2023-08-08 20:25:47
Exchanges are in fashion. Of couples, of clothes, of books… and now, in a kind of version from you to London and me to CaliforniaOffering your house to enjoy a week’s vacation in someone else’s seems to be gaining more and more fame in Aragon. Because, in the province there are 435 families that have joined HomeExchange, an inexpensive way to travel around the world by exchanging houses, and visits to Zaragoza have increased by 9%, compared to last summer, by users looking for vacation homes.
But, where does this trend of changing houses for the holidays come from? 30 years ago that an American company, formed by a group of professors who wanted to carry out exchanges more economically, created this type of experience to travel the world. At first, “As there was no Internet, it was done through a mail catalog where the houses were offered”explains Pilar Manrique, spokesperson for HomeExchange in Spain.
once appeared Internetand the way we communicate around the world became more fluid, home exchanges became more widely known. “When it really became a trend, it was with a French company, which invented the points system for exchange between users and bought the American company in 2008”mentions the spokeswoman.
With this Franco-American merger, HomeExchange was born, a free registration platform in which users show their homes to change for a weekend, a week, or even a month. A very economical experience for travelers, because with “A flat rate of €160 per year is available for all the exchanges that are desiredin addition to a cancellation insurance service and possible damages that the home may suffer”, says Manrique.
The only requirement to participate is to offer a house. And they are not worth cheating, because from the company they make sure that each one of the offers is real, “We carry out a verification of the profiles, the identity of the members, that the images correspond to a real house…”, assures the worker, because for the company “everything is based on trust”.
Once the profile is registered and the property is published, the user can start searching for the destination they would like to travel to. “It works like any travel page, there is a search engine where you put the place of travel, the number of people and the date you want to go”Manrique explains.
About the exchanges, the spokeswoman mentions that there are two types: the reciprocal“in which users exchange their houses, which does not have to be at the same time”, and the not reciprocal in which “the user goes to another’s house, but he does not travel to his”.
In the event that non-reciprocal exchange is chosen, it is necessary to use the new point system, called GuestPoints. Each registered home is given a value of points per night of stay, depending on its characteristics (if it has a terrace, garden, the number of rooms), “although each family can add 30 more points to the home if they consider it, or even make the exchange between them to zero”.
But, don’t panic, because the points are totally free. And how are they obtained? “The way to get GuestPoints, In addition to those that are received when registering, it is through the exchange,” says the spokeswoman. That is, the more visits a house has, the more travel points it receives and more options you have.
a small community
Lorraine and John They are a married couple who, along with their dog, Five years ago they tried this way of traveling. And, since they tried it, they have not changed. “This is very good for us, because we save on costs and also, Since we have a pet, it is more comfortable when we go on vacation“, explains Lorena. This small family of three has already traveled throughout Spain and some areas of France during this time, “our first exchange was to a town in Burgos” mentions the woman.
What they like most about this system is “how nice the people are”. Because in HomeExchange they are a small community (although less and less) that has even created customs: “Whenever someone comes to our house, they bring us typical things from their land, as a kind of gift for welcoming us and we also leave them things from here, like wine or oil”.
Although they are not the only ones who are delighted with their new way of traveling the world. Emma and her husband have been traveling with the platform since 2013, “We have three children and it is the best way to go on vacation, because it is a very suitable way to our lifestyle“. And, it is that, traveling with the little ones means carrying cots, toys or returning to the hotel when they are tired… “Something that is not a problem when traveling to a house that we choose adapting to our needs, is perfect” says the woman.
The most enriching part of the experience for Emma is “the philosophy that children learn”, since “not going to a hotel where they give us everything done and learn to respect the things of others”. In addition, another of the parts that they enjoy the most is traveling unexpectedly, “many times they write to us to do exchanges to places we had not planned to go”, something that for her “It’s great because that way we see places that we would never visit otherwise.”
About those who decide to spend the holidays in ZaragozaEmma assures that “There is a lot of demand, especially for weekends.” And, it is that, the visits they receive in their home are “from people who come wanting to know the city, others only come passing through to reach other destinations and there are even those who come of their own to enjoy the Pilar festivities” . As for the origin of the users, they are not only Spanish, but also “A lot of people come from Europe, especially from France, Italy and Portugal,” says the woman.
From the looks of it, exchanges are all the rage. Especially if you make sure that, like Elena, “those who come water my plants”.
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