Regular readers probably noticed a flurry of review posts over the past few months. It’s that time of year when I update all my home exchange network reviews. It’s not exactly exciting reading, but I want them to be current as a resource to folks searching for info on house swapping. I don’t review every single one of the 72 active home exchange networks, but I’ve got all the larger networks covered along with many smaller ones. Here’s the master list with links to all my reviews. It looks like this:
It’s not super pretty, but this was the best I could do for a searchable, sortable table that is embedded within WordPress. If any WordPress wizards out there have other suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Note if you scroll to the right there are now additional columns.
While updating reviews I also took this opportunity to add some new info to my spreadsheet of all home exchange networks. I now have a column for insurance, indicating networks that offer some sort of insurance for your swap. And there’s also a column for points swapping. As more home exchange networks introduce points-based options for exchange I thought that would be useful to identify. These columns are blank for some networks that I haven’t yet looked at, and I’d happily take reader input to help fill in those blanks.
On the insurance front, I was surprised to find that home exchange insurance is on the decline as an offering. I wrote about insurance for house swapping back in 2016. And I found that of the seven networks offering insurance back then, one has dropped it (LoveHomeSwap) and three have stopped operating entirely. There are only four networks that are offering insurance to house swappers now:
Perhaps this drop in insurance offerings is because networks have found members aren’t interested in paying for extra insurance. I personally don’t think it’s necessary. And my research suggests that claims against insurance are almost never filed for home exchanges. But I do understand how insurance provides some peace of mind for many travelers. I’m an over-insurer in other areas of my life so I certainly can’t fault people for wanting insurance for house swaps. If this is important to you, you’ll want to check out the four networks above.
Thanks Etienne, I’ve updated my spreadsheet.
Hi.Trampolinn is closed now.