Founded in 2021, 48 Dots looks like a relatively typical home exchange network. They offer standard simultaneous and non-simultaneous swap options. But 48 Dots is focused on the vacation home rental crowd. This is a big, and largely untapped market for home exchange. Hosts on Airbnb and similar platforms are accustomed to welcoming strangers into their homes. It seems like an easy up-sell to convince these folks to use that same property as an exchange for lodging when they want to travel.
48 Dots offers a few features that might appeal to home rental hosts. The network charges a $150 flat membership fee and boasts of very careful background checks before approving members. The membership also comes with $2000 in cancellation insurance, a secure lockbox for keys, and a concierge service to help members find swaps. 48 Dots also offers Airbnb hosts back links for SEO optimization, and the opportunity to sync calendars across platforms. Though the later requires paying for an add on service.
Other home exchange networks have tried to break into this market with limited success relative to the market size. I look forward to learning more about this network as they grow and evolve. Currently they have just over 150 listings.
Fun fact: What does 48 Dots stand for?
Literally, it’s the 48 dots in the Morse Code translation of the first part of our vision statement: A world where people can roam freely.
.- / .– — .-. .-.. -.. / .– …. . .-. . / .–. . — .–. .-.. . / -.-. .- -. / .-. — .- — / ..-. .-. . . .-.. -.– .-.-.-
