I did a quick review of all the home exchange companies I have listed in my spreadsheet and found 15 of them had shut down in the past year (since my last review in May of 2015). I will be doing a more thorough update of the spreadsheet and individual site reviews over the next two months, but I thought it worth commenting on this consolidation in the industry. While these shut down, I haven’t seen news about any new home exchange companies starting in the past year. I’m down to a total of 90 active house swap networks. Here’s the list of sites that shut down:
Love My House Swap
Reliable Home Exchange
So Simple Home Exchange
Home Exchange Place
Swapeo
Exchangeo
Frescape
Architects House Exchange
Holiday Exchange Homes
I Like Your Space
Holiday Exchange
Student Home Swap
Exchange Home
Free Way to Stay
Holiday Exchange
Vacaciones de Intercambio
Most of these websites had very few members, and I hope that the folks who were using them have since joined some of the other 90 home exchange networks that still exist. From the perspective of an active house swapper, some industry consolidation is good. I benefit from large networks of people looking for home exchanges as the probability of finding a match to my travel goals increases with more membership.
In addition to the disappearance of the above sites, HomeExchange.com has contributed to some industry consolidation by purchasing three other businesses in the past year: 4homex, Singles Home Exchange International and Aha!Go.
http://www.homeexchangeplace.com/
It still works for me.
Interesting, thanks Etienne. I wonder if the site was just down when I was testing. I will add them back in.
Home Exchange business failures: The apparent attraction of large numbers of US citizens to Presidential candidates who promote isolation and paranoia may be one clue to why the Home Sharing businesses aren’t growing rapidly. It’s about fear, distrust, and segregation .
Though few in number, the impact of in-person meetings, sharing, and developing friendships around the world is at least as important as the $ savings. The $ savings can get some traveler’s attention. And granted, Home Exchange will never be a Peace Core, but stronger promotion of the global friendship aspect might add to the appeal.
I think this is a very good point about an aspect of home exchange that many don’t consider when they first get involved. I hear so many stories about new friendships and cultural exchanges from people who do swaps. And everyone I have met through home exchange has be incredibly kind and friendly. Hopefully this aspect of house swapping will push growth, in addition to the money savings.