"We'd long been interested in exchanges but previously didn't think we had a particularly "exchangeable" home, work was too busy to plan in advance, and so on. I love it! I listed my second home, a small apartment in Venice, Italy. Since you live in a high-demand area you can understand the volume of requests we receive. Last year we traveled to France, the Netherlands, and New York, and while exchanges can have their ups and downs, overall we were delighted."
Venice has such a limited number of homes and pretty much everyone on earth wants to visit. Answering all the inquiries is probably a second job for this swapper. This is the kind of listing that allows the swapper to sit back and wait for the attractive offers to pour in. And that's if she only has a tiny, ugly apartment. I shudder to think of the sheer number of emails she must receive if her Venice place is large and beautiful. So everything's great, right? Well, not quite.
"I've run into a problem. A woman contacted me via the exchange site, asking about a short last-minute exchange, giving a two-week range of dates. We rent our apartment when we're not there and as luck would have it, I did have a five-night opening in my rental calendar. She offered her second home, also a rental so I'd need to work around the calendar. That was fine with me. I arranged to have friends meet her with the keys, her family (a couple plus their elementary school age child) enjoyed their stay. She emailed me afterwards to say how much they enjoyed their stay and my apartment, and to let her know when I had some sense of my travel dates.
In the meantime, she did not renew her listing. I emailed her several times this winter, asking about summer 2009. She has not responded. My mistake was in not separately writing down her phone and snail mail address, relying on the exchange site instead. Now I've asked the club to help me get in touch with her. I'm pretty frustrated by the whole situation.
Have you heard of nonsimultaneous exchangers simply disappearing like that? It hasn't dimmed my enthusiasm, but I am disappointed. I was looking forward to a quick trip to Paris. Her apartment was quite charming, small and authentic and in a great location. I wonder at this point if the whole thing was a scam, but it seems a lot of effort for a few free days in Venice."
I have some thoughts on this that relate to a question from another swapper, our Brooklyn friend with the nice town house. What are your thoughts? Has anyone ever disappeared after using your home? How would you address this?
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