Organziing a Successful House Swap

The key to arranging a successful house swap is to research early, be organized and have good communication with your host.

Members often book well ahead to fit into their busy schedule with limited amounts of annual leave. Sometimes they book over a year ahead.

Exchange homes and save on accommodation costs

Here are a few tips that I took into consideration for planning a house swap:

• List your preferred destination but be flexible with areas (you might not be able to get an exchange right in the middle of Florence, but you might get a house 10 kilometres outside)
• Be flexible with your dates, then you are more likely to get an exchange.
• It is good for families embarking on a home exchange to approach other families, this will make an exchange much easier as toys and equipment can be shared. I have found that members who are grandparents also have family facilities, so it’s beneficial to ask.
• Writing many email requests also increases your chances of a suitable exchange. The amount of requests you receive will depend on where you live. If you live in the middle of Paris or London you will receive many requests, but if you live in a less known place you will have to market your home a little. So don’t just sit back and wait for people to make requests to you.
• When I lived in the centre of England I received many request, but now I live in a country town near Melbourne, Australia and I have to do the requesting. Most people visiting Australia want to go to Sydney or Queensland. Melbourne is not as popular. This doesn’t mean you can’t get a swap, it just means you need to work harder to find one. I wrote many emails and managed to secure one in France and two in Germany ( one was in a fabulous area in Berlin)
• If you receive request and you can’t take them all - keep in touch with the people and try and organize another home exchange a different time.
• Be honest about how you describe your home - ask a good friend how they would describe your home and area. Promote the things like facilities for families, bikes available to borrow, public transport, able to get to the nearest city or town or site seeing place - not everyone wants a stay in the city or by the coast.
• Offer a car exchange if you can. This made a huge difference to our trip when we went to the US and exchanged cars for a month. We had to confirm with our insurance that our guests were covered for driving the car. You will need to agree on who will pay the excess in the case of an accident.
• Tell people what you expect from them in your home, will they need to feed the dog or cat, water the garden? etc.

Why pay for your holiday accommodation if you can have it for FREE?

Once the deal has been made and you are ready for your holiday......

• Leave your home clean and tidy - standards vary a lot. The kitchen and bathrooms need to be cleaned well, floors mopped and its good idea to clean the windows. If you are really house proud, you might need to think about if house swapping is right for you. I have swapped over 20 times and the houses I’ve stayed in have always been fine. Sometime one house is immaculate and another time I might just clean it up a little too how I feel comfortable. I have never stayed in a dirty house.
• Clear away some space for the visitors. Create hanging space and somewhere to put clothes.
• If you have really precious items then put them away or tell people not to use them. I have a display cupboard where I have delicate china kept and I ask people not to use them.
• Leave clean sheets and towels.
• Create a folder of how to use things in the house, emergency phone numbers, places to visit, even your neighbours contact phone number, good places to eat etc. If something was complicated in the house I would leave a little note on the item explaining it.
• Some of the organisations that we have arranged a swap through have Agreement Templates. These are a great idea for both parties to fill in and sign. If they don’t have one create one. Although it might not be legally binding it shows there is a commitment. If people are booking flights - you can't cancel on a whim. Obviously if someone is really ill that's different, but people can't change holiday plans just because they feel like they want to go somewhere else.
• It is a nice to leave a bottle of wine or a small gift for when people arrive and also when you leave the house a thank you or welcome home note.

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