Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

Guardian home exchange: new service launches

Guardian home exchange, a new service operated by Home Base Holidays for Guardian News and Media Limited, has been launched this week.

As far as I am aware, Guardian home exchange is the very first home swap service to be provided by a large news and media organisation. I am particularly pleased that Home Base Holidays was selected to develop and operate this innovative new service for the Guardian.

Home Base Holidays members will benefit from the extra home exchange offers from Guardian home exchange, in addition to listings already available from our partner agencies in the First Home Exchange Alliance (FHEA).

Guardian home exchange operates on the same basis as Home Base Holidays: one and two year membership options, up-to-date listings showing join and expiry dates, a secure, private member area and the aim to provide members with a wide variety and balanced choice of exchange offers.

Scam/Spam Alert: 'Free' Home Exchange Membership Offer from Rogue Site

It has come to our attention that a few Home Base Holidays members may have recently received an unsolicited (spam) message from a China based site, allhomeexchange, apparently offering a free trial membership. Home Base Holidays never allows any other organisation to contact our members.

Never respond to unsolicited (spam) messages offering free membership to a home exchange service (or to any spam messages for that matter as responding only confirms that your email address is valid). We had recently been alerted by other reputable home exchange services to the activities of this particularly unethical and devious organisation, allhomeexchange, that has targeted members of several genuine home exchange agencies (hence, an unrealistically high number of claimed 'members' on the new site). If you should receive an unsolicited (spam) free membership offer from allhomeexchange, or any other organisation, or a direct exchange offer from a 'member' of such a club, don't respond but, if you are a Home Base Holidays member, please do let us know (and let us know if you also belong to any other home exchange service - this will help us trace where the rogue agency obtained addresses).

Hopefully, very few members would be tempted to take up an unsolicited offer from an unknown site with no phone number or mailing address or information about the providers but, if you did, please don't contact other 'members' listed on the site with your exchange offer. The majority will not have heard of allhomeexchange, let alone authorised copying their exchange listings on the site. Otherwise, you may receive some very angry replies accusing you of sending spam - definitely not the response you want when sending an exchange offer!

Since our site based messaging system was introduced last year, whenever a member receives a message from another member, they receive an alert by email and must log on to their member area to read the new message. No email addresses are shown, either when responding to a message or when sending an exchange offer to another member from the private member area. Thus, anyone who joins Home Base Holidays specifically to collect addresses to compile a mailing list will not be able to do so. We know that some members join more than one club as a way of increasing their exchange opportunities. If you do join more than one agency, always look for another well established club that charges a reasonable membership fee, includes full contact details on their website, has a secure private messaging system - and never, ever respond to unsolicited messages offering free membership. Legitimate companies never send spam or allow other clubs to mail their members.

All genuine home exchange services are doing their utmost to ensure continued security for all home exchangers. However, we need members to be vigilant too in order to thwart the increasingly sophisticated scammers. Just remember - if a free offer seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Popular Posts on Travel the Home Exchange Way in 2007

The beginning of a new year is a good time to look back at posts and home exchange topics that were read by the most blog visitors over the last year. This is very useful as it gives good clues on the subjects to return to and elaborate on in 2008.

Some of the most read posts were actually in a series published on consecutive days. The series on the use of good photos to enhance exchange offers was particularly popular. I was very pleased when Marguerite Carstairs, a photographer and former Estate Agent with extensive experience in showing homes to their best advantage for the retail market, agreed to share some tips with Home Base Holidays members and visitors.

So, if you missed the series of photography tips when first published last May, here are the direct links to each post (the photo is one of many used to illustrate each topic):

Enhancing a Home Exchange Offer: Tips for Photographing Your Home, an Introduction

Tips for Photographing Your Home, Tip 1 (of 7) - Lighting

Tips for Photographing Your Home, Tip 2 (of 7) - Focus on an Area

Tips for Photographing Your Home, Tip 3 (of 7) - Full View of Entrance

Tips for Photographing Your Home, Tip 4 (of 7) - Include Different Outside Views

Tips for Photographing Your Home, Tip 5 (of 7) - Using Unusual Angles and Portrait Shots

Tips for Photographing Your Home, Tip 6 (of 7) - Pets, Gardens, Pools, Services

Tips for Photographing Your Home, Tip 7 (of 7) - Locality Features

Who Will be Sleeping in My Bed? Children's Anxieties about Home Exchange

Catherine, a Home Swappers subscriber, who recently wrote a review of the e-book, 'Home Exchange Academy', has raised an important issue that other families are very likely to have encountered when first discussing the idea of a home exchange with their children:

'As our family discusses potential home exchanges, our daughters (age 7 & 9) are expressing a lot of anxiety about someone they don't know sleeping in their beds and touching their "stuff". I'd be interested in hearing from other families with children of similar ages about how they've addressed such concerns.'

It's not only children who may have problems with the idea of having 'strangers' in their homes and using their 'stuff' when first presented with the idea. However, Catherine is the first to raise this issue especially from the point of view of children and it will be useful to get feedback from experienced exchangers on how they have handled this with their own children.

Children in families that have been taking part in home swaps since they were babies or toddlers will accept home exchange and having guests in their homes while they are away as perfectly normal. But, it's understandable that older children in families considering home exchange for the first time may have concerns about allowing exchange guests to sleep in their beds and use their toys and games when they aren't at home.

Try to involve your children in your plans for a home exchange at an early stage. If they browse listings on the website with you, point out the positives of staying in a home (new toys, games, books, possibly local playmates) and of all the fun they would have exploring the area. Make it clear that you will have to consider different exchange possibilities, sending your exchange offer to a number of members, so that they don't get their hearts set on one particular offer that may not be available.

If possible, exchange with a family with children of similar ages to your own. Encourage your children to correspond directly with the children in the exchange party, sharing information on their interests, things they like to do in your neighbourhood that the guest children may enjoy too, exchanging photos of themselves and any pets, explaining how to care for pets, etc. Hopefully, the children will become email or social networking pen pals and, by the time the exchange takes place, should be fine with the idea of having their new 'friends' sleeping in their beds and using their stuff. If at all possible, arrange an overlap at the beginning of the exchange so that the children actually are able to meet, even if only briefly at the airport.

Reassure your children that, although you will all leave most of your things (apart from personal items and clothing) for your guests to use, any of their special things (perhaps a 'baby' toy that they wouldn't want touched or might feel they would be ridiculed for still having) can be stored or locked away so they won't be seen or used by any of the exchange guests.

Do leave a comment below or get in touch if you have other ideas to share on how best to deal with anxieties children may have about allowing exchange guests to use their rooms and belongings.

A Home Exchange Christmas Story

It may be a little late to get in the mood for the holidays by reading a topical story now that a new year has begun. However, I came across a review for 'When Christmas Comes' by Debbie Macomber a few days ago and, as it features a home exchange, it's topical anyway! An excerpt from the review:

'Charles is a professor for Harvard and doesn't like Christmas. He finds himself on a house swap website and ends up swapping houses with Emily. She stays in his Condo in Boston and he flies to Leavenworth, Washington to stay in Emily's house. He is your typical absent minded professor and is looking forward to the solitude of staying at Emily's house and finishing his book. Little does he know that the kids next door will try to get him to play outside in the snow and that he has a surprise coming.'

Read the full review of 'When Christmas Comes' on the blog, Not Enough Books. Also see the link to the book on Amazon.com under Books in the right hand column.

A Home Exchange in 2008? New Year's Resolutions for Home Swappers

• Start planning your home exchange well in advance of the dates you want - join Home Base Holidays early in 2008
• Compose an attractive home exchange offer - think of the best features of your home and attractions in your area
• Add photos to your home exchange listing as soon as possible - photos make a listing so much more attractive
• Be open and flexible on destinations you will consider and, if possible, dates and length of exchange
• Answer all messages from other members promptly even if you can't consider the exchange offered
• Take your time to get to know potential exchange partners, asking as many questions as you want (and responding to questions asked) before agreeing to an exchange
• Look for compatible exchangers. House full of valuable antiques and white carpets? Better to avoid the family with three under fives
• Exchange confirmed? Update your listing with new dates and destinations or, if you can't consider further exchanges at this time, tick the 'Exchange Request Fulfilled' box on your form
• First home exchange? Start compiling a folder of useful information for your exchange guests several weeks before the exchange, adding to it as you think of additional items
• Had a great home swap? Send us your stories for possible publication (and extra publicity for your next exchange offer) in Home Swappers Newsletter or on this blog