Hello everyone!
Today I just wanted to give you a quick reminder about the calendar, especially for newbies who don’t have much experience with HomeExchange and home exchanging yet.
When you’re new to home exchange, you sometimes tend to think that staying with a home exchange is like looking for a rental: you look at the dates in the person’s calendar, they’re available, so you assume that your request will be accepted automatically.
But that’s not actually how it works on HomeExchange!
Each HomeExchange member remains free to decide whether or not they would like to host another member.
Why?
When renting, you pay for a service. With HomeExchange, we rely on the hospitality of another member, who shares their home for free financially (and trusts us to take care of it).
A member who refuses our exchange proposal when their calendar is available may do so for a variety of reasons, some of them could be pragmatic (his or her dates are not available after all, he or she is already finalizing an exchange with another member, etc.).
But as home exchange is based above all on human experiences, a member who refuses your exchange request may also do so for more subjective reasons: he or she may find your message too brief, too direct, not enough of this, or too much of that so that they don’t get the right feeling. It may also happen that, again for subjective reasons, they don’t feel comfortable with your profile (perhaps they don’t find it complete enough, or are suspicious of the lack of comments on your profile, etc.). It happens, and it’s perfectly human (we all have certain criteria for welcoming members into our homes - and it’s our right).
So that’s why it’s usually necessary to contact several members before getting the famous “yes” to our exchange proposals. Because each member has their own criteria, their own feelings, their own needs. So let’s respect that, and avoid taking rejections personally 
Let’s put our sensitivities aside, rejections are part of the home exchange game.
That said, here’s some advice when sending exchange requests and completing your profile: avoid telegraphic messages, try to personalize your messages, introduce yourself, and why you’d like to stay at that member’s home. It’s all this that makes the “yes” you’re looking for, and the stay itself, so magical - because it all started with a simple message to a person you didn’t know at the outset.
Our team is here for you!
If you’re just starting out, or if you’re having trouble finding an exchange, don’t forget that HomeExchange is here to help you: you can contact our super ambassadors on the online chat, or get in touch with our member support team. And, of course, ask all the questions you want in this (wonderful) group!
