Q&A: switching from holiday rentals to home swaps?

Q: We have a traditional cottage in Devon which we have been successfully holiday letting for many years. However, we are becoming more and more disillusioned with the holiday letting industry, with huge multinational corporations taking over the market and charging extortionate prices to us the property owners as well as the potential guests themselves. We are therefore looking at other options to make the property work for us and are very interested in home swapping.

As it is all new to us, we are a little nervous about arranging our first home swap and would appreciate any further help and advice you could offer. Our main concern is that we are still worried about travelling while Covid is a threat (we are slightly more vulnerable than most) and while there are ongoing flight disruptions at many UK airports.

This will be a learning curve for us but we're very keen to try home swapping and are hopeful that it could be way forward for our future travel plans.

- Sally (Devon, England)

A: It really does feel like the holiday rental market is getting very expensive both for property owners and their guests. Home swapping is an excellent alternative as, other than the small fee to join a home swap website, there are no additional costs ...which makes it a very affordable and very rewarding way to travel!

Your cottage in Devon sounds ideal and I am sure you will find lots of people that will really like to arrange a swap. The first step is to add your cottage to Home Base Holidays. You can either sign up to the two-week free trial or to a full membership (6-months is just £29). Once you've added your cottage, you can browse home swap offers and start contacting members to see if they would be interested in an exchange.

Successful home swaps require good communication, so give yourself plenty of time to find a member that is interested in swapping with you and then make sure to discuss all details of the proposed swap before making any firm commitments. Stay in communication with your exchange partners in the lead up to the travel dates.

House insurance: it’s very rare that we hear of problems during an exchange but it’s important to contact your house insurers to confirm your policy will cover the period your guests will be staying (we can also point you in the direction of reasonably price top up insurance for home swappers).

Home swapping helps you step away from the busy tourist trail and enjoy the space, comforts and safety of a home from home. This can be especially reassuring at this time while Covid is still a real concern.

Check out our cleaning guidelines for home exchanging during Covid.

As a result of recent travel restrictions, we’ve seen a big increase in members looking for home exchanges closer to home (such as members in cities looking for swaps to the countryside). A good option for a first swap could be to arrange a shorter break such as a long weekend getaway within the UK. Once you have your first successful swap under your belt, you could then start planning a longer trip or even plan a swap abroad.

Understandably, it can be quite a daunting planning your first home swap holiday but we're always here to help in any way we can! Contact us with any questions

Start planning your home swap holiday accommodation