Welcome to the Forum Sam 
Iām sorry to hear that you are not enjoying this latest update. The great news is that these changes will take into account the 4 day auto response. Members who do not respond within 4 days (and hence the auto-response will be activated) will have a lower response rate. The idea is that this will encourage members to respond more promptly to exchange requests.
Iām sorry to hear this. With any change it can take a bit of time to get used to the new system. The feedback we had from members was that the percentage was just a bit too tricky to understand and that members wanted a clearer system.
Welcome to the Forum! Iām so glad to hear that you like the new system
Yes the idea of these changes is that it should encourage members to respond in a more timely manner. I understand it can take quite a few messages to find an exchange. There are some great tips from members on this forum on how to improve your acceptance rate, such as this article here: Improving your acceptance rate
Thank you so much Josep for your detailed feedback about this update. We completely understand your frustration at having to send so many requests to find a suitable exchange. This change should encourage members to respond to requests in a more timely manner.
The great news is that there is already an option on the search filter to search only for homes which have āan āaverage response rateā or higherā If you click on Filters and scroll to the very bottom you can find this option.
I think your SuperExchanger idea is a great one and I will of course pass this suggestion onto the product team
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Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback, also welcome to the Forum! For those members that consistently donāt reply, or reply after the 4 day limit, their responsiveness rate will be low. This will result in their listing gaining lower visibility in the search results. Conversely when a member replies promptly, their rating will be higher and their home will be more prominent in the searches.
Thank you for your feedback and I will certainly pass this onto the product team Also welcome to the Forum!
Wow that is amazing that you have had such a positive experience with members responding so quickly. My guess is that perhaps you have a home in a very sought after location? Unfortunately this high level of responsiveness is not always the case, hence the need for these changes. The aim is for all members to have the same kind of experience that you have had
Thank you for your feedback, also welcome to the Forum I completely understand your concern and I will feed this back to the product team. I understand it must be difficult when you receive a high number of requests.
You would not be penalised for not having any requests, you Responsiveness Rate is only based on the time you take to respond to requests that you receive . (Also welcome to the Forum! :))
I completely understand that the level of requests that you receive due to your location must feel quite overwhelming at times. Iām sorry that these changes donāt align with the way that you currently use the platform. We certainly donāt want to make it harder for you. However there are many members who struggle to find an exchange, and get frustrated when making contact with members only to not receive a reply for a long time, or sometimes never. The idea is that by encouraging members to reply within the 4 day window this will improve the experience for all members. I will of course pass on your feedback to the team. Please be aware that you do not need to decide whether to go ahead with an exchange within the 4 day window, you simply need to respond. So as you have mentioned a quick message saying āIām considering your exchange and will get back to you soonā is absolutely fine. This will prevent the auto reply message from sending and will keep your response rate up.
Iām so sorry that you are not happy with the recent product changes. Of course any member feedback is very important to us, but as such a loyal member of many years it saddens me to read your thoughts. I will pass this onto the product team and I really do hope that you will chose to remain with HomeExchange. Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback.
Melissa, I canāt figure out how to read the rest of your message either by clicking here or if I go to my post on the blog, could you please advise me how to read your full response or simply respond to this email with it, which I would prefer. Much appreciated, Jody
As I stated in my email, itās easy enough to assume its a ānoā if a response to a request isnāt received. HomeExchange has automated a great deal here which makes it extremely easy to send out multiple requests. This whole line of reasoning makes absolutely no sense. As a receiver of countless requests & a member of the site for 20 years, Iām asking for an automated request to let a potential request know that I am considering their offer, a simple click of the finger. The choice for a ānon responseā to be frustrating is optional. Yes, Iām open to discussing this with anyone willing to participate. Best, Jody
How to improve low response rate? Is it only possible by answering within 4 days?
What if you will not get any new offers for a long time?
I noticed if I start answering auto rejects my rating goes to excellent for one day when back to low?
It used to be when you answer all of your offered your rating will go back to 100% and how now rating will go back to excellent?
Hi Melissa, I figured out how to read & reply to your response, all good. Appreciate your time, Jody
As a longtime Home Exchanger with a 100% response rate Iām not sure if this policy is an improvement or just another change for the sake of change. But I am still sure the new 4-day time frame is too short a time for an expected/demanded response rate, and too unnecessarily punitive to create group benefit.
Many of us who travel for business struggle to keep up with personal correspondence in the middle of work requirements. If a request rolls in Monday and I canāt respond til Friday, everybody loses ā the requester gets a no that could have been a yes, and I get a lower response rating despite my efforts to be a good HE member.
Four days demonstrates a lack of understanding or inclusive consideration. Please expand the window to seven days to return a request; this allows a weekend, and will benefit everyone on our platform.
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80% of requests are already answered within 4 days . The platform goal is to Make it faster, not slower
Of course thatās the goal. As I said, Iāve got a 100% response rate and always hope others will do the same. But that wasnāt the point of my post. Four days isnāt enough time for many, seven is reasonable and responsible.
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Most members asked when testing this feature find 7 days way too long. Again, the platform is trying to improve answering rate, promoting those who answer promptly and to Make it faster for members searching.