Home exchanges decreased dramatically due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And my inspiration to write new posts about peer-to-peer travel suffered a similar decline. I think the pandemic will be with us for at least another year. But it’s well past time for my annual home exchange network review updates. These reviews can still be updated, whether or not most of us are able to achieve our home exchange fantasies in 2020.
House swaps are making a slow comeback this summer, with most folks looking for local driving-distance exchanges. How travel will recover from the pandemic remains to be seen. But I believe home exchange will come back as strong as before. Perhaps the pandemic will result in even greater interest in house swaps as people realize that hotels likely present more health risks than private residences.
This is a call for input for the home exchange network reviews, both from home exchange networks directly, and also from members of these networks. Here’s what I want to know:
- Name of your network and link to website
- Number of active listings
- Number of listings by region:
- Asia
- North America
- South America
- Europe
- Africa
- Oceana
- Annual membership cost
- If you’re a member of the network: what do you like best and what do you think needs improvement?
What’s in it for you? Well if you belong to a network you really like, you’ll be helping promote it by getting their review updated sooner rather than later. And if you own/run one of those networks, this is also true. (Newer posts = better SEO). If you have complaints about a network, sharing them with me will help warn others about these issues.
You can send info to me here: contact ShareTraveler
Cudos to Drew from PeopleLikeUs who reached out to me weeks ago to offer updated data on his network (and remind me it was time to do the updates). I’ll be getting that review updated soon.
I have been a member of People Like Us since January 2019. Without doubt it is the best site overall. The community vibe is is truly astonishing, the number of houses may be relatively small but they are spread around the world and I have found it easier to get exchanges here than the bigger sites. The introduction of Globes was a good move and a much better system than points. Another big plus is the extremely active FB page, and if FB isn’t your thing, Drew has introduced the Feed, a FB substitute on the website itself. I think PLU is home exchanging the way it used to be, with friendliness and values and a genuine interest in the personal side of exchanging, not merely as a cheap or free holiday. The site is still growing and evolving and I am loving being part of the journey!