Ability to contact members without submitting an exchange request form

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1

Here is the scenario that isn’t addressed in the “contact” function = I want to contact a member but the request form isn’t applicable…

If my home will be open and someone has my home as a favorite, I want to contact them to let them know my hope is available for a time period if they are interested in staying at my home for points. The technical limitation exists because the contact form assumes I want to book their home when really it’s the opposite. Also, I can’t even submit using the form as a contact method if they have indicated on their property calendar that their home is not available. my suggestion is to have a separate contact button function that doesn’t include forcing the form to be completed.

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If a member has put your home in their favourites they’ll be informed when you update your calendar. It’s assumed that if a member is interested in doing an exchange they will contact listings that interest them. If they’ve blocked their dates to only be contacted on averages it’s because they don’t wish to be contacted for other reasons.

The best thing you can do is to keep your calendar up to date and maybe put homes in your favourites if you wish to attract member s’ attention.

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Welcome @sorensenforum !

IMO the request form is for exchanges, and an exchange with GP is an exchange - in your case possibly an exchange with flexible dates.

It’s worth remembering that members “favourite” listings for all sorts of reasons—future inspiration, curiosity, bookmarking ideas, or simply because they like the look of a home. Many favourites are not tied to any travel plans. And some members only do reciprocal exchanges, like for that one yearly family vacation, so even if they’ve saved your home, they may not be open to a points stay at all.

I personally prefer the notifications of the system that I can choose to turn on or off. I would not like loads of GP-offers in my mailbox - it would be a liability as I in principle like to answer all mail. It could on the contrary make me unfavorite the listings in question - for a number of reasons - because I could decide the listing is no longer attractive, finding such offers annoying, giving the “salesman”-vibe etc.

Given that, the most reliable way to attract the right members is to make your listing as clear and appealing as possible for the type of exchange you want. A few things tend to help:

• Keep your calendar fully updated, since anyone who has favourited your home will be notified when you open new dates and find you in searches.
• Review your listing text and photos to ensure it speaks directly to the kind of guests you hope to attract—especially if you’re open to points stays - whether it being hospitality stays or the whole home.
• Use your own favourites strategically to signal interest to others, since many members browse who has favourited them.

If you are open to a hospitality stay - offering accommodation for GP when you are home - create a separate listing so it can be found for that kind of search (there’s some hickups in the system regarding this, I understand, as the “wrong” listing could appear when you reach out for exchanges, so just check that and if necessary put the non-applicable listing on pause).

Personally, I have sometimes looked for GP-stays, often in connection with work trips, that I consider prolonging with a few days of vacation, staying on for the weekend or similar. Then I look for how hospitable the hosts are more than the “quality” of home, location/ accessability - and how much GP and fees. I tend to avoid listings with fees, and prefer to spend less GP rather than more. So if I need a room I don’t splurge on a high amount for a family home. If I need to spend a lot I prefer to stay in a hotel. So amount of GP is a factor. Have you checked the competition in your location - do other members offer more favorable GP-stays?

Just some thoughts from me - might not be a voice for all, but could perhaps give some insights and help you in your process going forward. It is great that you are so hospitable and would like to invite members to your location! Best of luck!

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By your logic, it is annoying to receive reciprocal exchange requests from members who are not located in a place that I have put on my wishlist and/or not for an available time period on my calendar. Yet Home Exchange supports these requests. Saying that a useful feature that many people want should not be implemented because it would “annoy” a small percentage of members, is not a good reason to deny the request.

It would be a simple matter to allow that type of communication, but allow members to check a box on their own profile that says “Do not accept GP invitation messages”.

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I didn’t read into the messg

I don’t think we can read that into what she said. I see that it could perhaps be possible, but there’s many alterations that should come first, as I see it.

HE is about making exchanges of homes. GP is not in itself the purpose, only a tool to get actual exchanges (it can be discussed if they are an asset at all, or just turning exchanges into transactions). IMO it is a distinct difference between reaching out to offer my home for an exchange and to adress someone to get GPs. Especially since I wouldn’t know whether they had GPs or was interested in such an exchange.

I see that some members have properties that they fill up with AirBnB- and GP-stays. One can easily imagine that if it was a specific communication for GPs all members could easily be flooded with such marketing. The problems with that can be multiple, but one very real possibility is that it could impact our scores for response rate, as we would have to answer all those requests to maintain our scores.

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It isn’t my logic, it’s the way the system is set up. Personally I would like to be able to propose my home to guests too, but I wasn’t expressing my opinion.

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Hello sorensenforum
In the previous system , before the merger, there was the possibility to add as a favorite destination / travel projet :
Open to anywhere. Surprise us.

It meant that people who had this tag were happy to receive suprising requests.
It was requested many times when it desapeared.
Let’s hope it could come back.

HE could make a tag where members indicate that they wish to receive requests to come in exchange for GPs.
"Open to requests in exchange for points. Surprise us :slight_smile: "

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That’s just your opinion. I believe that the majority of members would support the ability to offer their homes to potential guests who have shown an interest in their area. This debate could be settled by HE conducting a poll of all members on this point, rather than listening only to a few members like you and me who bother to reply to forum posts.

I disagree with your opinion towards GPs. After the initial “bonus” points for joining HE, the only way to get a substantial number of GPs is to host people in your home. So, GPs absolutely are just as valid a method of doing an exchange. Everybody who makes substantial use of the GP system is at some point acting as both a host and a guest. You and I can debate this endlessly. But the fact is that GPs exist and comprise 75-80% of all exchanges, so why not make the system better and more efficient to use.

I suggested a very easy way for people to opt-out of receiving GP invitations, simply by clicking once on a box on their profile. I see no valid reason for HE to refuse to consider this change on any basis other than priority. If a large number of people want it, it should be put into the todo list based on priority, not simply refused because a minority of people don’t like it.

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It is unclear what in my post you are referring to.

Pointing out what can be read in the post of @SusanJbrn or not - it seems in your post that you put words in her mouth, or that home exchanges are the purpose of this platform?

I think it is the wrong priority to use resources for GP-hosts to send out advertisements, and that it could lead to congestion of our inboxes - I’m not sure what value that should give - we can easily find homes that offer GP-stays if we want it. There are other changes that would be way higher on my list. HE could ofc have a poll on what alterations should be prioritized. I think HE have an opinion of their own, regarding optimalization of the business side.

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The point which could be improved in contacting members to offer our home is to show up that our home is really available.

We often read posts saying : “I contacted 20 listings which dates in the calendar are opened for GP exchanges and they all declined”.
The improvement would be “hey guys, my calendar is really opened and i am really willing to welcome you”.

Aside of this, members looking for guests have usually a dear GP listing.
This could explain that they don’t have a lot of requests.

11

I’m not sure if that can really be done to full effect for private homes. I’m sure they marked their calendar with the ambition to be open. But life happens. Suddenly I have a lot of work, kid is coming home from uni. or I’m not really bothered to have a major clean up of my home at that time. It could also be that - I’m open - but not to you. There’s something that makes me not want this particular guest, while I could be open to someone else. “it is not a good match”. Which can happen, also for GP.

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This is why to be contacted shows the host is willing to welcome us.
We are not obliged to accept (too far from the main sight seeings, to expensive in GP etc).

It is the same system used in a revearsed search.

I do understand that many members could not like to be invited.
This is why a tag authorising it would be welcomed.

13

Everybody offering a reciprocal home exchange is “advertising” their home. It is no different than a host “advertising” their home to a guest to offer them a reciprocal exchange. As I said in my post, your inbox would not be clogged with GP hosts sending you invitations if there was a simple addition to a member profile which allowed them to deny messages from hosts inviting guests to stay at their home for GPs. One click of the box and your inbox will not be clogged with any messages from hosts advertising their home.
We now know your opinion on this matter; which is that hosts should not be allowed to message members “advertising” their homes. You are one of over 200,000 members. I have a different opinion than you and I am only one of over 200,000 members too.
As I said in my post, it would be good for the HE Team to occasionally do polling of the membership about their opinion of enhancements that have been proposed by members.
In my opinion, this would be a good way to prioritize future enhancements.

14

I was reading through the whole conversation and I think that if both options were available simultaneously — the possibility of contacting people who have our region on their wishlist, and the possibility of ticking a box stating that we do not wish to be contacted by families offering an invitation to stay at their home using GuestPoints — then I don’t see why this feature could not be implemented.

Those who are short on GuestPoints could proactively look for hosts that might be interested in going to their home, and those who do not wish to receive this type of proposal — whether temporarily or permanently — could simply avoid receiving them by clicking a box.

I also agree that it would be interesting if HE consulted active subscribers more often about the proposals being presented. In this case as well, people who would like to participate in product improvement surveys could have a box in their profile to indicate this.

I wish everyone happy exchanges!

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