Holiday Home Exchange Planning

Once again I’ve booked a lovely home exchange for our holiday visit to see family. This one is right near the beach, and frankly much bigger than we need. But it was the only positive response I got to all my inquiries, and I’m certainly not complaining about the spa on the property. I have a lot of points built up on Love Home Swap, the site where I found this exchange, so it’s a good use of those points compared to the expensive hotels in the area.

At the same time I was starting to get concerned about my Guest to Guest points bank running a bit low. I’ve taken a number of trips this year using Guest to Guest, but haven’t hosted anyone in a while. I diligently update my calendar of availability but hadn’t received any requests that matched with open slots. Conveniently I just got a request from someone on this network who needs a place during the dates we will be away for the holidays. It’s almost like I’m transferring points from one account (Love Home Swap) to another (Guest to Guest), and getting a free place to stay in the bargain!

I know many people who do home exchanges end up joining more than one network. I belong to three and can’t really imagine getting by with fewer. Perhaps in the future I will find a network that does a better job meeting my home swapping needs, but for now I put a lot of time into finding exchanges that match my travel plans on all three sites, and it almost never happens that I find more than one match.

I think if you are the type of traveler who is happy to go wherever and whenever someone else proposes you will be fine with just one home exchange network. You can wait until the offers come in, select one that you like, and then make your travel arrangements. But if you’re like me and plan your travel based on people you want to visit and/or flight deals you’ve found, it’s important to cast a wide net to find a swap partner in the right location who can agree to your travel dates. Further, I need to use swap points when I’m traveling alone because I can’t do a simultaneous swap if my wife is still at home. So for 2017 I anticipate continuing my membership in three home exchange networks, but I’m always on the lookout for ways to consolidate and/or new sites to try out.