Christine, Thomas & Luca are a HomeExchange Family in their 3rd year of HomeExchange and they have already done numerous exchanges. Read on to see why they love HomeExchange...
Why did you guys join HomeExchange?
Budget Friendly: We love that it saves us a lot of money, and that it is a worldwide community giving you accommodation anywhere your heart desires to travel to. It allows us to save on accommodations and utilize that money on flights or excursions.
Full control on arrangements: We love that all accommodations are arranged by us the members. This allows us to have as much communication with other members, it allows us to set a preset on which members we want to host i.e. families, solo travelers for example. It allows us to make arrangements that we feel comfortable with, with members we feel most comfortable with. We also love that you can set up a calendar to block out days and or open days that your home is available for exchange.
Beautiful Accommodations: The homes are absolutely beautiful. We bet if you go on their site and search a destination you will find many that are so dreamy that you will want to stay at in a heartbeat. Some of these homes look like they belong on a design show, or the homes of the rich and famous, and more luxurious than any hotel you can imagine and you don’t have to pay? WHAT??
How have your experiences been when arriving at a home?
We love that arranging these stays we get the sense of what it is like living as a local. Each host member has always been reachable via text or phone to answer any questions we may have and give suggestions on where to eat, what to do and provide answers to any questions we may have. It is always nice getting recommendations on places to go that are not touristic and only a well-kept secret by the locals.
How has HomeExchange changed the way you travel?
Home exchanging has been a game changer for us traveling with a young energy filled child. Let’s face it, sometimes your kids just need a rest, they need space to run around, play in a garden, swim in a private pool, go biking, play with toys and just be a kid and be loud. Let’s face it most kids don’t like being cooped up in a hotel room, when you have an entire space that goes well beyond a hotel room your kid will be so happy to be able to roam around. Home exchanging has been a lifesaver for us in that sense. Many of the accommodations we arranged where with families, so they allowed us free use of their children’s toys, bikes, scooters etc. They are equipped with anything and everything you may need to make your stay comfortable with a kid, and that you may not need to stress about lugging around with you in your suitcase, things like highchairs as an example.
What do you love most about home exchange?
We have built some incredible friendships with members after our stay through all our communications prior to and during out stay. You can have as little or as much contact with members as you choose. Us being social butterflies we are always up to meeting new friends around the globe.
How would you describe home exchange to your family and friends?
When you think about traveling most of the expenses come from flights and accommodations. We love staying in 5 star hotels, but maintaining that lifestyle for an extended length of time can get very expensive. Before we set off on our travels, we asked ourselves how we would be able to stretch our budget further and afford traveling. That is when we came across a HomeExchange.com and it has been a game changer for us as travelers. It is honestly the most genius program that we wish we came up with the idea ourselves.
You can read more travel stories on their blog Live & Capture with us.
