We have just joined Home Exchange dot com as our town house is usually vacant as we are travelling so much and thought it may be a good way to add a bit more variety to our adventures. Looking for any tips from those who use both TIA.
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We joined a couple of months ago, and we’ve already gained enough points for a two week stay in a villa, and we haven’t even had to use our own home yet at all. Is that what you found? If not, pop me a DM and I’ll let you know how we did it 
. It’s brilliant.
We’re not going to be using it for in between sits though, as we only have a couple of days free at a time, so we’re saving our free points up to invite the family to holiday with us in a villa, we’ve got enough for a normal sized villa, but I’d love to have enough for a huuuuuge villa.
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Put ‘Home Exchange’ in the search box for discussions
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I am a member of both. I have found it difficult to spend points, as many are more into using them than actually accepting them. But it could be my (lack of) luck.
I have been most successful with simultaneous sits, and those have worked very well. For the two non-sim. exchanges I’ve done one was successful and the other worked well when they stayed in my home, I helped them with stocking our fridge for them and preparing for a birthday pre-arrival. When it was time for us to go to their home, suddely it was so difficult to find dates…. So only simultaneous sits for us since then.
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Thanks. We got some points when joining and some from a referral. Good luck with your HUGE vila!
Thanks for the feedback. Seems fairly hit and miss but for the joining fee even a few nights it will be worth it. Let’s see how it goes.
@Oztravels we joined People Like Us, it’s smaller than HE, a bit more personal. Some success. Could I ask, what is the HE fee per year? I might need to look into that…
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Replied wrong place 
Thanks for your reply. It was €160.
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I’ve been >10 years on THS. Travel a lot. Joined HE end of last year. So far I’ve only used it to spend Guest Points, and unlike @Garfield have had no issue finding people willing to accept them. I’ve stayed in 4 HE places now with my Guest Points and all were easy to get.
The only problem I have is that I’m soon running out of Guest Points… I have not hosted anyone in my apartment yet. In winter, my place was not popular with HE guests. Now in summer I get more requests, but the issues I encounter are
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I do not have someone who can hand over the key to guests while I’m not there. I don’t really want to place a lockbox on the outside of my place. So basically I need guests that arrive the day that I leave. Haven’t found any yet. Anyone having solutions for key handover?? Key drop off is easy: I have a mail slot.
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I have 2 bedrooms (single bed + double bed), however this is a (well renovated) old apartment from the early 1930s. That means they hadn’t invented noise insulation yet & I have neighbours on 4 sides. Most of the time it’s very quiet here though. I’ve already received several requests of families with 2 young children… I think my neighbours would go nuts if there’d be small children running around, a baby crying etc in my place. No one here around me has children at home. I don’t really want to reduce the listing to e.g. single bed room only in order to increase the likeliness of getting e.g. single applicants.
So that means so far no suitable takers for my place on HE, and thus I’m not earning any Guest Points either. At this point I don’t think I’ll renew, because there’s not many options for me to earn more GPs without hosting people at my place.
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Ideas for key handover could be
Lockbox
Neighbor, friend.
Real estate agent or property manager
For one sit, I was offered to pick up key at the café next door
Pick up at your work or other place you could use. Reception on gym, senior centre or other that you might use
Send the key via registered mail or courier
Smart Lock access. This would probably require installation and monthly fees. We have installed this, and our door can now be opened with an app. For one sit I was to call when I arrived, they gave me access one time/ opened door and then I found the key on the counter.
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Thank for suggestions.
Practical issues re key:
Lockbox as said not preferred
Neighbour next 2 doors not reliable; neighbour downstairs not on good terms
No real estate agent; I own the place
No property manager (none of the apartments here)
No relatives/friends in same city (need 1 hr to get there)
I work from home; no office
Not using gym; got a wonderful park next door
No cafe nearby; nearby supermarket & chemist won’t do these things
Looked if it’s possible to rent a mini-safe nearby, but only ones are for short-term luggage storage at train station 1.5km away. A key for say 1 week in such a luggage safe is >100 Euro
Registered mail: key would have to be sent abroad. I live in a small country; guests would come from another European country. Would have to go & charge the guests for sending a key like this. Last resort option, but not ideal.
If there’s something I haven’t thought of yet… let me know!! (Europe)
I don’t quite get the issue, but I’m not familiar with the site or concept. Unless I’m missing it, the way we hand over keys on tHS when the sitter can’t come the night prior for dinner and to stay over, is we’ve installed programmable locks and assign sitters a personal code.
They then can enter and lock up, and no physical key needs to be provided.
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We exchanged with a couple in Italy. We live in the USA.
The Italian couple mailed the key to me and sent instructions via email. On the mailing envelope, they used a return address different from their own address, for security. I can’t imagine that this cost more than $5-10 USD. It was a small, light package. It could even be an envelope with a single key taped to a folded piece of paper.
We have done lots of exchanges through Home Exchange. It is a bit difficult to find exchanges, but when it works, it works really well! We have met some interesting people and made new friends through the program.
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What I meant by a property manager or real estate agent was that they might be able to do it for you for a fee, should you have such an office nearby.
Another possibility is if you have a post office nearby. I think it is still possible to send something «Poste Restante» , which means that you would send it to the «sitters name as written in ID» to adress «your local postoffice» and marked POSTE RESTANTE. Which means that the letter will be a that postoffice for pick up of the sitter and they have to show ID. Should be a return adress on envelope for safe return should something happen. Idea from @PVGemini is good with different adress than yours, but not a must. I guess your return adress also could be poste restante at same post office. This solution relies heavily on opening hours of post office, and I would recommend to use Registered mail to ensure safety. It can happen that things get lost en route - and even in post office. So this is a rather clunky solution, but I think it would be doable.
Please, never send a key in a regular envelope. Those envelopes go through high-speed machines that grip them tightly. These machines run 20,000 to 30,000 pieces an hour, thus they often jam, tear and not infrequently get separated from their envelopes if keys are inside. Once separated, there is no longer any contact information of who they belong to. The bubble envelopes do not go through these machines. Ex postal employee.
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How do you get guest points without using your house? I know I can get some when I sign up, but not THAT many. Thanks for any advice! I belong to both HE and THS.
Yes, you are right, you get quite a few points when you sign up and complete your profile.
You also get points each year when you renew. I think you get 250 points per year. You can also earn points if you refer friends.
We also belong to both - HE and THS. They each have their own quirks. Finding reciprocal exchanges can be challenging. It really depends on where you live. Using points can be challenging too! When it all works smoothly, though, it is totally worth it! Win, win.
THS is much easier as you do not have to receive guests.
thank you!