to those of the canceled exchange, and if the guest member's subscription remains active for the duration of the canceled exchange, the applicable GuestPoints will be returned by the host member to the guest member. Additionally, HomeExchange will reimburse the guest member upon presentation of the appropriate documentation:
• Rehousing costs for a period equivalent to that of the scheduled exchange, upon presentation of rehousing invoices for the same dates as the canceled exchange, up to a maximum of $120 USD/night (or $350 USD/night for HomeExchange Collection Services). The guarantee will cover up to 15 nights, with a maximum of $1,800 USD per canceled exchange (or $5,250 USD per HomeExchange Collection Exchange); or
• Travel expenses for a canceled trip upon presentation of invoices and proof of cancellation with no refund, up to a maximum of $120 USD/night (or $350 USD/night for HomeExchange Collection Services). The guarantee will cover up to 15 nights, with a maximum of $1,800 USD per canceled exchange (or $5,250 USD per HomeExchange Collection Exchange).
For example, if the canceled exchange (excluding HomeExchange Collection Services) was for four nights, the guest member would be entitled to a maximum refund of $480 USD for emergency accommodation or travel expenses.
All of this is included in your membership at no extra cost to you.
Nothing but amazing experiences with HomeExchange! With the cost of travel on the rise after the pandemic, this is a great way to travel on a tight budget. I've been able to travel all over the world, exchanging with fellow members in the U.S., Europe, the U.K. and more. I'm constantly recommending HomeExchange to friends and I've even gotten a few of them to sign up.
Home Exchange is a great way to travel and discover new places. We love settling in a new city and exploring the area for several weeks, rather than constantly moving around and dealing with the hassle of finding a place to stay. Home Exchange also allows us to travel at a lower cost. Try it—you'll see! :-)
We have had almost 40 excellent home exchanges. Many of our exchange partners have become friends. We were amazed at how much we have in common. We were also able to travel with our little dog, very important to us. We have had vacations we might never have been able to afford if we had to pay for AirBnB or VRBO.
On the website of Home Exchange the search for houses was clear and easily accessibel. During our search process we met some nice people in the community. Finally we stayed in a wonderful appartement of a very kind lady in Edinburgh. We enjoyed our stay very much. The guests in our house were nice and neat too. After 3 weeks we found our house in perfect condition, clean and tidy.
We have been members of home exchange for 3 years and have completed over 30 exchanges. The members who come to our home are always respectful of our space and leave it as they found it. We have had great experiences visiting others homes and are so thankful for this program to be able to vacation more and see more of the world. We would highly recommend Home Exchange!
Home Exchange has changed the way that my family travels. We have had excellent experiences with reciprocal and guest point swaps around the world, and love being part of this community. Highly recommend!
We have been doing home exchanges since 1991. It’s much easier these days! Traditional exchanges, non-simultaneous, hospitality exchanges (where guests stay in your spare bedrooms while you’re at home) and exchanges for guest points have all worked well. We’ve exchanged our Calgary home near the Canadian Rocky Mountains for places in Australia and Europe.
We were with Lovehome swap before and Home exchange bought them so we automatically swapped. It’s been fab and so much easier to find somewhere to stay, we are very happy and this summer are travelling around Europe for four weeks during the school holiday and it’s costing us the ferry and spending money, Incredible. Everyone who has stayed in our home is very respectful and nice and we always feel comfortable having people to stay. Much less stress than renting it on airbnb (which we used to do and will never do again). Plus, the homes are comfortable and have everything you need for an enjoyable stay. Can’t fault them.
It was great being able to go on vacation while living as a local and saving the cost of an hotel. I can't imagine a shorter exchange than a week though, as there is a lot of house preparation work involved. Overall the experience was great! I think that the homeexchange website still has space for improvement. It is sometimes difficult to track all the information, as the info about the person who offers the exchange is not on the same page as the info about the apartment, what means that you end up jumping back and forth in the website.
