HomeExchange.com Reviews

Beware: homeexchange.com proofs in fact not to protect hosts that open their home's to members. In July 2019 an official homeexchange guest caused damage in our home. We have sent the damage estimate of a little over €500 to the guest + Homeexchange so-called Premium Services, with the request to pay us so we can repair the damage as well and quick as possible. Up to date, more than 3 months later, the damage we suffered still has not been paid. The guest who caused the damage refused to pay for the damage her family caused and clearly Home Exchange lets her get away with that, Hoemk Exchange has not paid us either, which they promised and should, based on their Premium Services. We have filed a complaint with Home Exchange and asked to escalate this to a more senior knowledgable employee, elas the complaint has been totally ignored by Home Exchange and 'handled' by the same employee Jessica who has proved not to be competent to setttle our damage effectively and efficiently so far. We have of course stopped sharing our home on home exchange. We hope this reviews helps that one day soon someone competent within Home Exchange in fact actions on their promise that a damage should be paid for as quickly as possible and lives up to their own Premium Services promises. This mismanagement is killing trust of members' that are being asked to pay and keep feeding home exchange's continuity. Start deserving that!

Having now been full paying members of HomeExchange.com for 5 years, and completed many exchanges, we feel able to give a realistic second review.

1. NUMBER AND AGES OF ALL TRAVELLERS SHOULD BE REQUIRED FOR EVERY ENQUIRY, AND CONFIRMED ON FINALISATION FOR EVERY EXCHANGE - Number of persons is NOT adequate. For example, members may travel as 1 adult, 2 adults, 3 adults, 1 adult + 1 child, 2 adults + 2 children etc. Each exchange agreement is different, and a member's family makeup does not always mean that all the family will always travel. I have requested this function for a long time but no action yet. Unfortunately members don't always read listings before they write to other members, listings are not always up to date, and this simple, essential function would save a lot of time for members searching and members receiving requests, if members could only send messages to those "matching" the relevant travelling group or individual.

2. NO TOKEN GUEST POINTS/BALLOONS TO BE BOUGHT - We feel very strongly that members should NOT be able to buy tokens with money. HE staff say it's expensive to buy these tokens, but it encourages a few members to abuse/misuse the system and try to be a guest but not to host, and we think only the HE company gains through the sale of tokens. Tokens should ALWAYS BE EARNED though hosting, renewal of membership, assisting other members etc. We understand that a majority of members prefer simultaneous reciprocal exchanges (i.e. we exchange our homes on the same dates, without tokens) due to their own personal and home circumstances. However, a significant minority including us also like non-simultaneous reciprocal exchanges (i.e. we exchange our homes on different dates, for the same or a different number of days) and the potential flexibility of tokens, because this enables additional hosting or being a guest, or hospitality while the host is present. Flexibility is good, sale of tokens is bad!

3. WAS AMERICAN, NOW FRENCH, BUT WHERE DO MEMBERS' FEES GO? See Multivu for a write-up on the merger. We read that GuestToGuest (a French company founded in 2011 by two entrepreneurs Charles-Edouard Girard and Emmanuel Arnaud) raised $35Million in 2017 from MAIF "a French mutual insurance company and long-standing advocate of a collaborative society" (admirable values) to take over Home Exchange. The annual fee is now very high but we cannot see any financial detail anywhere on income and expenditure - how our fees are spent, and where our money goes. There appear to be too few customer-facing paid employees (who do the best they can, but sadly can rarely deal with the issues we raise) and an ineffective IT team. We would like to see the annual accounts (as we can for other registered companies), including all income, numbers of members, subscription fees, other income, and a detailed breakdown of all costs, including staff salaries, how many members have received "guarantee payments" for damage or failed exchanges etc. etc. The so-called guarantee appears to be very weak indeed, from the point of view of members.

4. IMPROVE THE IT - We receive hundreds of "exchange requests" every year, many of which do not give much if any detail about the sender or why they chose to write to us. Members can write in many languages, and as long as they remember to tick the right box, we can then click to translate their personalized message into our own language. (We don't mind at all if a member cannot write in English; that is understandable and human. We do mind a lot if a member sends an "automatic" message to us without any personal explanation or detail. We are ordinary home-owners, we are not a free hotel nor AirBnB nor other commercial entity.) The Home Exchange company could help members if they require more information to be input into all exchange requests. In the meantime, we have learned to say no thank you, politely and frequently.

5. MORE MEMBERS - We give 3 stars instead of 1 star because Home Exchange appears to have many more members than other home swap websites (although we would like to be able to see clearly the number of members - it's a simple IT tool to enable this constantly changing number of members to be visible, but it is obscure). With a lot of personal effort, we have agreed more than 40 home exchanges, some simultaneous and reciprocal, some non-simultaneous and reciprocal, some though hosting guests for token "balloons" or "guest points," and some through redeeming our own earned tokens. So we remain members, but we are considering other holiday swap membership alternatives.

We're a couple, Ambassador and experienced exchangers:
Exchanging is a fantastic way to see the world, we love it, we've done many exchanges, have seen beautiful places, and have met wonderful people but …

PROBLEM 1:
... exchange means: to give and receive something of the same kind in return. However …
EVERYBODY WANTS TO TRAVEL BUT NOBODY WANTS TO HOST. MOST ARE ON FREE VACATION HUNTS FOR ALL THEIR FAMILY & FRIENDS, BRING KIDS BUT DON'T WANT TO HOST CHILDREN OR TRY TRICKS ON JUST 2 PEOPLE.
We read the complains on this platform. In no answer is ever asked how many travellers they are and what they are aiming for as part of the solution. Members get often declined because they think it's normal to double, triple or outnumber other Members in travellers.
They all try - write to - 2 mature people with a high bed number.
2 ALL TIME EXCHANGE RULES:
*LOOK AT YOUR OFFER BEFORE YOU ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT
*DON'T OFFER MEMBERS WHAT YOU DON'T WANT FOR YOURSELF

There are no good straight forward Etiquette Guidelines on this website and there are far too many sharks in this pool because there are no rules. So there are many Members who:
- ... want the good season but give the bad season (see below).
- ... offer hospitality stays, one room in their entire house, super tiny units/flats, garden houses or no window basements but want total calculated GP or entire homes in return.
- … have no plans to prepare their home for guests, clean or treat properties with respect. After all they're on holiday ;):)
- ... expect other Members to prepare their whole house because they seek 1 or 2 nights with Guest Points and mistake this website for FreeAirBnb.com

PROBLEM 2:
Since MAY 2016 (!!!) we ask HE.com to change certain things for one or two travellers. HE.com doesn't want to realise we ALL pay for this, and we all pay the same! Dare we use the word. Yes we do!
DISCRIMINATION!
THIS WEBSITE IS STILL NOT ATTRACTIVE FOR SINGLES, COUPLES, 2 ADULTS, DIVORCEES, WIDOWERS OR EMPTY NESTERS - ALL MEMBERS WITH MORE BEDS THAN TRAVELLERS.
AN ENDLESS STREAM OF GREEDY EMAILS COMES YOUR WAY IF YOU ARE LESS TRAVELLERS. FROM EACH 100 REQUESTS WE RECEIVE 85 (!!!) ARE TOTALLY SELF-CENTERED. WHO PAYS MEMBERSHIP TO BECOME A FAMILY & GROUP HOTEL! ALL-YEAR-ROUND! FOR FREE! IF YOU DON'T MIND A FULL HOUSE THAN YOU CHOOSE AIRBNB TO EARN MONEY!
WE WILL NOT CHANGE REVIEW STARS UNTILL THERE'S ACTUALLY SOMETHING DONE ABOUT THIS.

- A lot of Members present themselves as 2 people but have really no plans to be 2 travellers. Bedcounters will try something like "now we know each other, is it ok if we bring …" around the 3rd email.
- Vague mentioned "sometimes/maybe/occasionally" travellers on a profile page? Forget it! They always have to come along. It's a "polite" way of saying they want 2 mature travellers in their own home but would like all available beds coming with a Listing for themselves.
- Members who write on their profile that they're not always travelling with the entire family, but perhaps 1 adult + 1 child, will try to bring everyone if you've got enough beds.
- Get used to Members who are insulted if you write back they can't bring 4 kids under 12 years and should stop writing to 2 adults but start looking for similar Listings.
- If you're new/unexperienced than you always end up with the short end of the stick with any exchange. Once, still green, a shark said she would have to reconsider if she couldn't bring friends right after we told we booked flights. We canceled this blackmailer instead and exchanged with someone else in the area.
# ASK IN EVERY FIRST EMAIL HOW MANY TRAVELLERS YOU CAN EXPECT, ALSO IF THEY PRESENT THEMSELVES AS 2, IF YOU DON'T WANT SURPRISE GUESTS LATER.
HE.com strongly promotes the "we're one big family" idea.
Don't care about this pressure. Say no.
THIS IS NOT BOOKFREEHOLIDAYFOREVERYONE.COM!!!

PROBLEM 3:
It's very difficult to find good comparable exchanges.
- A Listing isn't visible untill someone zooms several times to a very specific area or wants to look at page 110. HE.com changed provider but we feel you should see all Members in a country at once, and see a selection when you zoom so everyone has got the same chances.
- We are surrounded by Ghost Listings, showing as "new members". Some have last visited their page 4 years ago. If we type our place 40 Listings show though there are less than 10 active Members. That's only our very, very, very tiny spot on the websites world map!
IF HE.COM WOULD REMOVE ALL GHOST LISTINGS THAN THE WEBSITE WOULD IMPROVE IMMEDIATELY.
- With every Listing you can see the number of beds but you can not see how many travellers come with a Listing or use filters to search for a number of travellers.
- The Calendar is improved in September and there are the options green (exchange or GP), orange (sim. exchange) and blue (GP) now. We miss the option to SPEND Guest Points!
- Reversed exchanges is working again.
- The message system isn't working as it should. We can't say "no" with a personal note so every request is "currently under discussion" though it's not at all. Every 4 minutes an exchange is realised says the website. We very much doubt that considering previous remark. Other Members probably have the same problems.

PROBLEM 4:
IT WOULD BE HONEST AND FAIR TO ALL MEMBERS IF GUEST POINTS WOULD NOT WORK PER LISTING PER NIGHT BUT PER PERSON PER NIGHT. WHY >>>
- Yes, families would have to spend more points but they would also be able to earn more points because they've got more beds.
If you want to host only 2 mature travellers than it's normal you earn less points.
- Groups usually offer one property while half of the party, not even Members, comes along for a free vacation. If they would need more points than they would have to consider to offer more than one property or save longer. Only the sun comes always up for free.
- Members with more beds than travellers would be TEMPTED instead of being treated as hotel owners, because they would get points per person. It would open up more travel options for families & groups.
- Single / 2 travellers would have to spend fair points if they want to travel. Besides that, for the high points they give Members try to offer them hospitality stays or one room in the entire house so their points are worth less but yet they have to "pay" the same as 6 people. Absurd!

PROBLEM 5
A lot of people complain on this platform about not being able to spend Guest Points. No wonder!
- Far too many Members want BOTH: exchanges and paying guests/rent. They only seek non-simultaneous Spring or Summer stays and give the rain or hurricane season in return. Besides that they are only interested in last-minutes and think it's normal you cancel agreements when a good money deal comes along.
- Far too many Members try to drag everyone along if possible because it doesn't matter if you are 1 or 10 travellers. The number of Guest Points stays the same.
Again, it's all about clear rules and clear Etiquette Guidelines!
START THE NEW YEAR WITH THAT!

The app is a good idea and works if you have a home that you can exchange with another person. However, using the guest points is impossible, no one wants to use them. I bought extra points when first joined, but have 1500 points that no one will take. Now you must buy an annual membership, which is a scam. You get more unless points and pay more money to not use any of it.

We have not been happy for some time with the misleading communications from HE and had decided not to renew our membership. After a year of dismal performance of the website without any compensation for lost functionality and thus lost exchange opportunities, we were informed there would be no loyalty bonus in renewal. Instead an increase based on a mystical “exchange” rate against the Euro with no relation to the rates at the time of renewal. This is simply a cash grab not a justification. An arrangement to use “guestpoint” made while still waiting out the expiry of the current subscription, resulted in the company publishing our home as available to guest point exchange for those same dates as a default setting. They have no right to offer my home at any time without my approval. This is not a difficult concept to understand but fits with their arrogant attitude that my paying them gives them the right to profit from my home in anyway. By the way, any “services” an optimal membership “purchases” are not transferable to an exchange agreed on the website while a member but taking place in the year following non renewal. The communication around use of gustpoints following changes in the membership structure are as confused and contradictory as all previous communications .

I have exchanged homes nearly 200 times and belong to three home exchange clubs.

Each club has its pros and cons. For me, the wonderful thing about HE.com is the point system and excellent customer service.

1. Point system allows you to pay for your stay with collected points. Points are accumulated by allowing others to stay in your home for points. Example: My lovely home is in on the sea in Mexico. I’ve been dreaming of visiting Corsica for many years but was unable to secure a reciprocal home exchange. The point system really works! I now have a gorgeous three bedroom home on the sea in Corsica for two weeks. All with the use of points! My home exchange partner in Corsica is using the points I gave her to visit another home in New Zealand. Voila, everyone is delighted about the arrangement.

2. I have contacted HE.com on several occasions. Mostly related to how to use the system. In every case I have been extremely happy with the service. Customer service is responsive, polite, and excellent with instructions.

One request for improvement of the HE.com system is to require all members to list family members on their site, including small children.

Homeexchange.com, once an excellent site we used for decades, has descended into one big sloppy management mess ever since they sold out to Guest to Guest. In fact, we are now actively seeking to find a replacement for HomeExchange.com. We have been members since the 1980s ... long before Air B&B was created and muddied the waters for all of us. We have been involved in literally hundreds of koi successful direct home exchanges, simultaneous and non-simultaneous, through HomeExchange.com throughout the years but ever since what was sold to us as a “merger” with the Guest to Guest scheme website ... but which seems to have been actually a takeover of HomeExchange.com by Guest to Guest ... there have been and continue to be countless and unending problems too numerous to list so we seek to find a suitable replacement for the once viable HomeExchange.com. No “guest points”, “hospitality room” exchanges or other gimmicks. Any suggestions?

I love Home Exchanging and have completed several with another company. Having recently joined this one, my "favourite homes" page is blank even when I add"favourite"homes. I reported this on the 28th October and have given them several reminders since. They reply with "a technician is working on it and we have no update." This lack of action and no updates for nearly 2 months does nothing to instil confidence in this company. I also question the quality of their technicians!
Update: And then I got this again.


Dec 17, 15:04 CET

Hello Janine,

I am very sorry to hear your disappointment, but our IT team is still working on a fix. I'm very sorry for the delay and I will let you know once there is any update.

Have a great day,

They charge completely different rates for service based on your country. This is publically posted on their, site, it's not even some sort of hidden discrimnation. Americans pay $15 for what costs Europeans 10EUR (the exchange rate is about 1EUR : $1.12). Other countries are probably being ripped off as well. It's a European based company that does not adjust for currency value, all prices are fixed, so in effect, everyone except for Europeans are completely ripped off.

Great community, incredibly honest and generous people! Also easy management and fast successful help by HE assistants!

Support when needed was excellent.

We, a couple, still Ambassador (though they all seem to have disappeared except for a few giving "advice", we don't hear anything anymore), still don't see change on 3 big problems on the website. HE.com tells us they're not urgent enough.

PROBLEM 1:
Exchanging is a fantastic way to see the world, we love it, we've seen beautiful places, have done many exchanges and have met wonderful people but … exchange means: to give and receive something of the same kind in return.
HOWEVER, MOST DON'T WANT GUESTS BUT SEEK FREE HOLIDAY HOMES FOR AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.
THEY'RE ON BARGAIN HUNTS FOR THEIR FAMILY & FRIENDS, BRING KIDS BUT DON'T WANT TO HOST OTHER CHILDREN, OR START HARASSING ALL JUST 2 TRAVELLERS.
MANY ONLY LOOK AT BEDNUMBERS AND THINK IT'S NORMAL AND RESPECTFUL TO TRY TO DOUBLE, TRIPLE OR OUTNUMBER OTHER MEMBERS IN TRAVELLERS.
There are no good straight forward Etiquette Guidelines.
There are far too many sharks in this pool because there are no rules.
- You will receive an endless stream of greedy requests if you offer something nice, have lots of beds and are less travellers.
(85 of each 100 requests we receive are totally self-centered)
- Vague mentioned "sometimes/maybe/occasionally" travellers on a profile page? Forget it, they always have to come along. It's a "polite" way of saying they want 2 adults in their own home but would like all available beds coming with a Listing for themselves.
- Bedcounters will try something like "now we know each other, is it ok if we bring …" around the 3rd email.
- If you're new or unexperienced than you always end up with the short end of the stick with any exchange. Sharks love fresh bait.
Once, still green, we had a shark saying she would have to reconsider if she couldn't bring friends right after we told we booked flights (we canceled and exchanged with someone else in that area).
- Get used to Members who are insulted if you write back they can't bring 4 kids under 12 yrs and should stop writing to 2 adults but start looking for similar Listings.
⚘ Ask in every FIRST email how many travellers you can expect if you don't want surprise guests. HE.com strongly promotes the "we're one big family" idea. Don't care about this pressure. Say no.
This is not bookfreevacationforeveryone.com!!! It never ends.

SINCE MAY 2016 (!!!) we ask HE.com to change things for SINGLE TRAVELLERS, A COUPLE, 2 ADULTS, DIVORCEES, EMPTY NESTERS - ALL MEMBERS WITH MORE BEDS THAN TRAVELLERS.
FOR THEM THIS WEBSITE IS NOT ATTRACTIVE AT ALL!
ONE OR TWO PEOPLE DON'T JOIN AND PAY MEMBERSHIP TO BECOME A ALL YEAR ROUND FREE FAMILY AND GROUP HOTEL.
IF THEY DON'T MIND A FULL HOUSE THAN THEY SIGN UP ON AIRBNB TO EARN MONEY.
Nothing happens.
HE.com does accept payment each year from everyone though!

ALSO … BE AWARE ... THERE ARE MANY MEMBERS WHO:
- … seek nonsimultaneous but offer their own property on bad dates wanting both: a good vacation + rent out. They're only interested in good weather stays, you get the rain/hurricane season so they can accept paying guests, or they ask Guest Points for unattractive dates.
⚘ Check destinations on the WWW.
- ... offer hospitality stays, one room in their house, tiny airbnb units, 1 room flats, garden houses or no window basements but want total calculated Guest Points or entire homes in return.
⚘ Read Profiles totally and carefully. Top to bottom!
- … have no plans to prepare their home for guests, clean or treat your property with respect. After all they're on holiday ;):)
⚘ Make a "Welcome to our Home" guide. Be polite but honest. Don't assume anything. Talk about all before the exchange takes place. Don't go ahead if you're the only one giving answers to questions.
- ... expect other Members to prepare their whole house because they seek 1/2/3 nights with Guest Points and mistake this website for FreeAirBnb.com
- … want a free vacation home, costing them little money by using the pay-per-night Essential plan. They get 1300 free Guest Points when they join the website and leave when the points are used.

PROBLEM 2:
It's very difficult to find good comparable exchanges and that's mainly because the search area is terrible.
- After 9 months (!) there are no good/important filter options.
- You're Listing isn't visible untill someone zooms several times to a very specific area or wants to look at page 110.
- We see the tiniest villages show before we do (good location) and are surrounded by not removed Ghost Listings, showing as "new members". Some have last visited their page 4 years ago.
If we type our place 40 Listings show though there are less than 10 active Members. That's only our very, very, very tiny spot on the websites world map!
- With every Listing you can see the number of beds immediately but you can not see how many travellers come with a Listing or use filters to search for a number of travellers.
- The CALENDAR is improved in September and there are the options green (exchange or GP), orange (sim. exchange) and blue (GP) now. We miss 2 options: to black out your own dates for whatever reason and to spend, instead of receive, Guest Points.

PROBLEM 3:
THE GUEST POINT SYSTEM IS ONLY INTERESTING IF YOU'RE MORE TRAVELLERS. IT WOULD BE HONEST AND FAIR TO ALL MEMBERS IF GUEST POINTS WOULD NOT WORK PER LISTING PER NIGHT BUT PER PERSON PER NIGHT. WHY >>>
- Yes, families would have to spend more points but they would also be able to earn more points because they've got more beds.
If you want to host only 2 mature travellers than it's normal you earn less points. Harassing all 1 or 2 travellers would stop.
- Groups usually offer one property while half of the party, not even Members, comes along for a free vacation. If they would need more points than they would have to consider to offer more than one property. Only the sun comes up for free.
- Members with more beds than travellers would be TEMPTED with every request because they would get points per person.
That would also give more travel options for families and groups.
- Single / 2 travellers would have to spend fair points if they want to travel. Now they "pay" the same as 6 people. Besides that, for the high points they're expected to give they get offered hospitality stays or 1 room in the house, even if they offer big properties themselves.

Home Exchange do not care. After updating their website I could not access their website, and I had messages waiting. Their website management is at fault, I had that checked out, but they seem to refuse to do anything about it.

Additionally, even though they've failed their contractual agreement, they refuse to refund the membership fee I paid in good faith.

There are some wonderful people on Home Exchange but it doesn't seem to stretch to the people running the thing. What a shame I had such high hopes.

I will be posting negative reviews everywhere from now on because there seems to have been a complete breakdown in trust and communication. Currently I am researching alternatives and wondering whether a healthy lawsuit will be worth the time and money. I don't like being conned.

I HAVE SINCE BEEN WELL LOOKED AFTER BY HOME EXCHANGE, ONE SENSIBLE COMMUNICATIONS WERE ESTABLISHED. I'M GOING TO GIVE THEM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT AND TRY AGAIN.

We are members of this site since 2017 and loved our first exchanges. Since the merger we haven't experienced any advantages and feel very disappointed. Many of the members we had met before the merger have left the site and we are considering the same. It all became bigger which simply means more money for the organizers meanwhile the spirit of the "early" days, including trust, is vanishing rapidly.

We, a couple, still Ambassador (though we all seem to have disappeared except for a few giving "advice", we're probably not spreading the right words), don't see progress on 3 real big urgent problems on this website. HE.com tells us they're not urgent enough.

PROBLEM 1: GREEDY, SELF-CENTERED TRAVELLERS
Exchanging is a fantastic way to see the world, we love it, we've seen beautiful places and have met wonderful people but …
EXCHANGE MEANS: TO GIVE AND RECEIVE SOMETHING OF THE SAME KIND IN RETURN. HOWEVER, MOST DON'T WANT TO HOST BUT ONLY WANT TO TRAVEL FOR FREE AND ARE ON A BARGAIN HUNT FOR AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. THEREFORE THEY SOON START ASKING IF FAMILY/FRIENDS CAN COME ALONG, BRING THEIR KIDS BUT DON'T WANT TO HOST OTHER CHILDREN, OR START HARASSING ALL JUST 2 TRAVELLERS.
Most (in our case 85 out of each 100 requests) think it's normal and respectful to try to double, triple or outnumber other Members.
There are no good straight forward Etiquette Guidelines.
There are far too many sharks in this pool because there are no rules.

BE AWARE ... THERE ARE MANY MEMBERS WHO:
- … seek non simultaneous but offer their own property on bad dates wanting both: a good vacation + rent out. They're only interested in good weather stays, you get the rain/hurricane season so they can accept paying guests, or they ask Guest Points for unattractive dates.
⚘ Check your travel dates on the World Wide Web.
- ... offer hospitality stays, one room in their house, tiny airbnb units, one room flats, garden houses or no window basements (that's ok) but want calculated GP or total homes in return (that's not ok).
⚘ Read Profiles totally and carefully. Top to bottom!
- … have no plans to prepare their home for guests, clean or treat your property with respect. After all they're on holiday ;):)
⚘ Make a "Welcome to our Home" guide and mention things that are important to you. Don't assume anything. Talk about all before the exchange takes place. Be polite but honest. Follow your intuition.
- ... expect other Members to prepare their whole house because they seek 1/2/3 nights with Guest Points and mistake this website for FreeAirBnb.com
- … want a free vacation home, costing them little money by using the pay-per-night Essential plan. They get 1300 GP for free when they join the website (500 first year, 100 verification, 350 profile completed, 350 home page completed) and leave when the points are used.

Single travellers, a couple, 2 adults, divorcees, empty nesters - Members with more beds than travellers - for them this website is not attractive at all!
Two people don't PAY Membership for a full house all year long.
If they don't mind that than they sign up on Airbnb to EARN money.
SINCE MAY 2016(!!!) WE COMPLAIN TO HE.COM TO CHANGE CERTAIN THINGS FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL MEMBERS, BUT NOTHING HAPPENS. THEY DO ACCEPT PAYMENT EACH YEAR FROM EVERYONE THOUGH!
- You will receive an endless stream of greedy, self-centered requests if you’ve got something nice to offer.
- Bedcounters will try something like "now we know each other, is it ok if we bring …" around the 3rd email.
⚘ Ask in every first email how many travellers they're going to be if you don't want to end up with surprise guests. A lot of Members present themselves as 2 but have no plans to travel as 2. Say no, they've got only one interest: your beds.
- Vague mentioned "sometimes/maybe/occasionally travellers" on a profile page? Forget it - they ALWAYS have to come along!
- If you're new or unexperienced than you always end up with the short end of the stick with any exchange. Sharks love fresh bait.
Once we had a shark saying she would have to reconsider if she couldn't bring friends, right after we booked flights (we canceled immediately and exchanged with someone else in that area).
- Get used to Members who are insulted if you write back they can't bring 4 kids under 12 yrs and should stop writing to 2 adults but start looking for similar Listings.

PROBLEM 2: FINDING EXCHANGES, SEARCH AREA
- With every Listing you can see the number of beds immediately but you can not see how many travellers come with a Listing or use filters to search for a number of travellers.
- You're Listing isn't visible untill someone zooms several times to a very specific area or wants to look at page 110.
After 8 months (!) there are no good/important filter options.
- We see tiny villages show before we do (we're on a good location) and are surrounded by Ghost Listings that are not removed and show as "new members". Some have last visited their page 4 years ago.
If we type our place 40 Listings show though there are less than 10 active Members. That's only our very, very, very tiny spot on the websites world map!
A new problem: they've changed the font style! The silliest small villages are IN CAPITALS now. You can hardly read the map.
About the CALENDAR.
That's getting a bit better.
There are green (any exchange) orange (simultaneous) and blue (hosting for GP) options now. Still missing a colour to black out dates for your own personal reasons, nothing to do with exchanging.

PROBLEM 3: THE GUEST POINT SYSTEM
This system is only designed for families and groups.
IT WOULD BE HONEST AND FAIR TO ALL MEMBERS IF GUEST POINTS WOULD NOT WORK PER LISTING PER NIGHT BUT PER PERSON PER NIGHT. WHY >>>
- Yes, families would have to spend more points but they would also be able to earn more points if they stop aiming for 2 travellers.
- Groups usually offer just one property while half of the party comes along for a free vacation. If they would need more points than they would have to consider to offer more than one property.
Only the sun comes up for free.
- Members with more beds than travellers would be tempted with every request. Now they are just treated like free hotel owners. That would mean more travel options for families and groups.
- Single / 2 travellers would have to spend a fair points if they want to travel. Also, for the hight points they have to give now, they get offered a hospitality stay or one room.
(if 2 people want one room than they book a hotel!)
If you want to host only 2 mature travellers than it's normal you earn less points.

A POSSIBLE PROBLEM 4
Can you actually travel with your Guest Points?
We read a lot of messages saying you can't.
We'll get back to you on that topic.

HomeExchange is a unique opportunity to visit different regions, discover other towns or villages still preserved from mass tourism. You live like a local in the life of people and the land.You discover the arts of living and other cultures, from the inside. Through the exchange, you reside in a comfortable or cozy apartment or house. The exchange of housing during the holidays can even give you new ideas for decorating or landscaping !

I want to warn everybody who is a member of HomeExchange.com I recently had an incident with a home exchange where the other party totaled my car and reaped havoc in my home. Home exchange did nothing to help me and now I have no car and a wrecked home. Please do not use this website as they will not help you in the least. They will ignore your calls and not help at all. This company should be investigated by the fbi and police. Very scam oriented
Please be warned and contact me if you have had a similar experience so we can launch a lawsuit

When I first signed up, they promised to give me second year free if no exchanges happened within the 1st year, year ended and they came up with bs never said before that I had to send 40 requests in order to quality for that. Very sleazy and misleading and then we supposed to trust our homes when the company that runs our biz is untrustworthy? And yes negative reviews are correct, homes that you want -will decline you and homes you don’t want will flood your inbox. That being said I do wanna give it a try to similar service but will never use these sleaze bags.

reply to the reply:
no, you did not give a list of qualifications nor you do when you need someone signed up. You promise them anything they wanna hear! You literally came up with some bull right at the end of subscription. Worse thing is that you preferred to lose a customer who would have most likely stayed for life, for some lousy $75 yearly subscription which you would have gained later on... but it's not for me to tell you how to run your business, but it is for me to tell everyone about my experience... you will never get a good word from me even when recommended to friends because you do not deserve it. Nobody should do business with a business that cannot stick to it's own work so for those reasons I would advice everybody to be aware and cautious with those that cannot keep their word... if it's one failed promise- you never know how many you will encounter in the future.. and there are so many similar services that there is absolutely no reason for anybody to be mistreated- fortunately these people are not running a monopoly!

When we signed up for HomeExchange a year ago we were happy with the experience. Since then, their customer service has detoriated. They used to have a live chat that no longer works and their phone support has been out of service for almost a week now. Currently, the only way to contact them is via email and they take forever to respond. I’m very disappointed and thinking of switching to another home exchange service.

We, a couple, still Ambassador (though we all seem to have disappeared except for a few giving "advice", we're probably not spreading the right words), don't see change on 3 real big urgent problems on this website. HE.com tells us they're not urgent enough.

PROBLEM 1: GREEDY, SELF-CENTERED TRAVELLERS
Exchanging is a fantastic way to see the world, we love it, we've seen beautiful places and have met wonderful people but …
EXCHANGE MEANS: TO GIVE AND RECEIVE SOMETHING OF THE SAME KIND IN RETURN. HOWEVER, MOST DON'T WANT ANYONE IN THEIR OWN HOME BUT WANT FREE VACATION HOMES AND ARE ON A BARGAIN HUNT FOR AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.
THEY TRY TO BRING FAMILY AND FRIENDS, BRING THEIR KIDS BUT DON'T WANT TO HOST OTHER CHILDREN, OR HARASS JUST 2 TRAVELLERS.
Most (in our case 85 out of each 100 requests) think it's normal and respectful to try to double, triple or outnumber other Members.
There are no good straight forward Etiquette Guidelines.
There are far too many sharks in this pool because there are no rules.

BE AWARE ... THERE ARE MANY MEMBERS WHO:
- … seek non simultaneous but offer their own property on bad dates wanting both: a good vacation + rent out. They're only interested in good weather stays, you get the rain/hurricane season so they can accept paying guests, or they ask Guest Points for unattractive dates.
⚘ Check destinations on the WWW.
- ... offer hospitality stays, one room in their house, tiny airbnb units, 1 room flats, garden houses or no window basements (that's ok) but want total calculated GP or entire homes in return (not ok).
⚘ Read Profiles totally and carefully. Top to bottom.
- … have no plans to prepare their home for guests, clean or treat your property with respect. After all they're on holiday ;):)
⚘ Make a "Welcome to our Home" guide. Be polite but honest. Don't assume anything. Talk about all before the exchange takes place. Follow your intuition: don't go ahead if it's all about their wants, needs and likes and you don't get answers to your questions.
- ... expect other Members to prepare their whole house because they seek 1/2/3 nights with Guest Points and mistake this website for FreeAirBnb.com
- … want a free vacation home, costing them little money by using the pay-per-night Essential plan. They get 1300 free Guest Points when they join the website and leave when the points are used.

Since May 2016 (!!!) we complain to HE.com to change certain things for the benefit of ALL Members. Nothing happens.
They do accept payment each year from everyone though!
Single travellers, a couple, 2 adults, divorcees, empty nesters - Members with more beds than travellers - for them this website is not attractive at all!
TWO PEOPLE DON'T PAY MEMBERSHIP FOR A FULL HOUSE ALL YEAR ROUND. IF THEY DON'T MIND THAT THAN THEY SIGN UP ON AIRBNB TO EARN MONEY.
- You will receive an endless stream of greedy, self-centered requests if you’ve got something nice to offer.
- Get used to Members who are insulted if you write back they can't bring 4 kids under 12 yrs and should stop writing to 2 adults but start looking for similar Listings.
- A lot of Members present themselves as 2 people but have really no plans to travel as 2. Bedcounters will try something like "now we know each other, is it ok if we bring …" around the 3rd email.
⚘ Ask in every FIRST email how many travellers they're going to be if you don't want surprise guests. Put sentences like "we don't host surpise guests" on your pages.
⚘ HE.com strongly promotes the "we're all one, big family" idea. Don't care about this pressure. Say no. You don't own a hotel and Members are not on bookfreevacationforeveryone.com
- Vague mentioned "sometimes/maybe/occasionally travellers" on a profile page? Forget it - they ALWAYS have to come along!
It's a "polite" way of saying they want 2 guests in their own home.
- If you're new or unexperienced than you always end up with the short end of the stick with any exchange. Sharks love fresh bait.
Once we had a shark saying she would have to reconsider if she couldn't bring friends right after we told we booked flights (we canceled and exchanged with someone else in that area).

PROBLEM 2: FINDING EXCHANGES, SEARCH AREA
- With every Listing you can see the number of beds immediately but you can not see how many travellers come with a Listing or use filters to search for a number of travellers.
- You're Listing isn't visible untill someone zooms several times to a very specific area or wants to look at page 110.
After 8 months (!) there are no good/important filter options.
- We see tiny villages show before we do (we're on a good location) and are surrounded by Ghost Listings that are not removed and show as "new members". Some have last visited their page 4 years ago.
If we type our place 40 Listings show though there are less than 10 active Members. That's only our very, very, very tiny spot on the websites world map!

PROBLEM 3: THE GUEST POINT SYSTEM
IT WOULD BE HONEST AND FAIR TO ALL MEMBERS IF GUEST POINTS WOULD NOT WORK PER LISTING PER NIGHT BUT PER PERSON PER NIGHT. WHY >>>
- Yes, families would have to spend more points but they would also be able to earn more points. If you want to host only 2 mature travellers than it's normal you earn less points.
- Groups usually offer one property while half of the party, not even Members, comes along for a free vacation. If they would need more points than they would have to consider to offer more than one property. Only the sun comes up for free.
- Members with more beds than travellers would be tempted with every request because they would get points per bed. Now they are treated like hotel owners. Plus, it would give more travel options for families and groups.
- Single / 2 travellers would have to spend fair points if they want to travel. Now they "pay" the same as 6 travellers. Besides that, for the hight points they give they get offered hospitality stays or one room.

Don't hesitate to be a member of HomeExchange.com
The website is authentic and safe and it will allow to discover cities/countries through the exchange of your home; save money through this travel way and be confident of the exchange.
You can trust HomeExchange, I've made more than 30 exchanges and all my experiences were positive, so once you will start to join the community of HomeExchange you will never stop exchanging your home. Moreover it's worldwide: good chance to travel anywhere! 100% recommended

We, a couple, still Ambassador (though we all seem to have disappeared except for a few giving "advice", we're probably not spreading the right words), still don't see change on 3 real big problems on this website. HE.com tells us they're not urgent enough.

PROBLEM 1: GREEDY, SELF-CENTERED TRAVELLERS
Exchanging is a fantastic way to see the world, we love it, we've seen beautiful places and have met wonderful people but … exchange means: to give and receive something of the same kind in return.
HOWEVER, MOST DON'T WANT GUESTS IN THEIR OWN HOME BUT WANT FREE VACATION HOMES FOR AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. THEY'RE ON A BARGAIN HUNT FOR ALL THEIR FAMILY & FRIENDS, BRING KIDS BUT DON'T WANT TO HOST OTHER CHILDREN, OR START HARASSING ALL JUST 2 TRAVELLERS.
There are no good straight forward Etiquette Guidelines.
There are far too many sharks in this pool because there are no rules.

BE AWARE ... THERE ARE MANY MEMBERS WHO:
- … seek nonsimultaneous but offer their own property on bad dates wanting both: a good vacation + rent out. They're only interested in good weather stays, you get the rain/hurricane season so they can accept paying guests, or they ask Guest Points for unattractive dates.
⚘ Check destinations on the WWW.
- ... offer hospitality stays, one room in their house, tiny airbnb units, 1 room flats, garden houses or no window basements but want total calculated Guest Points or entire homes in return.
⚘ Read Profiles totally and carefully. Top to bottom!
- … have no plans to prepare their home for guests, clean or treat your property with respect. After all they're on holiday ;):)
⚘ Make a "Welcome to our Home" guide. Be polite but honest. Don't assume anything. Talk about all before the exchange takes place. Don't go ahead if it's only about all their wants, needs and likes.
- ... expect other Members to prepare their whole house because they seek 1/2/3 nights with Guest Points and mistake this website for FreeAirBnb.com
- … want a free vacation home, costing them little money by using the pay-per-night Essential plan. They get 1300 free Guest Points when they join the website and leave when the points are used.

SINCE MAY 2016 (!!!) we ask HE.com to change certain things for the benefit of all Members. Nothing happens.
They do accept payment each year from everyone though!
SINGLE TRAVELLERS, A COUPLE, 2 ADULTS, DIVORCEES, EMPTY NESTERS - MEMBERS WITH MORE BEDS THAN TRAVELLERS ...
FOR THEM THIS WEBSITE IS NOT ATTRACTIVE AT ALL!
ONE OR TWO PEOPLE DON'T PAY MEMBERSHIP TO BECOME A FREE FAMILY AND GROUP HOTEL ALL YEAR ROUND.
IF THEY DON'T MIND A FULL HOUSE THAN THEY SIGN UP ON AIRBNB TO EARN MONEY.
- Many only look at your bednumber and think it's normal and respectful to try to double, triple or outnumber other Members in travellers. You will receive an endless stream of greedy, self-centered requests (85 out of each 100 requests we get) if you offer something nice and are less travellers.
- A lot of Members present themselves as 2 but have really no plans to be 2 people. Vague mentioned "sometimes/maybe/occasionally travellers" on a profile page? Forget it - they ALWAYS have to come along! It's a "polite" way of saying they seek 2 guests but would like all available beds that come with a Listing for themselves.
- Bedcounters will try something like "now we know each other, is it ok if we bring …" around the 3rd email.
⚘ Ask in every FIRST email how many travellers they're going to be if you don't want a full house. Put sentences like "we don't host surprise guests" on your pages. HE.com strongly promotes the "we're all one, big family" idea. Don't care about this pressure. Say no.
This is not bookfreeholidaysforeveryone.com!!! It never ends!
- Get used to Members who are insulted if you write back they can't bring 4 kids under 12 yrs and should stop writing to 2 adults but start looking for similar Listings.
- If you're new or unexperienced than you always end up with the short end of the stick with any exchange. Sharks love fresh bait.
Once we had a shark saying she would have to reconsider if she couldn't bring friends right after we told we booked flights (we canceled and exchanged with someone else in that area).

PROBLEM 2: FINDING EXCHANGES, SEARCH AREA
- With every Listing you can see the number of beds immediately but you can not see how many travellers come with a Listing or use filters to search for a number of travellers.
- You're Listing isn't visible untill someone zooms several times to a very specific area or wants to look at page 110.
After 9 months (!) there are no good/important filter options.
- We see tiny villages show before we do (we're on a good location) and are surrounded by Ghost Listings that are not removed and show as "new members". Some have last visited their page 4 years ago.
If we type our place 40 Listings show though there are less than 10 active Members. That's only our very, very, very tiny spot on the websites world map!
The CALENDAR is improved in September and there are the options green (exchange or GP), orange (sim. exchange) and blue (GP) now. We miss 2 options: to black out your own dates for whatever reason and to spend, instead of receive, Guest Points.

PROBLEM 3: THE GUEST POINT SYSTEM
IT WOULD BE HONEST AND FAIR TO ALL MEMBERS IF GUEST POINTS WOULD NOT WORK PER LISTING PER NIGHT BUT PER PERSON PER NIGHT. WHY >>>
- Yes, families would have to spend more points but they would also be able to earn more points because they've got more beds.
If you want to host only 2 mature travellers than it's normal you earn less points. Harassing all 1 or 2 travellers would stop.
- Groups usually offer one property while half of the party, not even Members, comes along for a free vacation. If they would need more points than they would have to consider to offer more than one property. Only the sun comes up for free.
- Members with more beds than travellers would be TEMPTED with every request because they would get points per person.
That would also give more travel options for families and groups.
- Single / 2 travellers would have to spend fair points if they want to travel. Now they "pay" the same as 6 people. Besides that, for the high points they give they get offered hospitality stays or 1 room in the house, even if they offer big houses themselves.

Hello home exchangers, potential and actual, Bernie and myself had been happy GuestToGuest members for a number of years, both as hosts (in Cambodia) and as guests. We liked the flexibility of being able to exchange homes directly or through points. We liked the community feel of the whole experience and all our exchanges were successful. We consistently exchanged our home below the rate recommended by GuestToGuest, as we felt this was the right thing to do for "our" community. Those were the days when we would have granted GuestToGuest five stars, or even six if available!

We became concerned when a compulsory insurance scheme was introduced in a most untransparent and sudden way, over the past year. The way it was "pushed through the letterbox" and advertised had many of the trappings of crass commercialism. And gone were the days of truly free exchanges. Some hosting opportunities were lost because unsuspecting members could no longer afford the daily or yearly insurance expense. And we found ourselves, as guests, having to make special insurance arrangements in the middle of a six-week series of GuestToGuest stays in Costa Rica.

Then, to make things worse, came the sudden change to HomeExchange. No notice here either. And quite confusing. Communities are based on trust and communication. These, we felt, had been seriously eroded. The whole thing had acquired an airbnb feel, we thought. Possibly too commercial, too big for its own good.

This was recently confirmed when we arranged a stay, as guests, in France, for a very special occasion. The exchange, which had been booked months in advance for a total of three couples visiting all the way from Korea, Singapore and Cambodia, was cancelled at short notice by the hosts due to an adverse event in the family. These things happen. As no alternative HomeExchange accommodation could be found, we had to make do with a costly and not-so-cosy airbnb apartment, complete with disrespectful commercially-minded hosts, instead of the lovely woodland house we were looking forward to, and a welcome by the lovely hosts we had had excellent communications with over the months.

At least, we tought, the cost and inconvenience of this mishap would be partially offset by the HomeExchange insurance that had caused us so much concern. The payout in such approved cases amounts to 100 euros per night. We were wrong. Today, one month after the cancellation, we have yet to see one Euro, and communication from the HomeExchange team in charge has been at best haphazard, at worst negligent. So not only have we lost our wonderful HomeExchange stay, but we are still 500 Euros out of pocket, not to mention the insurance premium.

We now have doubts as to the worthiness of the insurance scheme, as well as to HomeExchange's willingness and/or ability to support its members in tricky situations. We find all this very sad and are considering not renewing our HomeExchnage membership.

We believe that house and pet sitting arrangements, such as those offered by Nomador or Trusted House Sitters (even though membership fees have to be paid), are now providing the trust factor we are looking for and we see as being eroded within the HomeExchange set up.

I will post updates here as the issue evolves, and may also change the overall rating either way depending on the outcome. As a first step, we have now lodged a formal complaint with HomeExchange. To be continued...

We were members of Guest to Guest for several years before the merger and were very happy with the set up.

I'm less enthusiastic since the merger. We were annoyed at the way the Optimal Membership was introduced last year, it seemed to be rushed in, it felt very "sprung upon us" and we feel that we were miss sold it at the time.
We were lead to believe that if we didn't use it in the first year that it would roll over, we were really pleased at that, we thought it sounded very decent and that loyalty was being rewarded.

Now we find there are strings and conditions attached that weren't pointed out at the time, if they had been we would certainly have delayed joining until we were going to use the benefits provided by the membership.

(Also make sure its not set to auto renew on your profile page.)

We may at some point in the future see if we can organise a trip to use our remaining points. But in the meantime I don't think we will be recommending Home Exchange to friends which is a shame as we were always suggesting to people that they tried it.

I signed up a year before the merger. At first I was confused by the new website but I have gotten used to it and love the additional guest point option vs. balloon which was much less flexible.I have 4 exchanges arranged now, 2 reciprocal and 2 with GP.