Travel the Home Exchange Way

Home Exchange Survey: Take Part in a Research Project

Margaret, a Canadian business student, is conducting a survey on attitudes to home exchange vacations as part of a research project. As she would like to get as many responses as possible, Margaret has asked for help in circulating her questionnaire which should only take a few minutes to complete. As her form was designed to be completed by pen and paper, I have adapted it a little so you can copy the survey below into a new email message, complete it and then send it to Margaret; her email address is at the end of the survey. Deadline for receipt of completed forms: 25 Nov 2006.

The Home Exchange Survey:

How do you feel about free accommodations when you travel? House exchange is exactly that!

1) Are you a homeowner? Yes/No (delete one)

2) If yes, do you live in a:

A) House

B) Apartment

C) Condo

D) Other

Delete all but one.

3) What age group are you in?

A) 18-25

B) 26-35

C) 36-50

D) 51-60

E) 61+

Delete all but one.

4) Do you have access to the Internet? Yes/No

5) Are you comfortable communicating and conducting business online? Yes/No

6) Have you ever booked a flight or a travel package Online? Yes/No

7) Have you ever heard of house swapping? Yes/No

8) Would you be inclined to try house swapping? Yes/No

9) Do you know anyone who has participated in a home exchange? Yes/No

10) How comfortable would you be with a temporary home exchange (delete all but one)?

A) Very uncomfortable

B) Somewhat uncomfortable

C) Comfortable

D) Very comfortable

11) What annual fee would you be willing to pay to have access for this service on the Internet? The range is from $ 115.00 - $ 165.00 US dollars

12) What continent would you most be interested in house swapping to? (delete all the others)

A) North America

B) South America

C) Europe

D) Asia

E) Africa

F) Australasia

13) On a vacation, do you prefer to travel: Internationally/Nationally?

14) How frequently do you travel internationally? Delete all but one.

A) Every five years or more

B) Once a year

C) Once every six months

D) Once a month

E) Never

15) Who would you travel with on a house exchange? Delete those that don't apply.

A) Spouse

B) Family

C) Friends

D) On your own

E) Significant other

16) What do you look for in accommodations? Delete any that don't apply.

A) An all inclusive resort

B) A hotel

C) An enriched cultural experience

D) A place to sleep

17) Who makes the vacation decisions in your household? Delete those that don't apply.

A) You do (also pick this option if you are single)

B) If married or in a relationship, your partner makes the decision.

C) Both, a collaborate decision

18) What is your occupational field?

19) What is your gender? Male/Female

20) What is your household income (US dollars)? Delete all but one.

A) $35,000 & under

B) $36,000 - $50,000

C) $51,000 – 70,000

D) $71,000 - $99,000

E) $100,000 & over

21) What are the first three digits of your postal code?

Thank you for taking the time to participate in our research project. Information that is collected will remain undisclosed to the public.

Copy and complete the form and then return it to Margaret: [email protected]

HomeLife Magazine: Travel Solutions - 'Broke with a Big Brood'

Under the title of 'Mission Impossible', HomeLife (the magazine for NatWest mortgage customers), published an article in the current issue covering various situations when arranging a holiday is difficult. Home exchange was described as the ideal solution for those who are 'broke with a big brood':

"School holiday travel is so expensive that many big families have to curb their love of long-haul travel. One affordable way that a family with, say, four kids can see the world and see how others live is to go for 'home swaps' - what you save on hotels you can spend on air tickets

... some more flexible travellers - pensioners and those with pre-schoolers - get home-swap addicted, pulling off seven trips in one year, while others find a long-term swap and stay put for up to six months."

The full article in HomeLife includes this photo of a Home Base Holidays member's lovely home in Queensland, Australia (see full home exchange offer, HE17107).

If you have a 'big brood', limit your search results to the most likely home exchange partners by using the Advanced Search option, 'homes which accommodate', choosing the number of people in your family before searching.

International Story Contest Winners: 'California Home Exchange' (Honourable Mention)

Travel and Transitions has announced the winners in its First International Story Contest. It is delightful to see that Rianna Scipio, a Home Base Holidays member, has received an Honourable Mention for her story, 'California Home Exchange', which was also published in the Nov/Dec issue of Home Swappers Newsletter. Well done, Rianna!

Rianna will receive a free subscription to Outpost Magazine, Verge Magazine or Plenty Magazine.

Susanne Pacher from Travel and Transitions writes:

'We had hundreds stories submitted from contests participants from all over the world, and many of them were simply amazing. It took hundreds of hours to go through all the stories, but we are very proud to announce the winners.

The top stories impressed with their emphasis on learning and broadening our minds and an interest in cross-cultural connections. Some even had a philanthropic element to them, which illustrates that travel is not only able to open our minds, it can also open our hearts.'

Read Rianna's heart warming home swap story, 'California Home Exchange', and check out her exchange offer in London, HE15124.

A Profitable Clearout: Make Money Preparing for a Home Swap

Julie, a Home Base Holidays member, wrote about her on-going preparations for her family's first home exchange:

"I haven't put a hand to a paint brush yet but I have been clearing out cupboards and, in one of them, I found a vacuum cleaner! It had been given to me by my Mum three years ago as she had switched to laminate flooring and didn't need it anymore. I didn't need it at the time so I put it at the back of a cupboard and promptly forgot about it.

But back to the title of this piece. It's all down to the wonder of eBay. All that clutter and 'just in case stuff', is going on eBay, and what do you know, I've already made £140.00. New dishwasher here I come!

So, as well as saving money, holiday swapping is making me money. The main reason though for exchanging homes in my eyes is not having to share a bedroom with the children. Why on normal holidays do you have to pay a premium for being a normal husband and wife? (well I hope that came out delicately enough.)"

See Julie's attractive home exchange offer (and super tidy house!) on the England/Wales border, HE18709.

Flyaway Café ... 'Where Travel is a Way of Life'

Although not specifically about home exchange vacations, Flyaway Café is a travel blog which covers topics that will interest many home exchangers, who are generally independent travellers, open to new suggestions.

Mary Jo, who currently works as a Flight Attendant for a major airline, 'writes about travel from an insider’s point of view, sharing information that she has discovered in her years of flying and travel. She shares with you tips to make traveling less stressful, and more enjoyable'.

Mary Jo publishes regular Money Saving Tips every Monday and I'm pleased to see that home exchange - and this blog! - were included in this week's Money Saving Tips.

Sit down and relax for awhile in the Flyaway Café.

Different Strokes for Different Folks: Can Rating Home Exchanges Ever be Really Fair?

Very occasionally a Home Base Holidays member or an enquirer asks whether we have considered introducing a home swap rating system (like auction sites where buyers and sellers can rate each other). I have addressed this point in past issues of Home Swappers Newsletters, notably in issue 29 and issue 30 over two years ago when we first added the option for members to indicate in their listings if they had references available from past home exchange partners.

I wrote at the time:

'The reasoning behind an exchange rating or reference system is excellent. It would be lovely for members who have been responsible home swappers to have good ratings or reports from previous exchange partners added to their listings as that really would be a good endorsement. The problem I think that could happen in some cases is that a miss-match might occur, say an overly fussy housekeeper (probably with no children to mess up the house!) exchanges with a busy family whose home may be comfortable but fall short of her (his?) exacting standards. In that instance it would seem really unfair if the fussy one gave a less than favourable rating when the family home might be considered perfectly fine by another family with similar priorities and standards. We would then have to police listings, checking comments and/or ratings, and probably receive complaints from members that ratings given to them were unfair and should be deleted - yikes!!

Auction sites deal primarily with fairly simple transactions between buyers and sellers and a rating system works very well in such situations. Home exchange is generally a much more complex transaction with the most successful swaps involving a combination of not only matching offers in terms of location, homes that are suitable, dates that fit but also whether the members discussing the possibility of a swap feel, through their correspondence, that they actually like each other and have similar priorities and standards. Many members who have had successful exchanges describe the "gut feeling" they had that an exchange would work well, the "good or not so good feelings" about members that Cathy (now our New Zealand rep) describes. Pinning this down in rating an exchange in a way that would be meaningful to other members with different personalities and expectations could be problematic.'

Feedback received from members at the time confirmed my reservations about a rating system. One member wrote:

'I think the tick box for references available from previous exchanges is a very good idea. Then members could ask people they have previously swapped with to provide confirmation that everything went well. I think for you to get involved and police the site would be too complex - much easier for members to organise this themselves just as they do for all other areas of arranging home exchanges. And quite frankly - we get such a good deal on the membership price that to expect any extras which would take ages to do on your part is very unrealistic. We have done around 12 excellent exchanges, and I would happily give references to all of those people. We have had one not so good experience (nothing drastic, but their home was dirty and they brought more people to our home than agreed) and I would not recommend them. That would show up in their listing if down as Experienced Exchangers but without also indicating References Available.'

Indeed, when you really think about it, whether through a rating system or member references, the rare member who received a bad report could be inclined to rate their exchange partner poorly in return. And, if a reference received was less than flattering, the recipient is unlikely to offer to provide it to future potential home swap partners! Far better to take the time to get to know another member well before agreeing to an exchange and be prepared to overlook minor disappointments (say, for example, their shower is not so powerful as yours at home. Is that really going to ruin an otherwise good exchange holiday - so much so that you would be inclined to give your exchange partners a poor rating?)

If you disagree, and feel that a rating system could be both fair and useful to home exchangers, we are always open to re-look at this and any other issues.