Home Exchange is not Vacation Rental

You have read it before on this very page but it bears repeating: home exchange is not, and should not, be mixed up with vacation rentals.



Faithful reader Kate has her own perspective on this issue, and a personal policy we would all do well to adopt. Here is Kate's comment:



"We received a nice offer of a comfortable apartment in Rome at the weekend. It's not the place for us with small kids but as the last time I looked at the home exchange listings in Italy was some time ago I glanced over them. I noticed that there were more listings- looks good. I opened a couple of listings and there seemed to be a tendency for people to offer mostly second homes for exchange or rental. Quite a few people were offering 2 or 3 apartments so I did wonder to what extent they were exchanging and how much renting. Fair enough if they are exchanging- our family has a policy of not exchanging with houses also offered for rent but as a genuine secondary option I don't have a problem with it. Whilst I expect that many of the combined listings are genuine I did wonder whether a few of the renters/exchangers were really exchanging or just baiting the hook. I was pretty shocked though that one listing (64950) had a total of 35 additional listings all offered exclusively for rent. This doesn't seem to me to fit in with the ethic of home exchanging and I did a search which totalled up 720 rental only properties on the site. I really think that the site would be better focusing on the genuine home exchange market."



I have actually received "home exchange offers" through one swap club that were actually suggestions to rent the person's home! I hope we all realize this is not appropriate use of a home exchange club site, whether or not the club has an official policy against it.



Have you received a rental "offer"? If so, let us know -- and let the club know about the inappropriate contact as well.



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