The Fundamentals of HomeExchange Collection
HomeExchange is a gracious exchange of hospitality. As a host, you open the door to your little corner of paradise. As a guest, you are greeted warmly as you embark on an exclusive vacation. A home exchange is a human exchange, a time when travelers create bonds and have memorable experiences. Welcoming, uniqueness, trust, and respect are essential to HomeExchange Collection.
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These are the five fundamental principles that makes HomeExchange Collection so special:
Communication is Key for a Wonderful Experience
To open your home willingly and warmly is essential for a successful exchange. For that, you must communicate, establish a connection, and tell your exchange partner about yourself and your travel preferences. Getting acquainted with your exchange partner is an important step, and that’s what our messaging system is for. A transparent and fluent communication may also help you to increase the initial trust with your partner who will not be an unknown anymore. This is the magic of HomeExchange Collection.
Once your exchange is finalized, we encourage you to plan a call, to create a WhatsApp group, or to chat via Skype with your Collection partner.
It is a Pleasure to Share
It is a real pleasure to lend our home, and as a host, you offer your fully-equipped home and prepare a warm welcome for your guests. In return, as a guest, you respect and take care of your host's unique home. We also love sharing our best recommendations. As guests, nothing is better than following your exchange partner’s tips. Trading spaces is not only about sharing "material things" but also sharing richly with your partner: a good conversation about a passion in your community or even spending some time together, which may sometimes be the most enriching part of the home exchange.
Some of our suggestions: create a home manual to share the unique details of your home, make a list of your favorite things to do in your area, and take the time to better know your exchange partner. This will help your guests fully take advantage of your wonderful home and experience a memorable vacation in your region.
Being Respectful and Thankful is Beautiful
At HomeExchange Collection, hosts do everything possible to make their guests feel at home and experience exclusive vacations. As guests, we feel deep respect for our partner's homes and are grateful for such nice gestures of hospitality. Thank yous are important before, during, and after the exchange, because even with GuestPoints, HomeExchangers deserve gratitude for lending their exceptional homes.
Receiving a little gift from your guest or host changes everything. It is customary to leave a thank you note and gift— a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, or a drawing— little gestures make a big difference!
Our Differences Bring Us Together
HomeExchange Collection is an exceptional community of open-minded people with many passions in common. We belong to diverse cultures and have different tastes and personalities. And that is what makes the home exchange community so unique. We are open to discovering the world, with its variety of cultures and traditions, and welcoming different people to our distinctive home.
Don't hesitate to tell anything your partners need to know about your town's culture and traditions, so they will be comfortable in your home and city and enjoy the pleasure of being immersed in the culture;
We Have the Means to Be Responsible Travelers
We firmly believe that home exchanging is the most responsible way of traveling. Far from feeding standardized and destructive tourism with no ethics, it values local tourism (versus mass tourism) and benefits a more egalitarian and circular kind of tourism.
We can go even further by being more conscious about our modes of transportation and sharing this way of traveling by acting as guests and participants (not like spectating tourists), as well as choosing to be engaged traveler who contributes to the local economy. We suggest travelers interact with locals, participate in community initiatives, and buy from local producers.