I recently wrote a series about points-based home exchange and one of my readers said I missed his biggest criticism of the system. He does not like that some home exchange websites offer members the option to purchase nights. From the perspective of my reader, this amounts to the company making money off of your home, but unlike AirBnb, they aren’t sharing the profits with you.
How does it work? You join one of the points-based home exchange sites like Cosmopolit Home or GuestToGuest. You find that even though they seed your account with some points you don’t have enough to book lodging for your next trip. So they offer you the opportunity to purchase points. When you spend these points to book lodging the host earns points just like they would for any other stay in their home.
How much does it cost? It depends on the site. GuestToGuest charges 1 Euro per point, and the “cost” of staying in each home varies dramatically. On GuestToGuest it works out so that it’s pretty expensive to pay to stay in most homes, and I would bet that not many people are using the points purchase option unless they just need enough points for one extra night on a stay they can otherwise book with points they earned. On Cosmopolit Home they have set the prices much lower so that an average night in a nice home generally costs less than $40. LoveHomeSwap has an interesting pricing model where they have different levels of membership, and how much you’ve paid in annual fees determines how much it costs to buy a night of points: £50, £30 or £10.
Are the sites making money off of your home? Sure they are. But home exchange isn’t a big business and even with membership fees I don’t think these sites are very profitable. Each company needs to come up with a strategy to monetize their business to pay for the developers, outreach, and other staff needed to keep things running smoothly. Especially free sites like GuestToGuest and Cosmopolit Home. And it’s not like you get nothing in return. You are earning the ability to stay in other people’s homes for free.
Overall I think this is a question of personal preference, and we will see if the points-based swaps and points purchasing catch on or remain a small fringe part of the overall sharing economy lodging market. I personally don’t care if someone buys points or earns them, as long as they spend those points by staying in my home so that I can earn enough to get free lodging for my travels.
