People Like Us adds subscription fees

The home exchange network People Like Us is introducing annual fees for membership. Drew Seitam, the founder of People Like Us (PLU) announced this change in a blog post today. Drew works a day job full time, and works on PLU in his spare time. He puts in a ton of hours, and has a few volunteers helping out. Charging a fee will allow Drew to transition to full time work on PLU. And, as he explained in the blog post, it will fund advertisement to help the network grow.

People Like Us has grown quickly since launch in 2018. PLU benefitted from the poorly executed merger between HomeExchange.com and GuesttoGuest just a few months after PLU launched. Drew’s strong presence on Facebook, and openness to input about the network facilitated quick growth among folks who were highly motivated to spread the word. In just a few years the network went from 100 members to 4000 members. And now Drew has his sights set on 14,000. A number that would make PLU the second largest home swap network in the world.

Back in early 2020, just before the pandemic started PLU announced the plan to charge for subscriptions. And then all travel stopped and many people lost their jobs. And Drew made the decision that it was not the time to start charging fees. Now that many people are getting vaccinated and resuming travel, PLU is rolling out a new fee structure:

• One year: $95
• Two years: 10% discount, $170
• Three years: 20% discount, $225, including a Loyalty Globe

And for people who want to sign up early PLU is offering a big discount. A “Foundation Membership” is available during the first two weeks, starting June 15. This is a three year membership for $170. It includes the loyalty globe and also a founder badge. This is a one time offer before the standard pricing above goes live.

I’m a member of People Like Us and consider it one of the best home exchange networks out there. I think the Foundation Membership is a great deal. Anyone who is already a PLU member should jump on this opportunity.

PLU will still offer a free trial membership for folks to browse the network and chat with paying members. But payment is required to complete home exchanges.