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Buy and saveWhy our travel editor will never book a hotel again
The joys of home swapping for holidays, from someone who has done it 12 times
Rory lived abroad in several countries as a travel guidebook writer for more than 10 years. He edits Which? Travel magazine, and our online travel journalism.
Imagine cutting the cost of accommodation on your next holiday to around £5 a day.
You can have a whole house, rather than just a bedroom. And you can go almost anywhere in the world and stay as long as you like, within reason. Welcome to house swapping.
You’re sceptical, I know. I was, too. Our terraced house was too small. Too overflowing with stuff. The 1980s kitchen was too old (and battered). We aren’t in a nice enough neighbourhood. Who would want to stay here?
Lots of people, it turned out. Our first swap was with a pair of retired Australian judges who had lived in the UK decades before. They came to ours first, and over a cup of tea and cake in our living room, we talked about where to find a good pint and the best fish and chips locally, as well as mastering the idiosyncrasies of how to run our dishwasher. They told us about their favourite local parks (warned us about snakes) and when to put out the right bins, before we headed for our month-long stay in their house in Perth, Australia. It’s these conversations and connections that really make house swapping special.
Yes, we have stayed in some truly extraordinary homes. There was a house in Florida where we watched rocket launches while lounging in the pool, a clapperboard cottage with a hot tub in the Stockholm suburbs and a swanky five-bedroom villa in the south of France that we shared with friends. Last year, we swapped with a historic house in upstate New York, where our kids were able to experience the joy of trick-or-treating from the pumpkin-decorated front porch.
This article first appeared in Which? Travel
Accommodation costs us about £5 a night
We couldn’t have afforded any of these if it were not for house swapping. In fact, the swaps themselves are free, but I pay £175 a year to use Home Exchange, a house swapping booking platform, which works out at about £5 a night for the 35 or so nights I used it for last year.
The greatest pleasure, however, is in the genuine relationships forged with those you swap with. Through the messages exchanged before and during the swap, friendships are created. You become, however briefly, part of each other’s lives. We have swapped pets and cars, and watered plants along the way. For a week, we became passionately involved in helping pick a summer school for our Basque guests’ kids.
Warm welcomes are universal. We’ve had olive oil from the garden grove of a house we stayed at in Greece, mountains of Halloween sweets in New York and marmalade from Seville. In return, guests at our house can expect to find sparkling wine from Kent, Essex jam and a pile of Cadbury chocolate bars to try – French guests are big fans of the Crunchie.
Does house swapping ever go wrong?
It hasn't for us. Even in challenging moments, we found friendship, like when our shower sprang a leak and rained all over the dining table. We had to arrange an emergency repair via video call with our Spanish guests, an Albanian plumber and a UK insurer while frantically looking for a reliable phone signal in the Polish countryside. A babel of languages resulted in a tube of silicone being applied and both parties leaving five-star reviews.
We have been happy with all 12 of the places we stayed at, and all the guests who have stayed at ours have all left positive reviews, too.
I won’t go back to hotels. I have saved tens of thousands of pounds over the past five years, but what has really hooked me is the interactions with hosts and guests that make my holidays more fulfilling. It’s like having a friend everywhere you go.
House swapping complete Q&A
Here is everything you need to know if you want to give home swapping a go on your next holiday
Is house swapping for me?
If you’re precious about the things in your home or anxious about someone sleeping in your bed, a swap is not for you. There is no point in doing it if you'll worry about those things all the time. It can also be time-consuming to set up swaps. But otherwise, go for it.
How does house swapping work?
Classic swaps are simultaneous. You exchange houses on the same dates. There is also a points system, where you are awarded credits for stays at your house. You spend these credits to stay somewhere else, and this allows non-direct swaps.
How do I house swap?
Join a house swapping community. For most sites, you pay a flat annual membership fee (£100-£200) to use a booking platform with thousands of homes. I use Home Exchange because it verifies member identities and offers some insurance. It's also a B Corp. Kindred is a smaller and generally more expensive rival focused on upmarket homes.
What about house swap scams and safety?
Everyone on Home Exchange is both a host and a guest, so there is a high degree of trust. Swaps don’t involve money, so there are few opportunities for scammers. The only exception is a cleaning fee, payable when the stay is over. If you’re asked for money in advance, it’s a scam.
How do I pick my accommodation?
This is time-consuming. Home swapping websites look similar to Airbnb, where you filter by availability, destination and the type of property you want, but you need to match with a host, too. Hosts and guests both have ratings from previous stays, which you also need to read.
We often send anywhere from 10 to 50 messages to many properties in the destination we want to travel to before a swap is agreed. It involves talking to each other to make sure everyone is comfortable with staying in each other's houses. It’s not like booking an Airbnb.
Once the exchange is agreed, there are messages to organise the swap and answer questions like how to use a cooker or where the bedding is. Many hosts prepare a house manual. Cancellations are rare but do happen, usually because of guest or host illness, in our experience. The platform did help us find a new host in the same city, and it will pay for a hotel in a true last-minute emergency.
Do I need a luxury house to house swap?
No. If you have a pool, hot tub or luxurious mansion, you will certainly get more offers, but flats and smaller houses near popular UK destinations (whether that’s Edinburgh or the Dorset coast) do just as well. Most houses, like ours, are completely ordinary.
Do I need to put my stuff in storage?
Clear a few drawers, perhaps a wardrobe, for guests, and that’s it. Most of the houses on Home Exchange are family homes, rather than dedicated holiday homes.
What about cleaning and DIY?
You do need to scrub that oven and clean that grout. Cleanliness expectations are high (and should be agreed upfront). We usually spend much of the last day of our holiday cleaning, and return to find our own house absolutely sparkling. Some hosts give you the option of paying for a cleaner.
One of the side benefits of house swapping is that it has made us look after our house a little better. Sticky door handles and dripping taps need to be dealt with.
What if I break something?
We have broken and had small things broken; usually, this is simply forgiven. Put more precious items away. For more expensive items, like a TV or screen door, house swap platforms usually offer a level of cover, but you should make sure you have home insurance.
Will my home insurance cover my house swap?
Ask. Some insurers offer no cover, others do for a certain number of exchanges, or you may need to buy a bolt-on. House swapping is still unusual, so persevere to get a clear answer. Insurers such as Pikl, that cover holiday lets, are also useful.
Are there legal restrictions to house swapping?
Because no money is exchanged, house swapping is not restricted like Airbnb and similar services, except in Amsterdam. You do need to check visa rules if looking after someone’s pet – some countries (such as the US) may view this as providing a service and in breach of a visitor visa
