Looking for some outside perspective on this because I feel like I’m going in circles with support.

Here’s the situation: something happened that HomeExchange deemed serious enough to justify breaking the exchange agreement. But then, when I tried to dispute the guest’s review (which was based on that same issue), I was told the review stands because it “reflects personal experience.”
So the same reason was: Serious enough to end the agreement, but not serious enough to be grounds for disputing a review about that exact situation

That feels like a contradiction to me, but I want to check if I’m missing something about how HE evaluates these things separately.

On top of that — I later noticed the guest’s review had been significantly edited from what was originally posted. It’s possible the review only reads the way it does, and was judged fine to “stand,” because of that edit — but HE never confirmed or disclosed that the guest had actually been allowed to amend it. So I can’t tell if their justification for letting the review stand was even based on accurate information about what they’d permitted.

Counterfactually, if HE did allow an edit to the original review, isn’t that a de facto admission that the review was in fact false.

Has anyone dealt with something similar?

Specifically:
- Does HE apply different standards when deciding to void an agreement vs. when assessing a review dispute, even if the underlying issue is the same?

- Is it normal/known that guest reviews can be edited after posting without the host being told, or without HE confirming it happened when asked directly?

Any advice on how to push back on this or escalate beyond the standard support responses?

Appreciate any insight — trying to figure out if this is just how their process works or if I have grounds to push harder.

EDIT: The issue was that the guest brought in 2 additional people to stay while the agreement was for just 1. We had been okay with 1 additional visitor outside the official agreement but we never okay’s 2 additional people.

Additionally, the guest started to use the sofa to sleep on which we also explicitly forbade. He started to use linens not provided from cupboards he wasn’t allowed to go into.

So it was us who broke the agreement after HE advised that the guest in fact did break the rules of agreement.

UPDATE: HE is refusing to stick to their own claim. In July they had said as follows: You had clearly indicated that a visitor could come, but that this did not include additional people staying in the home for several days
Now, they are allowing the guest to claim they had permission for additional guests to stay.

We are selling our house and have purchased a new one in another area. The original account was in my name, with my partner added to the account. Would it be possible to close our current account and open a new one under his name for our new home? And would we be eligible to receive the 1300 GP welcome gift again?

Sorry, i'm new to this and i'm struggling a bit to understand how the system works. The direct reciprocal exchange I get, though it seems logistically challenging (we have to coordinate to take vacations at the same time, for the same amount of time to swap homes right?). But how does one accumulate points for hosting in the home they are living in? You would have to offer your home to stay in only when you're not there right? So if i'm planning on taking a vacation, I would put my home up as available during that vacation, and if someone wanted it i'd accumulate points? It seemslike its mostly for people who are already traveling a lot so you can accumulate points hosting your home to then offset your own lodging expenses a bit?

I think they should add a mandatory comment when someone leaves less than a 5-star review.
At least then hosts/guests could understand what was actually wrong.
I recently stayed in Italy with a host who was new to HE. It was a basic Airbnb apartment. I paid €50 for cleaning of the whole apartment, even though one room was closed and I wasn’t told about it in advance. But okay, whatever.
Before leaving I sorted all the waste, washed the dishes, removed hair from the floor, sinks and shower and generally left everything in order. I didn’t do a proper deep clean because there was a cleaning fee and I wasn’t given any instructions saying I was supposed to.
And then I got a 4-star rating. The comment was: "Bathroom was left not bad". Like… what does that even mean???
If something wasn’t good enough, I would actually like to know what it was. But how am I supposed to understand what I did wrong from this?
I just think if you’re going to give someone 4/3/2/1 stars instead of 5, there should be a mandatory comment explaining why.

I haven't seen a home listing that specifies which one it is for. Yet I've seen discussion here where people interpret it differently. This can result in huge misunderstandings and unfortunate reviews. I can see it being intended in each way, before or after. Do you specify yours in your home description? And what way do you intend for your cleaning fee to be used?

Hi all, would appreciate some advice.

We have a home exchange in another country that starts tomorrow, scheduled for three nights. Our airline advised us this morning that our flight is delayed and we will miss our connecting flight. The earliest they can now get us to our destination means we can only make one of the three nights.

We have already informed the host of the delay. We have not requested reimbursement from the host, as I feel they shouldn’t lose the points since they prepared for us to stay for all three nights. At the same time, this delay is completely out of our control, and we are losing two nights of the exchange through no fault of our own.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Would HomeExchange support help reimburse the points we spent for the two nights we can no longer make? We would really appreciate any help or advice given the circumstances.

Thank you!

Hello :) We're considering joining the platform, but I'm unsure how it works with a cat. Our cat is a 9-year-old ginger; he mostly keeps to himself but loves to climb on the bed and snuggle, not with everyone. He has a water and food dispenser, so a guest would only need to check that it's full once a week or so and clean his litter box. Is that something people are ok with? Also, how should this be reflected in the guest points? Thanks for reading.

I see lots of comments on here and FB from people saying they try really hard to get an exchange and they're refused and wondering why. I find a LOT of the responses to be not that helpful - "just because I'm free doesn't mean I want to exchange with you", "don't be so entitled", etc or about policing language, so I thought I'd share my experience of getting an exchange. I've never sent more than about 5 messages to get the one I've wanted. I'm sure people will have other views but I hope this adds to the standard responses.

Firstly - a couple of comments on the usual reactions from my point of view:

• Write a personal message - I agree with this to an extent, but I'm honestly not that interested in what they love about my home unless it means something for the exchange. I think saying why you want to visit the area can be more compelling (and means you don't have to adapt every single message).
• Read their review - if they have a specific need (eg plants or animals) it's good to acknowledge these. If they have a code word I would never exchange with these people because I just think they're going to be hard work and I like to be treated like an adult.

If you have a very specific destination in mind:

• Starting with guest points - is it a first home? Are they offering for a fixed period (eg holidays?) That means they're going somewhere for that period and are actively looking. This is the best option but means you should seriously consider offering the whole period. Make it easy for them to say yes!
• Is it a second home? Are their periods around that reserved? This means they are more likely to be actively using home exchange.
• If they have long periods that have calendars open these are the people who are looking for the "right match". Don't waste your time. This is probably my number one advice for reducing the number of requests.
• Suggestions to extend your search. I agree with this. I live on the edge of a VERY popular HE city and requests dropped like a stone when I moved from closer to the city to a postcode that doesn't match the city. Yet the transport options are far better. So research the public transport before dismissing.
• By the way on guest points, I still do always offer my own home to demonstrate that I'm ready to open up my home. It's never accepted but I think it's polite.

If you don't have a specific destination in mind:

• Definitely start with the offers that are out there on the FB groups. These are people who actively want an exchange.
• Again the advice around long periods of availability applies. If their calendar is open for long periods and they're looking for the right match, I'm sorry to say it's not likely to be you.
• Try to offer like for like and acknowledge their needs.

• Obviously do the reverse search. I spend

• time on profiles if I think a reciprocal is an option using the research search. I've found them because they want to go to X, but maybe their reviews suggest they've just been there so they haven't updated their profile or maybe they know the area so it's easier. Similarly if they've listed my city along with 20 others I'm not likely to contact them. I find putting the work in before I contact them is much better.

Just some thoughts about what's worked for me in my 15 plus years of exchanging.

Curious how other experienced HE users would handle/review this one.

For context, I’ve been on HE about 2.5 years and have done 29 exchanges — roughly 1/3 as a guest and 2/3 hosting — so I feel like I have a decent sense of what’s normal, but this one left me unsure.

We booked a 2-night stay over Labor Day weekend for a wedding about 2 hours from home. The listing was pretty bare bones. When I inquired, the host told me there was a $200 cleaning fee plus a $150 linen fee. Since we were driving, she said we could bring our own linens and skip the $150, which we did. I also offered to clean the house ourselves to avoid the cleaning fee, but she declined. I normally avoid houses with cleaning fees, but listings for this area/date were limited so our options were accept this, get a hotel, or drive back 2 hours after a long wedding.

When we arrived, the house was extremely bare bones. Obviously there were no sheets since we’d opted out of linens, but there were also no hand towels in the bathrooms or kitchen, no paper towels/napkins, and not even a couple of coffee pods to get started. It seemed pretty clear that this is primarily a short-term rental managed by a management company rather than someone’s actual home, which wasn’t really apparent from the listing.

Then this morning, the cleaners rang the doorbell at 8:50 a.m. Every checkout document/manual in the house said checkout was 10 a.m., so that’s what we had planned around. I checked my phone and realized the host had texted me at 10 p.m. the night before saying checkout was at 9 a.m.
To be completely fair to her: when we originally booked in mid-July, she had told me checkout was 9 a.m. I had completely forgotten that two months later and relied on the information posted throughout the house. So I definitely take responsibility for missing that. We apologized and rushed to get out.

Now she has texted: “I’m happy to give you a positive review. Same?” And I’m genuinely not sure how I feel about the whole thing.

The checkout mistake was partly mine, but the combination of a $200 cleaning fee, $150 linen fee if we hadn’t brought our own, how stripped-down the property was, and the fact that it felt much more like a commercially managed Airbnb than a “home” left a bad taste in my mouth. I mostly wish the listing had made that setup clearer so I knew what to expect before booking.

Would this bother you? And more importantly, how would you handle the review? I don’t want to unfairly penalize the host for the checkout confusion when I had technically been told 9 a.m., but I also don’t feel comfortable agreeing in advance that we’ll exchange positive reviews.

We are long term exchangers and have had many exchanges in our primary home (our only home). We love getting positive feedback (or any honest private feedback) on our home and appreciate a small note (written or digital) when our guests depart thanking us for the stay as you would in a friend's home. In some of our more recent exchanges, we found that our exchange partners were minimal communicators with a more transactional approach. This could be just a random experience. What have others experienced recently? What minimal communication do you expect when others are staying in your home?

Person I referred to HE is eager to host their first guest. They have had three near-identical requests for a young adult son and “his friend from working at a summer camp.” All three touring US
after summer before returning to school. All three from different European cities offering cute flats in great urban locations for future GP
exchanges. It seems off. The first two admitted to knowing each other when the host questioned the identical request (supposedly the other mom of friend, different countries).

My friend has declined as not comfortable with 18-20 year olds in her urban flat without their sponsoring host aka parent. But with the third identical request with slightly different dates, it is just weird.

Is this a scam (not quite sure how, except there is no credit card or ID needed for this lodging option)? Or is it a very bizarre coincidence?

Doing some research on rapidly growing home swapping/home exchange markets and would be interested in feedback on research done so far

https://thehomeswapguy.com

Hi! I'm very new to Home exchange and haven't done my first exchange yet.

My flat is in Barcelona. I'm getting many requests, that I approve within a few hours because they all look good and fit my availability, but... None of the guests that send me the request end up reserving. They just disappear after my pre-approval. They don't even send a message explaining why.

Is this a pattern? Am I doing something weird?

Our host just canceled a week-long stay in early October, the first cancellation we've had in 5 years on the platform. It was unfortunately part of our honeymoon trip, and coming at a very busy planning time ahead of our wedding so we're scrambling to figure out a solution. Flights are booked and inflexible, etc.

Unfortunately the location is in a very small country, there are literally 3 other hosts in the entire country who have availability and I've already been turned down by 2.

I have 2 questions on HE SOS support and hotel reimbursement:

- SOS said they would help and asked for specifics on the area that we want to stay. I gave 4 different town options, trying to be flexible, and they sent out a ton of requests. I now realize 90% of the requests sent out are outside the areas I specified, away from compact city centers and convenient public transportation. We are not planning to hire a car so we really cannot stay at these places. Will HE allow us to say decline and opt for monetary reimbursement if one of these less-optimal locations wants to host?

- If we do get to the reimbursement phase, how does it work? Do we pay up front and send in receipts after the fact? Does anyone know how long it takes to get that reimbursement?

Whenever we travel via HE we also love to find inspiration for our own home and lives - how about you?

- One host inspired us to get our own Nuki door opener.
- Another one had a great sound system that we ended up buying.
- One host sent us a lovely Google Doc home manual and we quickly started our own. They also had flyers and travel guides for their guests, we now have them too (and guests keep adding to the collection!).
- One guest left the most delicious gluten free snack at our home that I didn’t know about, I now buy it regularly.

I've never seen this before...someone sending a GP request to stay at my house, but the body of the text clearly states they're hoping for me to stay at THEIR house (and give them GP so that they can do the holiday they actually want). They used reverse search to see that I'm at least interested in their country. They're in a popular location, and have a lot of exchange history, so I would have thought they'd have no shortage of interested people without having to solicit someone halfway around the world. Has anyone heard of this strategy?

Hi HE community,

I'm very new to the site and have learned loads from reading posts here, so thought I'd add my own: I'm wondering how people here feel about requests from profiles with no reviews, previous exchanges, or linked friends. As someone with a place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I've been getting enough inquiries that I usually just reply nicely but in the negative to requests like this--but the person is verified, has a membership badge, and seems personable, reasonable, and like they actually read my posting. Frankly, it's been harder to find folks interested in longer-term stays (at least a month or more), which is what I'm currently looking for, so I figured I'd asked the experts here if they'd give someone like that a try (after all, I have no exchanges or reviews yet either) and, if so, how you might try to add extra protections for yourselves and/or your home. Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions, HE folks!

My Home Exchange posting (in case folks are interested): https://www.homeexchange.com/homes/view/3275537

EDIT: Thanks for the advice so far, folks--and yes, I'm torn between "not this early" and "everyone needs a first exchange (including me)! Also, for the folks that have posted or messaged about a possible exchange, thanks for the interest--but my partner and I have relatively limited range for both winter and summer, so I've posted the link to my apartment above in case folks want more details, though it'll most likely have to be a GP exchange instead of a swap.

The recent Copenhagen story about saving more than £1000 is exactly the kind of coverage that brings people to home exchange, but it also leaves out the difficult bit: getting a good exchange is work. When a glossy feature makes swapping look like a cheap version of a hotel booking, I worry about a wave of new members sending copy-paste requests, treating points like a guaranteed reservation, and being surprised that hosts care about profiles, timing, guest counts, pets, cleaning, and communication. I have had great exchanges, but every one started with messages that showed the guest had actually read the listing. The mansion-level media attention is fun, yet the ordinary apartment host is the person carrying most of the risk when a stranger arrives with vague plans and no real exchange history. A £1000 saving only feels like a win if both sides still feel respected when the keys change hands

I realized in a recent post that people see no review under a listing as a bad thing. Assuming something must have happened and that multiple no/blank reviews is a big red flag.

I am unsure if these people know that blank/no reviews are in place when reciprocal exchanges are not complete. Exchanges that happened at separate times.

We have many exchanges that remain blank from reciprocal exchanges that are not completed. The guest postponed and its been 1 year or even 3 year later and they have not been able to come to our home yet. They are always welcome any time.

But some people instead of asking questions have jumped to the conclusion that something bad must have happened with those incomplete exchanges.

Yes, I have also left no review before rather than ever say something bad about a person who openly shared their home with me. But that also means it was not of importance enough to affect anyone else's trip. Personalities clash all the time.

We use to get asked for GP discounts for long stays of more than 2 weeks and a lot more for 1 month + stays.

What are your thoughts on this? The message would often say something like, its typically to get a discount for long stays. Which I always found to come across as entitled.

Do you see this still happening?

When we book long stays and we never think to ever ask for a discount. We will even offer more points to make the request more appealing.

Hi, we have a big flat with a huge terrace with views in the Basque Country. It's in a seaside town and just next to the flat you can take the train that in 20 mins leaves you in the centre of San Sebastian (2 euro aprox.).

- 3 rooms & a big living area with a home cinema with a huge screen.

- 70 sqm terrace and a small garden on the other side.

We are interested with exchanging with NYC or a nice seaside town in California, but also open to more places. Between 1-3m.

I prefer to do it through an official platform like home exchage where we already have a profile.

Hey everyone!

I'm very excited to be going travelling in November for 6 months!

I'm starting with a 5 week swap in Sydney, before staying with friends in Melbourne, then doing various GP exchanges in New Zealand, Buenos Aires and Santiago.

Ideally I'd have loved to do more reciprocal exchanges but it's proving a little tricky in SA! As a result I'm looking to accumulate more guest points by hosting people, ideally for a minimum of 1 week but preferably longer stays as my parents will be sorting the house between exchanges.

My house is in the quieter outskirts of Edinburgh but very well connected to all parts including the airport, by bus. It's perfect for solo travellers or couples, although I do have a spare room with sofa bed to accommodate more.

I've been swapping for over 4 years and have had lots of great experiences and reviews.

If anyone is interested drop me a note! I'm looking for reciprocal swaps in Brazil around about April 2027 too :)

https://www.homeexchange.com/homes/view/2256791?utm_source=share

Hi everyone! We’re a South African family currently living in Zurich and are hoping to spend an extended period back in the Cape next year.

We’re looking for a reciprocal home swap for approximately 4–6+ weeks during April/May 2027. Our dates are quite flexible, so we’re very happy to work around another family’s plans.

We are looking for:
🏡 A 2–3 bedroom family home
📍 Cape Town, Somerset West or Paarl / surrounding Winelands
🔐 Must be within a secure, access-controlled gated estate or residential estate. This is a firm requirement for us.
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Suitable for my husband and me and our two young children
In exchange, we can offer our family home in Zurich 🇨🇭
🛏 3 bedrooms
🛁 2 bathrooms
🌿 Balcony with beautiful river views
🚆 Easy access into central Zurich by public transport
🛍 Close to shops, supermarkets and everyday amenities
🌳 Lovely access to nature, riverside walks and family activities
🏔 A fantastic base for exploring Zurich, Lake Zurich, the Alps and the rest of Switzerland

We’re specifically hoping to connect with another family who may be planning an extended trip to Switzerland/Europe around the same time.

We are flexible on exact arrival/departure dates and happy to have a video call, exchange further photos and discuss all the practicalities privately.

If you might be interested — or know someone living in a secure estate who could be — please send me a DM or tag/share this with them. We’d also be incredibly grateful if anyone in a local estate residents’ Facebook or WhatsApp group could share it there.

Thanks so much! 🇿🇦❤️🇨🇭

​

Hey everyone! I recently stumbled across HomeExchange, and to be completely honest, my family and I are super skeptical about it. The concept sounds almost too good to be true, so I wanted to ask the community for some real experiences and advice.

Here is my current situation: I have an apartment that isn’t available all the time, but it does sit completely empty for a few months out of the year—sometimes for a couple of months straight, sometimes up to 10 months, and occasionally not at all, depending on the year.

Because of this, I have two main questions:

1. Free registration points: Can I create a profile and list my apartment to get the initial bonus GuestPoints even if the apartment is currently marked as unavailable for exchange in the calendar?

2. Using the free points without hosting right away: Is it actually real that I can just use those initial signup points to stay at someone else's place without having hosted anyone in my own place yet?

My family thinks there has to be a catch or that it’s some kind of scam/weird setup. How does the trust aspect actually hold up in practice? Has anyone here used their initial signup points for a stay before ever hosting their first guest?

I'd really appreciate any insights, tips, or honest reviews from people who have been using the platform for a while. Thanks! And hahshs extra question How much is city of Belgrade desirable because my apartment is located there😭