Housing exchange. Couchsurfing

What is this type of tourism?

As a tourism industry it appeared relatively recently.

The formation and origin of this movement took place in Europe, and today this type of recreation has become popular throughout the world.

If you are an avid traveler, but have never tried this type of vacation, we will reveal the meaning of such tourism.

When you come to a travel agency or register on a special website, you need choose an interesting option, which suits the description, appearance and location.

Next, the task is to contact the owner of this property. On your own or with the help of a tour operator, you need to communicate with your opponent, ask questions and find out the nuances and ask questions of interest. In exchange for the rest period, your living space is offered.

If you value your premises more expensive than what is offered, you can offer an additional payment. It can also be installed by your opponent.

If your opponent is not interested in your proposal, he can offer free stay in his house or for providing any services, for example, cooking or cleaning.

In addition, if there are no thoughts of travel in your immediate plans for the future, you can still list your home on relevant resources as subject to exchange during the trip, and you may receive offers from interested parties. This way you can choose the appropriate option.

Advantages and disadvantages

What are the advantages and disadvantages of such tourism? Despite the fact that this direction is quite new, many already see it as significant advantages. They are as follows:

But, despite the huge number of positive aspects, there are also minuses. As a rule, they are as follows:

1. Housing is provided to unknown people.
2. This type of tourism is not yet recognized as official, but is developing as a subspecies.

Therefore, in a number of countries, in case of rights violations, it is difficult to prove the harm caused to the tourist. For example, they kicked me out of the house.

Methods and forms

There are several ways to exchange housing for a vacation, which is acceptable in this type of legal relationship.

Conclusion of this bilateral agreements, that is, the two agreements provide for the following consequences. You rent out your home to a specific citizen, for which he undertakes pay some amount.

The opponent also draws up a corresponding normative act that is recognized as an agreement. Thus, it is possible to move into an apartment with equal rights.

In addition, in a travel company you can to make an agreement with your opponent.

This agreement is not provided for by the legislation of our country, but takes place in a number of foreign countries.

Moreover, it will the only evidence the fact that you were in legal relations with your opponent if the rights were violated.

In addition, the so-called third party also takes part in this agreement. It may be a travel company or an agent, but it is she who must certify that this agreement has been concluded between the parties.

Where to look for options?

Today, finding housing of this format is not a problem at all. At the same time, this can be done either independently or with the help of a travel company.

Typically newbies and cautious people use verified addresses, provided to them by tour operators, and those who love adventure themselves storm the Internet resources in search of advertisements.

Services overview

We offer several popular and effective resources so that you can choose the best option:

There are also other resources for searching for housing options, including English-language ones.

Procedure

When exchanging apartments for travel, you must first contact your opponent and carefully discuss the issues of interest; attention should also be paid to dates.

After this, you must definitely offer preparation of contract. First, one side fills it out, having previously read the conditions, then the other. If the parties are satisfied with everything, an electronic signature is placed by each of the counterparties.

Of course, drawing up an agreement is a big hassle; you can do without it. However, in this case, the tourist is not protected by the law of any state, especially if he travels outside our country.

After that, you can safely pack your bags.

However, it is better if the procedure for drawing up an agreement is carried out Tour Operator. Of course, you will have to overpay for this, but on the other hand, you can completely escape from legal worries and think about relaxation.

Features and nuances

When exchanging apartments between cities for a vacation within Russia, you protected by the laws of our state. Therefore, make up or with your opponent in a two-way manner.

This agreement will allow you not only to spend time traveling, but also to be sure that you are reliably protected.

What are the features of such tourism with foreigners? Concluding an agreement with foreigners, seek the help of a tour operator.

Also, be sure to talk through some points of interest and nuances several times. The fact is that due to differences in language and perception of certain phrases, you may not understand each other the first time.

Possible risks

First of all, note whether the description corresponds to the photographs presented. Be sure to ask about the area where the apartment is located and try to find it on the map.

It’s also great if your opponent’s proposal has real reviews on a particular resource.

In order to remain satisfied with your vacation, we give a couple of tips on how to: how to avoid being scammed:

• be sure to clarify all points and nuances, especially if there is a difference in language several times;
• make a video call from the apartment you want to live in;
• read reviews about accommodation;
• offer to legally formalize the fact of exchange;
• Secure your home - remove all valuables, leaving only what is necessary.

Traveling is wonderful, and especially wonderful if it’s for next to nothing. We hope that when it comes to exchanging vacation rentals you will receive only positive experience and you will be glad to use this opportunity again and again!

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

If you watched the movie "Exchange Vacation"(2006, USA), then you will probably guess what we will be talking about.

Today, traveling with the exchange of housing, houses or apartments is becoming increasingly popular. The principle of exchanging living space is quite simple: you find a person who goes on vacation to your country or city. This person, and perhaps there will be several of them, stay in your apartment for the duration of their trip, and you, in turn, travel and stay in your guest’s apartment.

Vacation apartment sharing is a great alternative to hotel rooms and certainly a great money saver - after all, you only pay the cost of transportation!

Benefits of exchanging accommodation while traveling

• Relaxation at home
• Cash Savings
• Meeting interesting people
• "Taste" and features of life of the local population
• Comfort and coziness

Is there a risk in traveling and vacationing in different countries with a home exchange?

Without a doubt, an exchange holiday must be approached with complete seriousness. It doesn’t matter whether you are looking for people to exchange in your own country or are going to go on vacation abroad. The safety of your personal belongings in your apartment depends on who you choose for exchange., as well as its external order and neatness, and the safety of the apartment as a whole. Well, you must agree that not everyone would be allowed into their cozy corner?!

The question of whether you can trust free sites with housing exchange services and the basis on which these sites select reliable and serious travelers should also be approached with extreme responsibility.

Reliable international sites for exchanging travel apartments

The most reputable international sites that unite into a single database people who are serious about traveling and exchanging housing, require a paid subscription to use their services. And although the monthly subscription cost is quite low, in any case it plays the role of a kind of filter for “unreliable people”.

When registering on apartment exchange sites, you fill out a form with information about yourself, give a full description of the apartment or house, post photographs of the living space, and of course indicate the countries or places where you would like to go on vacation and your desired travel dates. As a user of a site for housing exchange with residents of different countries, you can make changes to your profile at any time (adjust cities, countries, travel dates, upload an unlimited number of photos of your apartment, etc.). At the same time, you will receive notifications about changes or new profiles in your areas, etc.

Where to find a partner to exchange apartments for your holidays

The popular, well-known international website HomeExchange is a leader in travel and exchange holidays in various countries and cities around the world. The site offers more than 42,000 advertisements for exchange in over 150 countries around the world (small and large cities of the USA, European and Asian countries, South America, etc.) HomeExchange was founded in 1992 and today is well known in all parts of the world. The site was written about in the New York Times, and this particular site was mentioned in the movie “Exchange Holiday.”

Among the Russian-speaking population of the planet, the site is just beginning to gain its popularity. Considering the ever-growing number of our compatriots who increasingly prefer to go on vacation abroad on their own, we must assume that the number of Russian-speaking users of the HomeExchange site will also grow steadily in the coming years.

The principle of operation of sites for exchanging housing for vacations

By subscribing to the site's services, you have the opportunity to exchange housing for an unlimited number of times with other registered users of the site without any additional fees. Users of the site can be people of different ages, professions, and marital status.

On the site it is also possible to search for exchange partners based on interests and hobbies, such as running, swimming, yoga, etc. When exchanging apartments between partners, an agreement is drawn up on the site. You can also take out insurance.

You can register to use the site’s services on the official HomeExchange website for 1 year for only $150 USD. Special promotions and discounts carried out by HomeExchange will help significantly reduce the cost of your subscription. We publish all current offers from the international home exchange website HomeExchange on this page.

And another nice service from the HomeExchange website! HomeExchange invites all new site users to try its services completely free of charge for 14 days. If during this period you are not satisfied with the quality of the site's services, simply cancel your subscription before the free 14 days on the site expire. And it's completely free. In order to try the site’s services completely free of charge for 14 days, take advantage of the special offer from the official HomeExchange website below.

Thank you for your support!

Creator of the My Holiday Exchange website; changed houses more than 20 times

For many years I have been thinking about what to do so that people do not suffer in hotels for a lot of money, when there is an opportunity to not pay at all and enjoy life in complete comfort. After my next exchange of houses (from Tallinn to Amsterdam), I sat down and wrote a short story in an hour, in which I tried to convince the reader that, in addition to the financial side of the issue, there is something special in such exchanges that cannot be experienced under other circumstances.

My story was noticed by Viktor Nyrok, the author of the “Unforgettable Travel Club” project, and republished it on his website. After that, I received a lot of letters with questions about exchanging housing and requests to write more about my experience of unusual travel. So I decided to start my own service.

My family and I were trading our two houses. Eight years ago we had an apartment in Iceland, in standard a four-story house in the suburbs of Reykjavik (the center was about half an hour by bus). She was sweet and pleasant, but nothing interesting. Its main advantage was its location inidyllic locationon top of a hill and had a beautiful view from the balcony.And then we moved to Tallinn and lived there in a similar four-story house, only in the city center.

For the first time (out of more than twenty) we exchanged with London. It would be very expensive to rent an apartment or hotel in London, so I decided to find a house exchange for us on a house exchange website. I found two. For the first week we lived in a small studio in an early 20th-century Tudor-style housing estate, with dark facades and slanting wooden beams, almost in the very center of London. There lived a girl named Ruth, an illustrator of children's books. For the second week we stayed in a large Victorian house 20 minutes from London. The house belonged to a young married couple - Nadya and Chris. Nadya was a lawyer and ran her own business, and Chris worked in the archives of the British Museum. Everything in their house looked completely new, the interior was thoughtful and cozy. Huge windows looked out onto a beautiful garden, where it was very quiet and romantic.

Usually people are looking for a house exchange about six months before the trip itself, I startedsearches in just a month and a half and just by some miraclefound enthusiasts who had long dreamed ofIceland and were able to quickly settle matters at work and goprecisely on those days when our apartment was free.

The biggest benefit of flipping houses is the huge savings. I don't like to go to a new place for less than 10 days, and in the case of a hotel it comes out to a tidy sum. And living in a normal, fully equipped and comfortable house is much more pleasant than in a small hotel room. In addition, it is interesting to feel at least a little like a “local resident”. You can join the local life, go to some completely non-tourist shops and stores, or follow the recommendation of the family with whom you are exchanging. These exchange families love to share all of their favorite local addresses and locations.

Unusual situations, of course, do happen. Once, for example, we failed to cope with the alarm system when we lived in a villa in Rome, and the police came to us in the middle of the night. Another time, in London, the owners were in such a hurry that they forgot to lock the house and, when we found it, the door was wide open - we thought that thieves had broken in.

I don’t see any downsides to the exchange at all. True, before leaving your own apartment, you cannot throw everything away haphazardly; you need to give everything the most pleasant appearance possible.

You need to plan your home exchange trip in advance. If an exchange is planned somewhere not too far away, say within Europe, then on average it takes four to five months. For long-distance travel, it is better to choose accommodation eight to nine months in advance, or even better, a year in advance. It is not necessary to immediately buy plane tickets, but it is important to find people who will be interested in your offer and will also begin to prepare for this trip.

Many times I have encountered the fact that people, looking at the prices for flights and trips within the country, suggest postponing everything until next year. So the option of finding an exchange of houses from, say, Moscow to New Zealand in two or three months is practically unrealistic.

From Yalta (Crimea) to St. Petersburg

Once I saw a group on VKontakte - "Exchange Vacation". There were few offers there: apparently, people are afraid for now, they travel more by couchsurfing. But one day I exchanged my Yalta apartment for housing in St. Petersburg. When I advertised, three people from St. Petersburg responded to it. I chose the option closer to the metro. All the people who wrote to me were sane and decent. We corresponded with the owners of the apartment and spoke with them on Skype. They even managed to make friends, I brought them gifts from Crimea. We came with a friend and were given a room in a three-room apartment. There is no time limit, come at what time you want - we were given the keys right away. The man with whom we lived then was supposed to come to visit me in June 2015, but he hasn’t been able to do it yet. We sometimes correspond with him, I wait for him.

All people are different. When you receive guests at your place, I would advise you to either lock valuables in your room or take them away to relatives for a while. It would also be a good idea to copy down the residents’ passport details for yourself. But in fact, in the couple of weeks that you agree on an exchange, it usually becomes clear what kind of person is in front of you.

From Cheboksary to Yoshkar-Ola

Now I am exchanging my apartment in Cheboksary, but in general I want to build either a dacha on the banks of the Volga, or simply buy an apartment specifically for exchanging houses. I have a three-ruble car with a European-quality renovation. Everything is fresh, including the furniture. I am ready to exchange for an apartment, a house in Russia, Belarus - other countries are not yet interesting, since I have not seen my own yet. Housing should be clean and well-maintained, the furniture, even if cheap, should be new. I don’t accept cabinets from the 1970s with torn handles - it ruins the impression of your vacation. It is important to exchange photos of the venues before purchasing tickets.

I came to the idea of ​​exchanging houses out of greed - I don’t like to overpay. I take advantage of every opportunity to save. This year I wanted to relax with a friend in a hotel in Sochi. Round trip plane flight for four, two adults and two children, 64,000 rubles. This is three times more expensive than a hotel stay itself. So I went by car and spent 5,000 rubles on gasoline.

When you give away your home, it is important to confirm this with a receipt or an agreement on the free exchange of housing. In order to prove, if anything happens, that you were not in the apartment. It is important not to exchange for a long period of time: three weeks maximum (you can, for example, pay the bills for the other party’s apartment when you live there, but the other party will not pay the bills in your apartment at that time). Do not agree on anything other than an exchange: pay your bills yourself, leave the dogs (animals) to your relatives! Finding an exchange is difficult if you live in a city like me: there are few attractions here, only the Volga and new buildings. But I set another goal - to visit as many Russian cities as possible, no matter what they are. The Internet is full of exchange sites - register, write an ad and wait or look for it yourself.

There is only one downside to the exchange - nerves. You rest and wonder if your door, countertop, or floor were scratched. But here, even from the tone of the ad, you can understand a lot. Don't be afraid to ask and set conditions. Document everything. If they refuse, look for those who will agree to your terms. Meeting in person is also a must. When I went to Yoshkar-Ola, I exchanged apartments with a calm couple with a child. The renovation in their apartment was simple, but most importantly, the furniture was new! And the house is about twenty years old, the entrance doesn’t stink.

From Mezmay (Krasnodar region) to Tuapse

The exchange does not have to be equal: I can have a hut near the sea, and they will offer me a five-room apartment. I exchanged houses about five times in total, always only on the Black Sea coast. Two times it was a one-way exchange, that is, they arrived, but did not accept us, and the other three were successful.

The only thing that comes to my mind is insurance with a deposit. Or there is an option - to exchange at the same time, that is, you go to them, and at the same time they go to you. But it turns out that they live there without you, without their owners, and it is not clear how they will behave in your apartment. There is an option, so that there are no pitfalls, you can agree like this: they come, you take money from them for housing, and then, when you come to them, you give the same money to them. So withThe safest option is when first they come to me to relax, and then I come to them. If both parties are satisfied with this situation, then we agree on an exchange: without any prepayments or the like.And so everything is based on trust, of course.

Completely different people come. They usually have no complaints about housing, because it is an exchange. If a person paid money, there would be complaints: the toilet is on the street, the fence is high, or something else. So, people come, we communicate, tell how we live here, they tell us how they live there.

From the village of Ayvovoye (Crimea) to St. Petersburg and Istanbul

I have an eco-hotel in Crimea, in the courtyard of which my house is - that’s what I’m offering in exchange. We usually travel with my mother. I used to travel through Couchsurfing.com and Hospitality Club. I really wanted to learn English and hosted guests from different countries to practice the language. People came to me from Portugal, from Finland, Italy, Poland - from everywhere! I met them, drove them around Crimea by car, communicated and thanks to this I learned to speak English fluently.

Then we went on our own - to St. Petersburg to exchange houses, and to Ceylon and Istanbul for couchsurfing. When I exchanged houses with people from St. Petersburg, a week before my departure, they said that they were flying away and could not receive me. But within a week I found another guy, to whom we went. He gave us his apartment and said that he was unlikely to come to us. I asked him: “Why are you receiving us?” And he says: “Well, I’m from Crimea, I’m in such a mood, I’m interested in politics! You are Crimeans, I’m ready to give you my apartment.”

When I went to Sri Lanka through Couchsurfing.com, I ended up with a wealthy man, he has his own restaurant, his own hotel and his own supermarket. Therefore, when I stayed with him, he just gave me a hotel room. He took us to his home and invited us. Everything there is made of ebony, there are elephant tusks everywhere, huge fighting dogs walk around the territory, guarding it. That is, he is not a poor person at all, but through couchsurfing he is interested in receiving guests.

When I was traveling to Istanbul, I received a lot of requests from people who wanted to host me. One policeman wrote to me: “Hi! Come, I’ll meet you in a police car and take you around Istanbul with flashing lights!” As a result, I stayed with a boy from Kyrgyzstan who lives in Istanbul and speaks Russian very well. Usually you call on Skype first, and the Turks immediately start making ambiguous hints and sending smiles, but I don’t need all this - I’m going on vacation with my mother.

In Istanbul, for example, renting a hotel costs $60 per day, multiply by two weeks - a good amount comes out. And here you are at a person’s home, he can tell you something, where are the best cafes, how best to get to such and such a museum, where it is inexpensive.

The disadvantages of exchanging houses are like what happened to me in St. Petersburg: something can go wrong. I was surprised that the other guy, who eventually let us into his home in St. Petersburg, was not afraid to keep us at his place. He constantly travels abroad, he has all sorts of things displayed at home on glass shelves - this is not an apartment, this is a museum. I walked and was simply afraid of accidentally catching something somewhere and breaking it. And he is calm. In general, I read on all these sites that people are afraid. But what can I say? I am a believer, I always pray, I ask God to warn me. I would advise girls who travel alone to look for either a family or a girlfriend, otherwise men may misunderstand.

When my mother and I traveled to Ceylon, we stayed in three houses in different parts of the island. When we moved out from the first host, he said that he would not let us go until he met the person with whom we would live further - they say, it is unsafe, and he must make sure that everything will be fine with us. The second host said that this was not a problem at all, and came to pick us up, 150 km away. He turned out to be from a very wealthy family - his parents owned a jeans store in London. We became such good friends that his mother gave me her daughter’s wedding sari.

As you may have guessed, for Russian travelers the exchange of houses does not happen quite the same way as for the heroines of “Exchange Vacation”

Owner of real estate around the world

In general, we have a lot of real estate: several large and small apartments in Germany, one in Moscow and two in Sochi. We usually give up housing in Sochi for house exchange. The first apartment is very nice, in the very center, but small. And the second is large, on the first floor of a new building. Many times we allowed people to live there for free, but we ourselves have not yet decided to go on vacation in return - either because of work we don’t have time, or we offered inconvenient dates.

We would like most to go to Australia, for a couple of weeks, my husband has children living there, but there are no special wishes. We are ready to exchange our house - it is huge, there are 12 rooms in it - but it is scary to invite people from the street into it, it is too luxurious.

When exchanging houses, it is important that people are decent and that photographs of apartments are real and original. Last year, two mothers with their graduating children stayed with us in Sochi, and the previous tenants offered them to live in a garage instead of the promised apartment. As a result, they lived in one of our apartments.

Many have seen the film “Exchange Vacation,” but few are ready to put themselves in the shoes of its characters: it is not yet customary for us to exchange housing for the period of vacation. Although, by analogy with Western sites offering to find a suitable option for exchanging houses, such resources are also appearing in Russia. “In the future, this method of finding housing will be especially in demand,” says Maria Barabash, a journalist and mother of three children. “Prices for vacations are rising, but I still want to travel abroad.” Maria leads the community "House Swap" and wrote a book in which she tells how to decide on an exchange, what needs to be done for this, and also gives stories of successful exchanges of our compatriots. Here are some of them.

Holidays at sea: exchange with Russian emigrants from Cyprus

I accidentally read about this type of recreation on the Internet. I registered on a foreign website and didn’t even send letters to anyone. I was waiting for requests.

The offer to exchange houses came from a family of Russian emigrants who live in Cyprus. We talked several times on Skype - they turned out to be easy to communicate with, they were ready to meet us at the airport and show us the sights. There were no difficulties (except for the fact that it took a long time to decide on handing over the keys and check-in).

Unfortunately, we were unable to arrange a car exchange due to the high cost of including a new driver in the insurance. We lived next to the sea, which is what we wanted from the beginning, we really liked everything. The guests were also pleased and talked with all their relatives and friends. Enjoyed the cold and rainy weather.

For those who are thinking about exchanging, I would first of all advise making the apartment comfortable for guests. Install water leakage sensors so as not to worry, tell your neighbors about the arrival of guests and get their approval.

Everything in the film is true!

Olga Kuznetsova, Moscow

I watched the movie “Exchange Holiday” - everything is clearly shown there! My husband and I each exchanged apartments with our colleagues at one time or another. Recently, the economic situation in Russia has changed, the financial situation of our family has become more complicated, but we still have the desire to travel. Accordingly, house swapping is seen as an opportunity to save money and at the same time gain a new experience while meeting new people and their lifestyle.

We registered on the site in March 2014. We haven’t sent out the letters yet, but we have already received two offers from Italy, two from Spain and one from Cyprus.

Previous exchanges were with familiar people, our friends. The usual method of communication is correspondence. For clarity, the letter was accompanied by instructions in pictures - how to get to the house from the metro, what the entrance and staircase look like, what key to unlock what, how to use household appliances, etc. In the future, I plan to use video instructions - you can upload it directly to YouTube and send the link.

Everyone is happy. The desire to come to Moscow was expressed by people who have already been to Russia, have some connections here, or Russians living abroad.

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