W
hy not take your loved
ones to a Swiss chalet
for a skiing holiday,
or a Manhattan
penthouse with views over the New
York City skyline? Dream on and
imagine yourself staying in a Tahitian
fare
–
a traditional bungalow – with
your feet in the lagoon. Or how about
a Provençal farm in the middle of
vineyards and sweet-smelling lavender
fields? In my family, we spend hours
arguing and trying to convince each
other of our favourite destination
and type of accommodation. What a
terrible dilemma we had last summer
choosing among a hacienda in a
Mexican village, a jungle house in
Costa Rica, or a luxury beach house
on the north coast of Brazil!
No, we don’t actually own homes
in all of these places. We don’t even
have long-term rental leases. Instead,
we’ve been enjoying the benefits
of home swapping. Whether you
are looking for an intimate single-
family holiday or you are travelling
with friends, grandparents or lots of
children, there is a type of house swap
to suit your needs.
How does it work?
We own a family home in France and
we rent a villa in Bali, where we live.
We have registered those homes with
websites like
www.homeexchange.
com – which has the largest and
most up-to-date database, with over
40,000
homes available for swaps,
and membership costs about US$10 a
month;
www.sabbaticalhomes.com
–
where it’s free to register, but donations
are encouraged;
www.exchangezones
.
com and
www.planet-swap.com
– both
of which are totally free.
Once you register on a home
exchange website, you list details
and photos of your home and enter
your preferences. Members of these
websites browse through or search the
database and can view your entry. You
can also do the same and look at other
people’s homes all over the world.
When you see something you like, you
can contact the owners and discuss
whether they’d like to swap with you.
No money changes hands; instead,
you stay in their home while they stay
in yours – either simultaneously or at
separate times, as your schedules and
preferences allow.
Home from home
One of the worst holiday memories I
have is from a trip we took with our
small children to the island of Bohol
in the Philippines. We stayed in a
hotel, and it only took one night to be
despised by the couple in the room
next door who claimed not to be able
to get a wink of sleep all night. Our
son was sick from heat exhaustion
and voiced his misery until the early
hours of the morning. If we’d been
in a house instead of the hotel, we’d
have been able to accommodate him
more comfortably and avoid ruining
someone else’s fun, too.
If you thought holidaying in
private luxury homes all over
the world was reserved only
for the rich and famous, then
think again: Home swapping is
a reasonably affordable treat,
writes
Laetitia Chanéac-Knight
.
Having a house to yourself with
all the amenities and comforts allows
a great deal more flexibility and
relaxation. We all know that young
children need vital downtime, naps in
a cool temperature and breaks from
sightseeing. Having a comfortable
base, somewhere to go back to at
any time, can save your day. Home
exchange is all the more appropriate
for families with older children, for
whom piling up in one hotel room
is not an option anymore. Booking
multiple rooms in hotels can be
complicated and expensive, too.
Exchanging your house saves a
considerable amount of money and
a lot of trouble compared to a resort
holiday. This relatively new concept
is becoming popular as the price of
hotels can be prohibitive. Saving
on accommodation means having
more cash to spend on activities,
eating or shopping, and allows for
a few exuberant treats. “I’ll tell you
what, let’s house swap in Florida
this summer for ten days and we can
treat ourselves to a three-day luxury
package at Walt Disney World Resort
after that,” is a good argument to win
consensus anytime.
Getting started
Browsing and choosing from the
many criteria of the house exchange
websites is an efficient way to stumble
across the best option for you. The
process of finding an appealing
destination, a suitable house and
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