So, you have been sending messages to several members and you only receive āsorry, we are, unfortunately, unable to make it workā messages and you start to get frustrated. Before thinking bad things about everyone in the destiny you choose, you may start considering how can you improve your approach, so that people want to share their homes with you. Here are some strategies I use: I respect the members calendar when making a request, itās very annoying when you receive a message asking for days you have as unavailable. I always read the memberās profile and write a personalized message to request the exchange, mentioning something that approaches both of us. I always explain why we are trustworthy and respond to some concerns, ex. taking care of plants. I invite people to read my reviews before deciding.
These are just a few tips I use, that I think help me to be more interesting for members.
What about you, what tips do you have to improve your acceptance in Home Exchange?
I fully agree with you Sandra! I always find that with good communication in fact I send very few requests (usually not more than 10 maximum) and find it very easy to find exchanges.
When Iām accepting guests I look carefully at their reviews, photos and their request messages.
That is right, Susan. When I see receive a message that is the same for everyone, I just donāt bother to read or invest my time to see if that is a possibility. I normally also answer with a template message, saying sorryā¦
These are all fine ideas and approaches, but your response rate is heavily influenced by where and time of year you are looking to be hosted. No matter how polite, how much you try to ārelateā to them, or anything you can try, itās not going to factor at all if they are filling up their property(ies) with paying (Airbnb, Vrbo, etc) guests, which I run into frequently and verify when I compare properties between HE and these sites.
I find that a lot of people donāt block the dates that are not available anymore. They might be using airbnb and other rental portals as well and I think it would help enormously if HE could be synced with the other platforms.
One thing I did was look at profiles and when we are looking for times that arenāt during school holidays I do not send messages to people with children.
My schedule changes, the right place the right time I may say yes so some dates I donāt list dates as available but leave them white and allow people to contact outside my marked availability. I kind of wish there was an option of occupied blocking because the property is in use because there are times when I have family. I also get alot of requests from the same US location but saying in your profile where you donāt want to go, I would feel a little rude, on the other hand it would save those people some trouble.
We request accommodation well in advance, so we send requests even if there is no availability, because sometimes they do not update them well in advance.
I agree, so what I do is, I look for reciprocal exchanges and not for second homes. That happens specially with second homes. I donāt see people puting their own home on Airbnb.
I do exactly this. Only sent requests to people with availability on their calendars, personal messages, but the responserates are disapointing. Sometimes people respond after the Exchangeperiod. Then it counts in the responsrate. In the Lovehomeswap platform the responsetime counted. Not if you respond or not but how fast after the request came in. The percentage of positive responses in LHS was way higher.
āSometimes people respond after the Exchangeperiod.ā Even after 4 months, so that their response rate goes up again. H.Ex. must stop this asap! So annoying!
Hello Sandra,
I hear you, but we canāt always assume that a secondary home is more or most likely to be closer to an AirBnB, or was purchased as a rental or a beach house, unless it is in a different country than the main residence (think south Portugal). It can depend on location of the secondary home and local culture. In Canada, and in Denmark, for example, it can be quite common to have a city dwelling and a cottage or country house, a weekend home. A family country house can feel very ālived-inā with lots of hygge, it might also have been handed down through generations, full of character
As retirees, our country house is our primary residence (no need to be near schools and a work place) and our āsecondaryā residence is an urban condo, which can be of keen interest to travelers
I am a newbie and have just agreed to 2 GP exchanges for this year:)1 to our home and 1 where we will stay in Bruges. My policy so far is to write a short polite request regarding availability.I donāt see the point of long tailored requests really. Either it suits you both to explore more or it doesnāt. Once you start engaging I always offer to Whatās Ap or video call. Currently looking for a New York stay and that is hard as itās so popular.
If you are looking for a NYC stay you should probably do tailored requests, they donāt have to be long but probably why you are in the area, what flexibility you have, and show you read the listing. Also look outside Manhattan. You might not see the point of tailored requests but if someone wants to come to my area and says it is for a wedding I know they canāt change dates. Or if they are climbing, I say hey this is where we are in relation to that activity. Also if there is a chore to do it is always helpful to have someone say I am happy to feed the fish or water the plants.
I respect the members calendar when making a request, itās very annoying when you receive a message asking for days you have as unavailable.
I always read the memberās profile and write a personalized message to request the exchange, mentioning something that approaches both of us.
I always explain why we are trustworthy and respond to some concerns, ex. taking care of plants.
I invite people to read my reviews before deciding.