Iāve been a member of HE for 7 years and for the most part Iāve truly enjoyed it.
But something has changed in the last 1-2 years, perhaps due to increase in membership. I live in a highly desirable destination (San Francisco) and until recently when I was able to respond positively to a message, weād exchange a few emails answering questions, perhaps do a quick WhatsApp call, and the visit would get approved.
But recently each and every time I respond positively, the guest has already found another place. Messages, usually from Europe, tend to arrive in the middle of the night local time, and I respond as soon as I check my email in the morning, so within 2-6 hours after the message was sent. Yet, each time theyāve already found a place. My home is attractive, and the cost of 130 GP is certainly reasonable for a couple or a single traveler. So the issue is not in my posting, nor in my response time. It seems that perhaps there are commercial interests, who pay someone to stay on top of early AM messages and respond as soon as they pop up.
I canāt think of any other explanation. Thoughts anyone?
Are people experiencing a similar trend elsewhere?
Can HE do anything about it?
Hi Micha! Iām sorry to hear that youāve had this experienceā¦ I personally havenāt had this issue so Iād be curious to hear what othersā experiences with this are!
Maybe there are more members in your area now, so more ācompetitionā.
nothing to worry about. its just many other people around you,that may suit your guests more.Personally as a guest,i take my time to decide to which place ill go,maybe others finalise the same time!
Would be interesting to hear from more people, but to clarify my main point: only 3-4 hours after the message from the guest was sent, and when itās just 9-10 AM local time, Iām told on each occasion that the guest has already found another home. In the past year this has been constant.
I wonder if it turns out that very few properties are getting the bulk of hosting in San Francisco because a professional outfit has staff tasked with responding to HE queries immediately, even when they arrive in the early AM hours.
Probably you are receiving requests from members who have sent numerous requests in the previous days. It could happen that they receive a positive reply a couple of hours after they write to you.
Home Exchange encourages people to send out many requests, itās stated right on the contact screen that on average, it takes 10 requests to finalize an exchange. Unfortunately, a significant number of members simply do not reply to requests for an exchange, or take many days to respond. Therefore, it usually isnāt practical to only send one request at a time and wait for the other memberās response before sending a request to another member.
I suspect that you have simply been unlucky to have received so many requests that are then withdrawn within a day.
Unless we are travelling and out of touch, we make an effort to respond within 24 hours of a request, and rarely encounter the problems that youāve had.
I have no issue with sending out many requests ā I do it myself. But I think you should encourage people not to do it automatically but to bother to take a minute and look at home descriptions - mine states clearly at the top a minimum number of days, and maximum number of guests, and I still get requests that obviously donāt qualify. I imagine thatās one reason hosts donāt bother to respond (though I still do, within 12 hours).
As to your suggestion: āI suspect that you have simply been unlucky to have received so many requests that are then withdrawn within a day.ā
Having been a member for 7 years Iāve seen the ebb and flow of requests. I wouldnāt have made my comment unless I noticed a pattern. I wish someone would contact me directly to discuss how we can verify this because if this pattern is real (and it can easily have monetary motives fueling it), it hurts not only a few members but the entire Home Exchange model. Itād be easy to investigate by contacting a few guests.
The HE algorithm tries to please everyone. As a result we get several erroneous requests a week even though our home profile includes caring for a cat and states that the exchange be reciprocal for 3 weeks minimum.
Including cat care and 3 weeks of exchange time seems out of reach for the HE algorithm.
Perhaps folks do a reverse search and send a repeat request message to every home in the city of their choice.
Hello,
I have had similar experiences. Like you, Iāve noticed this trend only recently. What I find especially disturbing is the abrupt end to the conversation. No response as to why they are no longer communicating. I canāt believe that some members could possibly be so rude. I suspected instead some compromise in the message system.
Dan
Hi, new member with similar experiences. We have a home in a very popular area (Sardinia, IT). We are flooded with requests that we try to answer as best as we can. Regardless of whether we give a positive or negative reply, in about 50% of the exchanges the conversation ends abruptly after our first response. Had this with about 10 people now in the course of a week. I donāt think our replies are unpleasant, and I cannot imagine that so many community members are that rude. Are you sure there is nothing wrong in the messaging system?
Malheureusement si ! Je constate la mĆŖme chose que vous et je pense que cela reflĆØte une impolitesse de plus en plus gĆ©nĆ©ralisĆ©e.
Cāest bien dommage. Et moi qui fais des Ć©changes depuis plus de dix ans, jāai vu, au fil des annĆ©es, le climat amical du dĆ©but se dĆ©grader. Depuis quelques temps maintenant les gens gĆØrent leur logement comme sur la plateforme airbnb et vous constaterez dans un trĆØs grand nombre de profil le terme de āclientā est employĆ©. Jāai vu rĆ©cemment Ć plusieurs reprises des expressions telles que āĆ©change contre prestations Ć©quivalentesā ! On est bien loin de lāesprit de homeexchange ! La plateforme homeexchange a-t-elle les moyens de freiner ce dĆ©rapage ?
Barbara