What a wonderful week !

English Forum Community đŸ„° Your stories, anecdotes & advice
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Dear Homeexchangers,

I would like to testify that once again Homexchange can make our wildest dreams come true.

That same week, I concluded two exceptional exchanges that were difficult to find.

The first one was a last-minute exchange.
On Monday, I received a work assignment to go to Marseille three days later.
The constraints:

  • Very short time frame to find accommodation.
  • It had to be close to my workplace.
  • Not to dear in number of GPs.
  • No cleaning fee requested.

13 requests were sent offering simultaneous or non simultaneous or GP exchanges.

4 did not replied and were automatically declined.

6 refused - which is understandable as the notice was very short (hey keep your calendar updated guys :laughing: ).

3 said yes.

1 said yes but he saw the request too late (after the arrival date :sweat_smile: => We are now in touch for a futur exchange as he is interested in visiting my city).

1 said yes. He was the 1st to say yes. I was really happy. It was a lovely listing but in his message he wrote there are cleaning fees to pay (not written in the listing as i don’t contact listings with fees). I thanked him and simply said that I wasn’t interested in.

I prefer to go to a hotel or rental than exchange in paying fees.

At this point i had nothing and was about to book on a famous rental platform.

Then, Homeexchange made my dream come true (as usual).

The host of my favourite listing said YES :star_struck: 24 hours before arrival.

Everything was fine. The time of arrival. The place. The area. The communication with the host.

It was a perfect request for them.
As there were two bedrooms and only one was needed for the exchange, they didn’t need to prepare their bedroom. So less preparation. We were arriving late and we left before their arrival time, so no need to rush.

They thanks us warmly for the perfect state we left the place.

We agree to come back soon = Our new second home.

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What a great outcome! Thanks for sharing with us and have a lovely time in Marseille

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You want more?

Let’s go for the 2nd dream of the week.
A more tricky one.

Our dear grown up baby will study in Berlin for 9 months during the academic year 2026 - 2027.

So we though, what about to do a reciprocical exchange with a berliner student in our studio in our city (second home)?

The constraints:

  • 9 months exchange,
  • Not too far from the university,
  • A grown up child (obviously perfect but only the objective parents are aware of this).

1/ We set a minimum duration in our listing : 90 days as we were opened to long term exchanges but aware that finding a 9 months exchange would be tricky. Maybe some remote workers could be interested in

This information appears in the search results and immediately draw attention to listings available for a long-term exchange.

2/ We wrote our search in the title in the language of the desired country = German.

So even before clicking on the listing, it shows that we are really looking for a long term exchange in Berlin.

3/ At the beginning of the text, we described what we were looking for and willing to accept a simultaneous or non-simultaneous reciprocal exchanges and the date our studio was available as members maybe interested in a non simultaneous exchange.

4/ We opened the calendar of the studio over several months so that the listing can appear in searches by people looking for a long-term exchange.

5/ In your favorite destinations, we described your project .

And Homeexchange did it!

The same dream week, a berliner contacted us to say she would be interested for a long term exchange and that she already lived in our city in the past.

We looked at her profil and it was a deception.
The lady has not been a student for a long time. Did she read carefully that the studio is a student room (it means small. Estate agents say ‘cosy’ :laughing: ).
And in the favorite destinations, it is written she is looking for a 4-6 weeks exchange.

It could not match! We wrote 90 days minimum.

So i asked her what she was looking for and what we were looking for (3 months minimum) and she replied :
I love your place and the area. I fell in love with your studio (it’s like being on a TV show selling flats!) and i am ready to exchange for 9 months with your grown-up child!

We could’t believe our luck.

Her appartment was not too far from the university. The area was brilliant. And the studio was 
 well 
 not “cosy” it means much bigger than what we can offer. It will be a simultaneous exchange for all the lenght of the studies :fireworks:

We still find it difficult to believe.

Here are some addional tips :

  • Be precise on what you are looking for AND make it clear that your are adaptable and open to different types or durations of exchange.
    As the lady wrote she was looking for a 4-6 weeks exchange, we would’t have dared to contact her.

  • Our grown-up baby already did 2 exchanges without us so there are 2 reviews showing everything was fine. Especially cleanliness and behaviour. Trained for 2 decades to clean before leaving the host’s home and to prepare our appartment for our guests.

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