10 Best Home Swap Sites 2021 by Popularity
Part 1: Advertiser
Homestay
Popularity:
Homestay.com is an alternative to traditional home swap sites.
At Homestay.com. you can find 55,000 rooms at homes from 160 countries. Since they are offered by host families, the price is often very attractive. According to the website, the average price per night globally is $31 per night. Furthermore, the connection to the host families is also appreciated by many users. The site is a huge success. Since its launch in 2013, HomeStay.com has facilitated over 750,000 nights of home stays.
You can also rent out your own space on HomeStay.com to professionals, international students, and tourists. After making money through the process, you can use the money to travel to any place of the world.
So, compared with traditional home exchange sites, Homestay.com is a more flexible option for you to find a home away from home.
Know More at the Official Website of Homestay.com
Part 2: 9 More Popular Home Swap Sites & Apps
Home Exchange
Popularity:
Started in the early 90s by home exchange pioneers, HomeExchange has become a hugely popular home swap site, listing 400,000 homes in 180+ countries.
Few, if any, businesses can compete HomeExchange for the experience in helping members swap houses. According to the website, they have already facilitated over 1,000,000 home exchanges.
The vast database of member homes offers great opportunities to exchange with various types of listings, such as houses, condos, apartments, beach houses, cabins, and villas.
HomeExchange allows both reciprocal exchanges and non-reciprocal exchanges, with a point system.
We find HomeExchange.com has an elegant website design, with lots of useful details of each listing. For instance, you can find how many previous home exchanges the family have already completed, and the response rates of them for exchange requests.
The site has a true global presence. Top destinations include Paris, London, Rome, Barcelona, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia.
HomeExchange receives enthusiastic feedbacks by members, as one member said, "We had a great time with our exchange partner's children, who showed us places we would have never visited if we would have travelled 'the normal way'!" Another traveler commented, "We meet everyday people who live in the area and not just tourists. We have had wonderful experiences that we would not have had otherwise."
GuesttoGuest.com acquired HomeExchange.com in 2017, to become the leading resource for travelers to swap houses. Recently the two websites merged into one united web presence.
Love Home Swap
Popularity:
With Love Home Swap, you can swap your home with thousands of amazing properties around the world – and enjoy huge savings on the cost of accommodation when you travel.
Many members love the site for two reasons.
First, the site is not only very popular in the United States, but also highly represented globally. For instance, we found over 765 homes in France and over 1006 homes in Australia, available for exchange. The abundancy of choices around the world may be especially valuable if you may plan to vacation abroad.
Second, the site offers two options to swap your house. "Direct swap" allows you directly exchange homes with another member. You can also earn "swap points", by offering home to another member, and spend them later. This option is very powerful to expand your choices.
When we visited the website, Love Home Swap had 4552 pages of reviews. We estimated each page, on average, had 3 reviews, so it seemed there were totally over 13,000 reviews. The huge number of positive feedbacks of users is an evidence of the effectiveness of the Love Home Swap system.
Lots of reviews were enthusiastic and joyful. One traveler said, "The home and the location are fabulous. Many thanks for a great stay." Another commented, “Stunning property and lovely swapper! We look forward to have a second visit sometime in the future." By reading the reviews, we can feel the excitement of the members for successful home swapping.
It seems the most precious aspect of LoveHomeSwap isn't the nicely designed website, the innovative functions such as "swap points", or the "helpful, experienced, and obsessive" customer support. It is the authentic, friendly, and trustful community of members.
3RD HOME
Popularity:
3RD HOME is a private club for luxury second home owners.
Each time another member uses your secondary home, you'll receive credits, called "Keys". You can then spend the Keys on 10700 luxury private homes and resort properties worldwide.
Popular destinations include Costa Rica, Italy, Florida, France, Cabo San Lucas, and the United Kingdom.
The site is for owner of secondary home only, and primary residence is not accepted.
HomeLink
Popularity:
HomeLink is one of the most established home exchange programs, and was founded in 1953.
The site has 27 multi-lingual representatives around the world to help you in the swapping process, in your native language.
Popular destinations include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Intervac
Popularity:
Founded in 1953, Intervac claims to be the original home exchange program. The idea was initiated by a group of European teachers with plenty of time looking for affordable and exciting vacation opportunities.
Now Intervac has grown to over 30,000 members, with agents in 45 countries.
We find Intervac is especially popular in Europe. For instance, when we visited the site, the site had 727 properties in France, 261 properties in Sweden, 252 properties in Germany, 194 properties in the UK, and 164 properties in Italy. Therefore, if you are interested in exchanging home with a European family during your next trip, you may take a close look at Intervac.
Knok
Popularity:
Knok was founded by a couple who were originally from Japan but met in Prague. It is a travel network for families, and only lists child-friendly houses.
At Knok, you'll find thousands of like-minded families for home exchange, as well as 120,000 family-friendly apartments to rent.
Popular destinations include Barcelona, New York, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, and London.
Users seemed to highly enjoy the service, as one traveler commented, "My experience with Knok was marvelous and I will do it again in a heartbeat." Another tourist also said, "We had an unforgettable time exploring the city and staying in a beautiful home."
Geenee
Popularity:
Geenee Holiday Home Exchange lists many properties worldwidely.
Featured cities include London, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, Paris, and Sydney.
ivhe
Popularity:
Based in London, IVHE, or International Vacation Home Exchange, offers home exchange service to global members.
IVHE members can either directly swap houses, or earn credits by allowing other members use their properties.
To protect members, IVHE offers a 4 Star Exchange Verification. Members can earn up to 4 stars by verifying additional information. For instance, members can have a personal phone call with an IVHE staff to verify certain facts.
HomeforHome
Popularity:
HomeforHome specializes European house swapping, with 45,000+ houses listed in 130+ countries.
The site has lots of properties listed in some European countries. For instance, when we visited the site, there were 20,681 properties in Spain, 12,041 properties in France, and 6,637 properties in 6637.
Only limited houses are presented in the United States. We found 688 houses for exchange in the US.
Exchange Zones
Popularity:
Exchange Zones offers home exchange opportunities with 13,000 travelers worldwide.