Why Exchange
Home exchange is a unique way of taking a holiday that has a wide range of benefits for the right kinds of people. Home exchange people tend to be independent and adventurous.
It’s possible that they dislike the way that they are treated like a tourist on conventional package tours and the impersonal nature of hotels. Typically, home exchangers like to gain new experiences and like to feel in control of their precious leisure time.
Here are some of the reasons why HomeLink members find that home exchange is the key to more rewarding holidays.
Cost-savings
The cost of accommodation can be a major factor in holiday budgeting, especially for those such as teachers or parents of school-aged children who are tied to specific dates and so tend to pay inflated prices. For the price of annual membership, accommodation budgets can be totally eliminated, irrespective of the duration of your stay. It is easy to imagine how this money could be put to good use: A more exotic destination perhaps? How about longer (or more) holidays? Or maybe you might have little more spending money to treat yourself to some special events that help to turn a good holiday into a great one. A UK member recently put the cost-savings into context for us when she said that her HomeLink membership more than paid for itself on the first night of her first exchange!
Whilst many members tend to keep it relatively simple by merely exchanging homes, others save even more money by also agreeing to exchange cars, meaning that the holiday budget can be limited to cost of travel plus spending money.
Flexibility
Remember also that there is no limit to the number of exchange holidays that you can take during your membership year. This aspect is particularly appealing to retired or semi-retired members as they are more able than most to succumb to wanderlust. Having members in over 50 countries also means that there is an enormous range of destinations from which to choose.
The emergence of local airports and low-cost airlines makes domestic and European destinations more accessible and so opens up the possibility of adding a number of cheap 3-7 day breaks to the main holiday of the year. On renewing for their second year, one family recently told us that they had completed seven exchanges in their first year! On that basis, it’s perhaps not surprising that we have members who have taken advantage of this cost-effective holiday formula to clock up over 100 exchanges!
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Authenticity
“When in Rome…..” Conventional tourism can sometimes thwart this principle as travellers are often treated as tourists. Home exchange offers you the opportunity to parachute into a genuine local community and live like a local. So, if you like the idea of sauntering along to the village boulangerie before breakfast to ask for “deux pains au chocolat, s’il vous plait”, home exchange could be for you.
Convenience
Well-matched home exchange partners go on holiday in the knowledge that their accommodation is likely to be tailored to their needs. For instance, parents of young children may find it easier to relax when their holiday home is child-friendly. Parents might also enjoy travelling light, as many normal accompaniments can be left at home as a car seat, high chair and a range of toys await them.
Furthermore, many members agree to take care of each other’s pets and/or garden maintenance so there may not be a need to pay for alternative arrangements or return home to a jungle after your holiday.
Quality
Why not take a look at the exchange offers that we have available to discover the quality of our members’ homes. The vast majority of our members offer their main residence for exchange so you will find the creature comforts (e.g. all modern conveniences, matching cutlery) that transform a house into a home.
Security
Insurance companies will tell you that your home is at its highest risk of break-in when it is unoccupied (e.g. during holidays). As well as providing you with your holiday accommodation, home exchange also provides you with a fellow member to help manage the security of your home and its contents whilst you are away.
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Why exchange ?
