Most of us love to travel and are only hindered by time and budget when it comes to planning the trip. So, here are some ideas to maximise your travel savings with the help of home exchanges.
Accommodation is usually the most expensive part of your travel budget, whether you are travelling for a weekend, a month, or several months. Consider a home exchange to not just reduce your accommodation budget, but to eliminate it. Sounds good? Read on!
Perhaps you have never heard of a home exchange, or maybe you have but didn’t think it was for you. Let’s take a fresh look at home exchanges because they have zero accommodation costs and see how you can make them work for you!
How Home Exchanges Work
Join a home swap community that suits your needs. Special attention should be given to one of the new forms of home exchange, introduced by an award-winning new entrant to the home exchange market, Swapoffi. Swapoffi is the world’s first home exchange community for remote workers and digital nomads. What this means is that all their homes come with a workspace and Wi-Fi, so you can work as you travel. Most of their members are solos and couples who enjoy travelling from a week to several months. So, a great tip to save money on accommodation when you are travelling is to join Swapoffi because you might get free accommodation for more than a few weeks. And Swapoffi is currently offering free annual membership!
Usually, you pay an annual subscription to join a home exchange community. Once verified, enjoy unlimited swaps for that entire year. There are no hidden costs such as cleaning, and no money is exchanged between swappers. Pay your annual fee, and that is it.
It is important to understand that home swapping is not like booking accommodation. It is quite common to make 10-15 swap requests before you get one accepted. Why is this? Homeowners may receive multiple swap requests, particularly if their home is located in a popular destination. Also, unlike traditional booking accommodation, homes are not available 365 days a year. Once you know how home exchanges work, you can really make them work for you!
Tips to Maximise Travel Savings
Request swaps of a month or more!
The longer you travel, the more you save as you do not pay for accommodation in a home exchange! The longest swap spotted on Swapoffi was for 9 months!
Remote worker?
Swap a home with a verified workspace and Wi-Fi with a community like Swapoffi where you know every single home has both. Wi-Fi is not a given all over the world, so it’s good to have this extra verification piece. If you can work from home, you do not have to rush back to work. You can travel longer, so save even more money, when the home is equipped for remote work.
Not a Remote worker? Ask for Time to Remote Work
Travel has changed significantly since home exchange started decades ago. In the post COVID era, home exchanges have experienced a huge increase in popularity. Why? Thanks to technology, globalisation and the ability to work from anywhere, ‘digital nomads’ can now travel for months at a time. If you are not a remote worker or digital nomad, ask your boss for a period to work remotely. Many employers are becoming remote work friendly so might be open to allowing you to work remotely for 1 – 2 months each year.
Suit Yourself
Not sure about trying a home exchange? Why not join one and set your dream swap destination in your profile. Sit back and see if anyone from that location requests a swap with you!
Having said that, home exchanges work best if you are flexible and open to destinations. Experienced home swappers say that their best swaps have been in locations they have never heard of.
The main point here is that you do not have to accept any swap requests that come your way. There is zero pressure to do anything you do not want to do.
Host Swaps Yourself Before You Travel
Most home exchange communities gift you credits each time you host another member of the swap community in a one-way swap. Why? Rewarding hosts for one-way swaps simply encourages swap activity in the community. Not all swaps are two-way as direct matches do not work all the time if one person does not fancy your home or your destination. Also, if I travel for work or a family occasion, my home is free for you to swap with, but I do not want to swap with you.
You can host one-way swaps before you leave, so you bank swap credits to spend in one-way swaps!
Apply for a Digital Nomad Visa
Apply for a digital nomad visa from one of 50+ countries all around the world who want you to come and stay in their countries for several months, without the bureaucracy of applying for visas. Each country has different rules about this, but in general they are not difficult to achieve as they want you! Combine your digital nomad visa with a long stay swap, and you are saving a ton of money on your travel plans!
Exchange a whole home or a private room
With home exchanges, you usually swap your entire home. Thanks to Swapoffi, you can now just swap one room in your home as another option. Check out this home near Buenos Aires where you can swap the entire home or just one room.
Steps to Get Free Accommodation When You Travel
- Join a swap community
- Write a strong personal profile to increase your chances of having your swap request accepted
- Request several swaps (in locations and homes of interest to you)
- You should get one in ten accepted, which will give you your first positive review.
- Pack your bags and go!
As you can see, with home exchanges, there are different options for today’s travellers. Whichever you choose, it is great for all of us to have an Airbnb alternative so we can travel without paying for accommodation
So what will you do with all that money you save with a home exchange ?
