💥 NEW: A Fairer, More Human Response Rate

[Melissa.HomeExchange]

A promise kept: discover our new response rate!

We’re excited to introduce a major improvement to enhance your experience on the platform: the new response rate, now renamed the “Responsiveness Rate.”

A new response rate?

Many of you have shared your frustration with late replies—or replies that arrive after the start date of the proposed exchange. Gersende and her team have taken your feedback seriously and worked on improving the response rate.

The goal of this new system is simple: reward members who respond quickly, while encouraging those who consistently reply too late to improve their responsiveness.

But that’s not all! This new rate is also designed to be more user-friendly and more human. From now on, it will be displayed in the form of levels, rather than percentages, so it’s easier to understand how responsive a member is.

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Why this change and what does it mean?

• To bring more clarity: The old percentage-based rate wasn’t always easy to interpret, especially for new members. For instance, what does a 70% response rate mean—good or bad? The new version is more intuitive and makes it easier to see where you stand.
• To better reflect reality: From now on, automatic refusals after 4 days will count in the calculation of the responsiveness rate, giving a more accurate picture of how responsive you are.
  However, if a request was made at the last minute (less than 4 days before the exchange date), then the automatic refusal will not be counted in the responsiveness rate—so it remains fair.
• To improve your search and reward responsive members: A quick reminder: the responsiveness rate affects how homes are ranked in search results.

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How is the new responsiveness rate calculated?

The calculation is now more simple and fair. It looks at messages received over the past 3 months, up to 5 days before the current day, and updates daily.

A small detail: For new members just joining the platform, their responsiveness rate will start at “Good Responsiveness” and will then adjust based on how they interact.

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A few important notes:

• The calculation starts now, so it will take a few weeks for the ratings to become accurate.
• The average response time is still displayed on listings—it shows how long, on average, someone takes to reply.

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One last tip:

We know that real life can sometimes get in the way of replying quickly on the platform. And that’s okay! If you plan to take a break or go offline (for example, during a vacation), we recommend that you mark your calendar as unavailable. This will prevent you from being penalized for delayed responses during that time.

We’re excited to bring you this update and hope it makes your exchange experience easier and clearer. Let us know what you think!

And as always, if you have ideas to improve the platform, head over to the Suggestions Box, where you can vote for suggestions you like at any time.

[ElizabethB]

Fantastic. Thank you.

[AlpacaLiz]

Much prefer a percentage. It provided clarity

[micasaestucasa]

Amen to that! The percentage system had people responding to emails unnecessarily to preserve a good score, the War of the Thank Yous. A switch to excellent/good/average/low rating bands is much appreciated.

[Josep]

Finally, THANK YOU @Melissa.HomeExchange

This is definitely a good step forward!

We truly hope it will help reduce the frustration that many of us experience when trying to arrange an exchange. Right now, getting one positive answer often requires contacting 20 listings or more. It’s exhausting and disheartening. We have plenty of points, but every time we want to organize a trip, we feel overwhelmed by the time and energy it takes. It honestly feels like spamming — not only for us, but also for all the members who receive our messages and now feel even more pressure to respond.

To reduce this noise and inefficiency, I strongly suggest adding a filter option to show only members with “Excellent response” — or to optionally include those with “Good response” too. Being able to exclude the rest would significantly cut down the wasted time and improve the experience for everyone involved.

But I also believe the issue goes deeper than filters. The real challenge is deeper and systemic: too many inactive or slow-responding listings make it unnecessarily difficult to find an exchange, and this leads to a poor experience for both seekers (spammers) and those being contacted (spammed)

Here’s a long-term idea: introduce a recognition badge for highly committed members — similar to Airbnb’s “Superhost.” HomeExchange could have a “SuperExchanger” badge, automatically granted to members who maintain excellent response rates, calendar updated in the last x months, nice language in their chats, and 5-star reviews over time (e.g. a full year). This wouldn’t exclude anyone, as every member could strive for it, but it would allow active users to easily find and connect with others who are also deeply engaged and care about providing an excellent experience for the community.

With this system, we could filter listings by “SuperExchanger” status and confidently focus our efforts where there’s the highest likelihood of success. This would make the platform much more user-friendly, efficient, and recommendable.

Right now, we often hesitate to recommend HomeExchange to friends — not because we don’t love the concept (we do!), but because the process of finding a home is still too time-consuming and frustrating. Sometimes, we even end up booking an Airbnb, not for lack of points, but because it’s simply easier and pain free.

That said, it’s fantastic to see that the HomeExchange team is taking steps in the right direction. We really appreciate your work, and I hope this feedback can support your ongoing efforts to address the root of the problem — not just the symptoms.

[HouseSwap]

I support this direction and, I would like to see some form of consequence for those who consistently don’t reply or reply much too late to make an exchange possible.
If they’re not able to send a 2 second automatic reply, what are they even doing on a site like this?

And also maybe conversely, a reward incentive for those of us who consistently reply w/in a day or two - perhaps a way to receive more GP’s?

From my experience, there are too many on this site who don’t make the effort and there is obvious frustration from hose of us who do.

thanks for considering

[Gabriella83]

Thank you very much for providing this option, it seems really helpful!

I have already experienced this feature in action with the initial emails I sent to other users. However, I noticed that the “4 days no response” rule doesn’t seem to apply to ongoing conversations that have already started negotiating. In some cases, the other party disappeared without further communication, which can feel frustrating and disrupts the flow of the discussion.

I understand that it is challenging to determine when a conversation is truly closed or if one of the parties is no longer engaging. I just wanted to highlight this as an additional aspect that might be worth considering for future improvements.

Thank you again for your attention and support!

[Sroupee]

I have to say that i liked the % rating as it is clear. What % is excellent going to require? 80 % rating is not that great as far as I am concerned and only usually contact people with 90 to 100% rating. I have had no problems whatsoever with replies and only once had to wait over 24hrs.

[dey9999]

I like it. But have one suggestion for the experts to consider. Hosts and properties with higher numbers of requests may suffer. Its one thing to be an occasional homeexchanger who needs incentive to respond. Its another to have a higher traffic property where many guests request a stay that is outside the boundaries set by the host. For example I may let a request lapse if the guest is requesting less than minimum days without offering to cover the extra days. Perhaps I shouldn’t but I am also prioritizing to serve the finalized and pre-approved guests I am welcoming.

[Brums]

What if you don’t receive any requests in three months? I don’t get requests all that often and it wouldn’t be unusual to go three months between requests. Would I be considered to have a Low response rate even though I always respond promptly to ALL requests or would my Excellent response rate carry over?

[jody]

This is one of the most frustrating policy changes that Home Exchange has made since I joined in 2006. I receive between 10 & 25 exchanges offers a week here in the NYC area, specifically Hoboken. I generally need a 2 week window to thoughtfully consider all of my offers, so 4 days doesn’t come close. At least for me I’ll be agreeing to many less exchanges as the amount of work to reply to them all that I’m “considering their offer” is ridiculous. My suggestion is that you create a reply that says “I’m considering your exchange” in order to support my hosting needs, not just the needs of those looking for an exchange partner. Just to be clear I have 25,000 guest points in my account at all times so this policy actually falls harder on potential exchange partners who already seem to have difficulty finding exchanges in the NYC area. No doubt I’m one of the fortunate ones with a steady flow of opportunities all over the world for points & reciprocal exchanges, and I have excellent reviews. I guess my only option will be to decline offers within 4 days in order to maintain my good standing. The way I see it, a lack of response should be internalized as a “no” - which it actually is until it’s a “yes.” This policy is cumbersome and silly.

[Kindsquirrel]

So if I’m on a cruise for 2 weeks I need to make my house offline indefinitely and remember to make it online when I return? That’s silly, if someone wants an exchange 6 months later, I’ve denied them the opportunity because I may not be able to respond quickly enough? Even if it’s 2 days before I get home.

And what if there are no requests in that 3 month period? How is response rate calculated?

I feel this was not really thought through enough.

[jjacobsnyc]

A more “human” response rate would be to give us MORE THAN 4 DAYS to respond. Like many members, I get a lot of requests AND I have a family AND I have a full time job. I’ve done more than 80 exchanges over the years. Everyone has been happy and most people I’m still in touch with - so I’m not some newbie speaking without experience. The 4-day response encourages decidedly un-human robotic messages saying “i’m thinking about it” which means nothing. This is one of the worst changes to come across this platform in 20 years. If I didn’t have so many guestpoints I’d quit and move to a different platform.

[micaelw29]

I support this as well and if you have like 5 unanswered requests (first time unanswered)- then I would automatically delist (hide) eligible homes. Just something that helps those of us using the platform continuously to not waste our time. I have sent no joke over 100 requests over my time on home exchange and maybe a handful were answered.

[mclendinen]

I actually like the percentages. I only contact people with high responses and haven’t had an issue - if there has even been a minimal delay, they have an explanation e.g. apologies I have been away etc.

[Sam-Dixon]

A percentage is much more accurate than a “level”. This 4 day cancel policy is so irritating. I’ve been looking for an exchange in LA and most of my requests have been automatically cancelled before hosts have managed to look at them. These changes are not working.

[Kathreenpoli]

@AlpacaLiz

Much prefer a percentage

Much prefer a percentage

[Klooper196]

Thanks for the update, so how does the actual calculation work, there is nothing in your note that explains the maths behind the calculation and what makes up each category, and what is a quick response?
The comment relating to the automatic 4 day response being included is also unclear, is it included as a positive or negative response? If there has been no proactive response from a user how can it contribute to a higher level?

[Melissa.HomeExchange]

I’m so glad you like the changes

[Melissa.HomeExchange]

I’m glad you like the change and welcome to the Forum!