Best Home Exchange Website for London?
May 7th, 2015, 05:06 PM
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Best Home Exchange Website for London?
We are planning to spend the month of May next year in London. (We did this in Venice in autumn 2013 and decided to make a habit of month-long stays in cities we love.) I just booked the outbound flight today with Avios ( thank you, BA) and will book the return when the flights are released. In the meantime, my husband asked about the possibility of doing a home exchange instead of renting a flat. Maybe not for the full month; perhaps two weeks would be easier? We have a lovely home in a nice neighborhood in the Seattle area that should be attractive to a family or couple wishing to spend time in the Pacific Northwest.
I am new to the idea of home exchange and would like to know which websites are most reliable and productive. I understand there may be a membership fee to list our home and we are fine with that.
I would love to hear tales of successful home exchange, and tips on the do's and dont's and pitfalls. Friends of ours exchanged with two sisters from the UK, one of whom claimed to be a teetotaler, and came home to find their good vodka replaced with water in the bottle. . . They probably trusted too much. We will not leave much at all in the liquor cabinet, but we cannot lock our wine cellar.
Should we include access to our car? Assuming our insurance company is OK with that. Somehow I feel like UK drivers are very competent and we need not be concerned. We would not want access to theirs.
I am new to the idea of home exchange and would like to know which websites are most reliable and productive. I understand there may be a membership fee to list our home and we are fine with that.
I would love to hear tales of successful home exchange, and tips on the do's and dont's and pitfalls. Friends of ours exchanged with two sisters from the UK, one of whom claimed to be a teetotaler, and came home to find their good vodka replaced with water in the bottle. . . They probably trusted too much. We will not leave much at all in the liquor cabinet, but we cannot lock our wine cellar.
Should we include access to our car? Assuming our insurance company is OK with that. Somehow I feel like UK drivers are very competent and we need not be concerned. We would not want access to theirs.
May 7th, 2015, 11:23 PM
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We have been members of Intervac for around 12 years, and have had around 15 home exchanges in that time. No major dramas; just a couple of 'interesting' experiences - but that's to be expected, when you're in a foreign place.
I only correspond with people who are fluent in English (my only language) - I figure there's enough little traps without communication skills adding to the mix.
One of the things to consider is whether people would be interested in exchanging into your home. If you take a look at a number of different exchange websites, you can usually narrow the search parameters to looking only at those who are interested in exchanging into your country or area.
We generally exchange cars as well, although in larger cities like London they often offer some sort of public transport tickets etc in exchange for having the use of our car when they either don't have one, or we don't want to drive in their city.
We do have a large filing cabinet that we lock any thing of sentimental or monetary value, and have never had a problem with any loss or damage - after all, the guest family is also trusting you with their property, and presumably wouldn't want to receive a bad comment or be banned from the exchange website.
Our exchanges have taken us to some off-the-tourism-track places, and we've met up with some very lovely people. Di
I only correspond with people who are fluent in English (my only language) - I figure there's enough little traps without communication skills adding to the mix.
One of the things to consider is whether people would be interested in exchanging into your home. If you take a look at a number of different exchange websites, you can usually narrow the search parameters to looking only at those who are interested in exchanging into your country or area.
We generally exchange cars as well, although in larger cities like London they often offer some sort of public transport tickets etc in exchange for having the use of our car when they either don't have one, or we don't want to drive in their city.
We do have a large filing cabinet that we lock any thing of sentimental or monetary value, and have never had a problem with any loss or damage - after all, the guest family is also trusting you with their property, and presumably wouldn't want to receive a bad comment or be banned from the exchange website.
Our exchanges have taken us to some off-the-tourism-track places, and we've met up with some very lovely people. Di
May 10th, 2015, 02:16 PM
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Depends how you describe 'main' I guess! They claim to be the oldest, but if you google 'home exchange' they certainly don't come up top of the list.
As I said, you need to look at a number of sites, and take particular notice of how many people have a home that you want to exchange with, and of those, how many are interested in exchanging into your part of the world.
It can be a very hit-and-miss, tedious process, but when it works out, equally delightful. Di
As I said, you need to look at a number of sites, and take particular notice of how many people have a home that you want to exchange with, and of those, how many are interested in exchanging into your part of the world.
It can be a very hit-and-miss, tedious process, but when it works out, equally delightful. Di
Jun 3rd, 2015, 07:18 AM
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Check for British based websites. They will have lots of British listings and few from the US.
You can find plenty of advise on home exchange here:
http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...-exchange.html
It is my website but it is not commercial. There are answers there to all of your questions.
Home exchange works best if you are not fixated on one location.
Intervac and Homelink are the oldest home exchange services. I have belonged to both for 25 years. I am writing this from Martinique while on a home exchange there. It is my 60th home exchange. I already have 3 other deals set up and am starting to look for summer 2016.
In 25 years I have had one exchange in the London area--way out in the suburbs. Remember that people do not live downtown near the sights for the most part. I have had 2 exchanges in Edinburgh and one in Scarborough in addition to the one in London and that's it for the British Isles. If you live in NYC you get innundated with European offers because Europeans are fixated on Manhattan. I live in the DC area and always say that I get the people who are unsuccessful in NYC. If you live somewhere other than in a popular US big city for tourists, you will find very little interest from Europeans unless they are very experienced and willing to consider something different--like Martinique.
Others have given excellent advice on this thread. I always include my car. I will not consider an exchange unless it is downtown in a big city unless a car is included.
If you want to go to Europe, homeexchange.com is terrible. It is very good at PR but full of people who do not know what they are doing--and rentals. There are also many more American members than there are Europeans--which means you won't get much in Europe if you live in the US/Canada. Within Europe, the overwhelming group of membership is in France. They are promoted heavily everywhere but most experienced exchangers aren't there.
Just waste sometime on my website and you really will find all your questions answered there. If you get an exchange near London (as opposed to in London), you would need to drive. Remember also that a home exchange depends on mutual need. Finding that can take a lot of time.
Finally, I have noticed a colossal drop in email from Europe since the dollar increased in value. Europeans are mostly home exchanging within Europe--which they mostly do anyway.
My next exchange after Martinique is Salou, Spain, near Tarragona. I will be getting home hospitality returned in Taiwan in October-November for about 10 days. Then next April will find me in California near Yosemite. Home exchanges within North America are far less stressful than those abroad because everything works just as it does at home.
You can find plenty of advise on home exchange here:
http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...-exchange.html
It is my website but it is not commercial. There are answers there to all of your questions.
Home exchange works best if you are not fixated on one location.
Intervac and Homelink are the oldest home exchange services. I have belonged to both for 25 years. I am writing this from Martinique while on a home exchange there. It is my 60th home exchange. I already have 3 other deals set up and am starting to look for summer 2016.
In 25 years I have had one exchange in the London area--way out in the suburbs. Remember that people do not live downtown near the sights for the most part. I have had 2 exchanges in Edinburgh and one in Scarborough in addition to the one in London and that's it for the British Isles. If you live in NYC you get innundated with European offers because Europeans are fixated on Manhattan. I live in the DC area and always say that I get the people who are unsuccessful in NYC. If you live somewhere other than in a popular US big city for tourists, you will find very little interest from Europeans unless they are very experienced and willing to consider something different--like Martinique.
Others have given excellent advice on this thread. I always include my car. I will not consider an exchange unless it is downtown in a big city unless a car is included.
If you want to go to Europe, homeexchange.com is terrible. It is very good at PR but full of people who do not know what they are doing--and rentals. There are also many more American members than there are Europeans--which means you won't get much in Europe if you live in the US/Canada. Within Europe, the overwhelming group of membership is in France. They are promoted heavily everywhere but most experienced exchangers aren't there.
Just waste sometime on my website and you really will find all your questions answered there. If you get an exchange near London (as opposed to in London), you would need to drive. Remember also that a home exchange depends on mutual need. Finding that can take a lot of time.
Finally, I have noticed a colossal drop in email from Europe since the dollar increased in value. Europeans are mostly home exchanging within Europe--which they mostly do anyway.
My next exchange after Martinique is Salou, Spain, near Tarragona. I will be getting home hospitality returned in Taiwan in October-November for about 10 days. Then next April will find me in California near Yosemite. Home exchanges within North America are far less stressful than those abroad because everything works just as it does at home.
