Hi all,
We have our home available in Barcelona city center for Christmas 2025 from 27th Dec and until 2 nd Jan.
We are looking for a reciprocal exchange with someone from London, UK.
It looks extremely difficult to get positive replies. We wrote more than 50 requests but all declined…
Please, if someone from London area is interested, write back to me.
Thanks!
Antonia
Welcome to the Forum Antonia. I’m sorry that you are having trouble finding an exchange. London is one of the most sought after locations and there are not as many members there as other places like Paris. It is not impossible though so please do not give up! Have you tried a reverse search to see if anyone in London wishes to visit your area?
I’m surprised. I already have a swap like this booked and I have had several enquiries from Barcelona area. One was city centre, the rest were suburbs and outside but nearby towns.
I tend to book 9 months in advance so the tickets are cheaper. Obviously people are different but I am not sure how many HE members arrange swaps with 3 or 4 months to go. What is the mean and mode average time between handshaking and the swap taking place?
Well, I am really exhausted to look for London exchange…I do not know how many people I already contacted. I started by searching summer 2024, it did not work. Then Christmas 2024, summer 2025 and now Christmas 2025, all the responses are negative and even from people saying Barcelona as on of the preferred destinations. I also tried reverse exchange looking for people that want to come to Barcelona, and they also declined!
I am close to give up, honestly.
When you say London are you talking about inner Zone, the London Underground (inside the M25) or a market town 1 hour outside of London?
Also you name specific dates, are you fixed on those or are you writing to people flexible to a +/- 3 day change.
I’m pretty good at making my preferred destinations real. Agree with you however that some people have too many or they are not really preferred destinations. Better than nothing though. AI looking at the destinations they search and matching that in a ranking would make sense compared to most people naming them. You’re completely on-point there
London is the second most requested city on the site. It’s always complicated and 50 requests is not a lot for this type if destination. The city has only 1400 members while Barcelona which is way smaller has more than 4000 for example ( and Paris 15000 !). Members there I know receive several requests per day !
And even if they have Barcelona as a préfèred destination, they might prefer to go outside winter for example, in summer or spring etc. So keep trying, be prepared to go further from city center etc are my advices