Clean, safe vacation rental alternatives for your 2021 getaway

When going on vacation, cleanliness and safety is on everyone's minds right now. 45% of travelers include enhanced cleaning within their top three vacation decision-making factors, according to Forbes.

There's no doubt traveling can be a germy business. The average hotel elevator button has 737 times more germs than a household toilet seat, and the even dirtier average hotel door handle 918 times more germs than a household toilet seat, according to a study.

Hotels and other vacation rentals can be heavily trafficked and full of strangers and germs. Vacation with HomeExchange, so you can enjoy your trip with peace of mind!

A safe, clean vacation with HomeExchange

There is a way to go on vacation without being worried about how many people have touched the door handles, or encountering strangers in an elevator. Home exchanging is a cleaner, safer way to travel than traditional hotels or vacation rentals.

With HomeExchange, you can enjoy the comfort of a house or apartment just for you and your loved ones. There are no common areas to share, and no risk of meeting a stranger as soon as you leave your room like in a hotel. You'll spend your vacations in real, authentic and warm homes with fewer guests per month than other accommodation options.

In the HomeExchange community, having a safe, secure, clean accommodation is part of our fundamental principles. 98% of exchanges are rated 4 stars or more for cleanliness.

The risk of contamination after thoroughly cleaning a home is very low. As a HomeExchanger, you can rest assured that your environment is safer than hotels or commercial accommodations that host many people each month.

Stories from HomeExchangers

When you home exchange, you have your own private space just for you and your family. Conscientious hosts make sure the home is thoroughly cleaned before you arrive, and your family is the only one there the whole time. If you host on HomeExchange, you can rest assured your guests will treat your home with respect, leaving it as sparkling clean as they found it!

“My exchangers have always left the house looking like they were never there, as we do at their house.”
- Linda, 44 exchanges

"Typically, the only tell-tale sign that someone has been in our home is a food item left in the fridge, or a note and/or a gift left for us. Home Exchangers are typically very careful to return household items to their original spots and to clean up after themselves."
-Judy, 102 exchanges

When planning a house swap, exchangers have bountiful opportunities for clear, open communication. This gives everyone the chance to have conversations to make sure all parties are comfortable with the terms of the exchange and the cleanliness practices.

HomeExchangers continue to travel cautiously during the pandemic, taking necessary precautions, traveling within their own country, and packing plenty of hand sanitizer! Kathleen, a 10-year HomeExchanger, said she's been "pretty picky" about where she vacations since COVID-19, but has had success staying in rural homes with easy access to natural beauty and the great outdoors.

"For us, we’ve been a little cabin bound and HomeExchange has really given us a way to connect with other people that have homes where it’s easy to socially distance," Kathleen said.

Go Clean Co's tips for cleaning your home

We've compiled household cleaning tips from official sources to help you prepare your home for an exchange safely and partnered with Go Clean Co to give further recommendations on cleaning your home effectively to make sure your exchange is safe.

Here are five top tips from Sarah McAllister, the director of Go Clean Co, for making your home squeaky clean before an exchange.

1. Water, bleach and powdered Tide! This is our go-to for cleaning most surfaces as we believe strongly in disinfecting. The powdered Tide is an enzyme cleaner and works to pull the dirt off surfaces very easily.
2. Weiman stainless steel cleaner is one of our favourite products, as it can bring life back to your stainless steel in minutes. Most people think that the steel is stained or ruined, but it usually just needs a good condition.
3. The younger your kids are, the more willing they are to help out, so start them young! My daughter is 8 years old and knows how to fold all her own laundry and all the towels. She loves emptying the lint trap, try to make it fun. They will think its fun at least until they are teenagers. Every person in a home needs to help out to keep it functioning, it should not rest on one person.
4. I think the mark of a clean home are baseboards and light switches. These are things that people look at as they walk around or before they reach out to touch. Bathroom baseboards especially! People look down when they.... ahem, sit on the throne. It takes seconds to wipe down these areas and the impression it leaves is long lasting.
5. [During the pandemic] We push people to start wiping their homes down daily with our disinfecting solutions and asking them to be more aware of wiping door handles, light switches, surfaces that they would normally only clean every month.

With HomeExchange's robust COVID-19 guarantees, excellent cleaning practices, and 450,000+ homes around the world to choose from, it is an ideal way to vacation this year. Sign up for HomeExchange to join the community and travel affordably, authentically, and safely.