Hi everyone,
Iâm about to complete my first year on HomeExchange and have already done more than 40 exchanges.
I wanted to raise a question and hear your thoughts about GuestPoints for rooms. Itâs becoming increasingly common to see rooms valued at the same number of GP as an entire home. Personally, I find this disproportionate and even a bit excessive.
What do you think? Thanks!
I must admit that I havenât come across this myself. You can report such listings using the report option ( 3 dots onbtop of profile page) and member service will look into it.
I had cases when the home was way more expensive (in terms of GP) and I were asking to lower the GP price. Sometimes it worked, sometimes - no. Also I guess it is okay to negotiate GP price if youâre renting long term (> 7 days). It was also a case when I were asking for a room and the price was for entire home but I managed to find entire home for the same price.
I think it is always good to speak with owners - this is a great community of people and in many cases it is easy to find a solution by just talking.
Please avoid talking with rental words. Itâs not ârentingâ, âpricesâ etc. Itâs exchanges and gp value for example. Please be careful cause authorities are already confusing it sometimes so we Ask for members to use the good words. Thanks
Welcome on thĂŠ forum Diana_81,
40 exchanges in 1 year, itâs huge!
How did you manage?
Numbers of GPs are sometimes strange.
Iâve seen private rooms with ratings as high as those for entire apartments.
I never contact these listings.
I think they may be suitable for people wishing to exchange homes with a high level of interactions with the host such as single travellers.
Welcome to the forum Diana! 40 exchanges in your first year is outstanding - what an achievement. You can report a home if you think the level of GuestPoints is too high, but there has to be a specific reason such as they are saying there are 3 bedrooms available when there is infact just one. Usually if a member thinks the points for an exchange are too high for them, they will just move onto another.
I must say Iâm surprised that you havenât come across this issue.
Iâm a new user, so perhaps Iâm discovering an old debate, but the GP valuation system already feels like one of the most difficult parts of the platform, along with some technical bugs.
A concrete example: our full 120 m² duplex flat in central Lisbon, with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, is valued at 136 GP per night, with a maximum of 166 GP.
In a similar Lisbon neighbourhood, I found a 20 m² private room valued at 190 GP per night. When I contacted customer service, the only explanation given for the difference was 1 amenity: a âprivate backyardâ.
I understand that amenities should count, and that no algorithm can be perfect. Still, it is difficult to understand how a âprivate backyardâ â which from the pictures seems more like a passage between 2 buildings â can outweigh the difference between a 20 m² room and a full 120 m² central flat.
From a new memberâs perspective, this makes the system feel disproportionate and hard to trust. So yes, I do think this is a real issue, not just a rare edge case.
It is a large, and real problem. Large enough that I donât think itâs reasonable to deal with it by simply having members write emails to member support. I think the HE team should launch an internal project to audit random selections of âroom onlyâ accommodations to verify that the ammenity descriptions are accurate. In my opinion, there are many members who list shared ammenities such as pools, playgrounds, kitchens, tvâs, balconies, even bathrooms as part of the room. The GP calculation algorithm gives these as much âweightâ in the scoring system as for cases when guests have exclusive use of the ammenities. This unfairly inflates the GP value of the room. In my opinion, each ammenity should have a qualifier in which the host indicates whether the ammenity is shared or not.
I fully agree with you.
Exactly, youâre absolutely right. In fact, over the past month, while searching for a room, I have been surprised by the number of listings that exceed 100 GP and, in some cases, even reach 250 GP. 
In many instances, this happens because the listing includes all the propertyâs amenities, even though most of them are shared. On the other hand, it is also quite common for these to be hostels or bed-and-breakfast properties that advertise a long list of amenities which guests must share with clients, while not necessarily providing direct access to facilities such as the kitchen that are highlighted in the listing.
Another common issue concerns the size of the room. Many listings report the total floor area of the entire property rather than the actual size of the room being offered, which is also a significant factor in the GP calculation.
It is also common to find listings that indicate three or more bedrooms, only to explain later in the description that the displayed GP value applies to a single room with a maximum occupancy of two people.
In addition, many of these listings systematically charge cleaning fees. Since guests typically stay only one or two nights, these fees can represent a substantial extra cost, making the arrangement feel more like a rental than a hospitality exchange. In some cases, the cleaning fees are simply excessive.
I believe room listings should be systematically reviewed before publication to ensure that the information provided is accurate and consistent.
As an anecdote, over the last few weeks I have reported so many room listings due to incorrect room size information that I was told the issue is currently under review. 
Hopefully this leads to a more consistent application of the rules going forward.