We can tell from the traffic on the site that summer vacation planning is in full swing. Probably because of the popularity of THE HOLIDAY, and all our subsequent publicity*, we have almost doubled the number of Listings since this time last year, with hundreds of new Members joining each month. Now with almost 16,000 Listings, that means more exchange opportunities for everyone, especially for the new Members.

I would like to offer some time proven tips for both new and experienced home exchangers.

 

USE THE “MY SAVED LISTING” FEATURE TO SEND MULTIPLE INQUIRIES

USE THE KEYWORD SEARCH TO FIND PEOPLE WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS. A simple search shows an incredible range and depth of interests, it’s a great way to find Members with something in common.

“Yoga” appears in 280 Listings

“Swimming” appears in 3500 Listings

“Hiking” appears in 3200 Listings

“Biking” appears in 2200 Listings

“History” appears in 1200 Listings

“Sewing” appears in 80 Listings

“Reading” appears in 1200 Listings

Of course, you can use SEARCH to find other families with children, with Second Homes (for non-simultaneous exchanges), or any number of other interests.

EDIT YOUR OWN LISTING AND ADD YOUR OWN INTERESTS SO THAT OTHER MEMBERS WITH THOSE INTERESTS CAN FIND YOU.

It’s a good time to update your Listing with new photos, current Destinations and Dates, and how many exchanges you have done.

Now would be a good time to

Write a review of an exchange

And ask recent exchange partners to the same for you. It really enhances your Listing.

USE THE “NOTIFY ME” FEATURE so you can see when new Listings come in from .places you are interested in.

And please take a moment to reply to all the inquiries you receive, if only with “Thanks for the offer, sorry, can’t do it at this time.”

MORE NEWS

We have increased the Membership fee for new Listings to $99.95, but still leaving HomeExchange.com truly the best travel value on or off the web. Renewal rates for Silver Members are unchanged.

In February we launched our new HomeExchangeGOLD site, targeting the high end, luxury market, with homes that offer some combination of location, size, style or other features that make them truly special.

We have lots of new features planned for the months ahead, including new mapping and geographical search, Listing layout, and RSS feeds. Stay tuned!

*

Television View Home Exchange TV Clips    Articles Read articles written about us

HomeExchange Reminder

Other information you can include is how to operate the remote for the TV, how to turn on the BBQ and how to properly lock the third window from the kitchen table (sometimes it sticks!).

Home Exchange is more than just sharing your home, it is sharing your knowledge of your home and your city with your home exchange partner.

Sony's THE HOLIDAY!

Already released in North America and coming soon to a retailer near you, "The Holiday" is already doing brisk DVD sales.

The movies centers on Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet who use HomeExchange.com to arrange a home exchange between Cameron's home in Los Angeles and Kate's cottage in the English Countryside.

We've been fortunate to have promotional material included with the DVD in numerous countries, and we hope to bring you even more listings as a result!

One Minute Survey

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

April Survey
CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR NEW SURVEY
Next month we are going to introduce a Newsletter Section called “Off the Beaten Track”, featuring locations and homes that you might not have considered, but that offer wonderful home exchange opportunities. Plus ways to “market” your own Listing if you live in a wonderful area, but not one that is well known outside of your own state or country. For example, we were recently featured in a story LAKEHOM Magazine, which is targeted at lake homes in Wisconsin. To be honest, I don’t think I would have had that on my list as place to vacation, but after seeing the magazine, and some of our Listings in the region, I can’t wait to go there.

So this month’s Survey is about DESTINATIONS. We would really appreciate One Minute of your time, it will really help us help you as we work to improve the site and our Members’ experience.

CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR NEW SURVEY

Special Notices

KEEP SENDING US YOUR HOME EXCHANGE PHOTOS!

We got some great photos from our last newsletter, and we would love to see more!

If you have any photos from your home exchange vacations that you want to share with us, we are always looking for fun photos to share on our site and to use for other promotional activities. Send photos to: switch1@homeexchange.com

I'm sorry to have to admit this, but my family and I just took a quick one night trip up to the local mountains to catch some snow for the day, and since it was such a last minute affair, we stayed in a hotel.

Now before you send in your nasty emails, let me just explain myself first. We literally thought of this at about noon the day before we wanted to go, so time was of the essence. Also, I have 4 kids, so a 6 person exchange is a little bit more complex to arrange than a typical couple's vacation

But of course it didn't take long to reinforce why I love HomeExchange.com so much and really don't enjoy staying at hotels.

In honor of my stay, and giving me good reason to write off the trip, I now give you my top 5 reasons why Home Exchange is so much better than staying at a hotel.

5. My Kingdom for a Knife
OK, so we purchased some candy apples and brought them back to our room and then figured out the nice young lady at the candy store failed to cut up the apples as we had asked. I looked at the corkscrew on the nightstand and quickly figured out that wasn't going to work. Hmm, no kitchen, no knife. Everyone take a bite and pass it around. Not the end of the world, but it is amazing what you take for granted when you stay in someone's home. Ever try to find a pair of Scissors in a hotel room? How about a book or a DVD? A board game or deck of cards? Fat chance finding any of that in a hotel room!

4. Spread Out
My family gets along great, but I think anyone stuck in a small, confined space for too long will go a little batty once in a while. After dinner we came back to the hotel to hang out and watch a movie, but not everyone could agree on what to watch, and pretty soon some small battles broke out. With a home exchange, you get more space, and room to spread out and do your own thing. After a whole day together, older kids need some space. A backyard soccer game is a lot more fun than staring at each other in a hotel.

3. What To Do With the Leftovers?
Nothing drives me more nuts than going out to eat and coming back to the hotel with absolutely nowhere to put all the leftovers from the meals my kids didn't finish. I had to throw away at least 2 good meals because there was no fridge in our hotel. And when I ran out to the store to buy ice cream, we had to throw away what we didn't finish. I also had to buy plastic spoons and use water glasses to serve up everyone. And I actually enjoy being able to eat some simple meals we prepare ourselves, which is of course impossible with a hotel room.

2. Two Rooms is How Much?
I know the hotel industry has to make money, but let's be honest here, hotels are expensive. They have a large staff and a lot of square feet they have to keep in tip top shape, so any nice hotel is going to cost you a ton of money to stay at. With my large family, we had to get two rooms, and that really hits the old pocketbook hard. In fact we all wanted to stay another night, but there was no way I could justify the costs for another 24 hours. Taking the hotel bill out of our tip budget would have meant more money for nicer dinners out, more souvenirs and probably another night or two of vacation time!

1. Everyone Needs a Little Relaxation.
I don't know about you, but I find it hard to relax in a hotel room. Hotel rooms are designed more for sleeping than hanging out. I like to hang out on a vacation: do a little reading on the deck, watch a DVD, cook up some dinner, maybe some burgers on the BBQ out back, play some cards or a board game, that kind of thing. You might find bikes or other play equipment in the garage, or grab a basketball and shoot some hoops in the driveway. None of which is possible in a hotel. At a hotel I am always waiting for someone to knock on the door, I feel like I don't ever have my guard down. On a home exchange, you call the shots.

So that is my list. Just say NO to hotels and YES to home exchange vacations! Your family and your wallet will thank you!

Until next time!

The Best Travel Value on the Web!