Quentin, Lisa and their baby in Auckland. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Following an online sign-up, a verification process, and a yearly payment of US$235 ($409), members can list their property on the website. When listing, you answer questions about the property and what is available to use for guests. At the end, HomeExchange determines how many points your property is worth, which travellers use to stay at other accommodation listed on the site for free. <\/p>\n
Members can engage in a reciprocal exchange, where two members swap homes, either simultaneously or on different dates. Or they use points to stay at a home without requiring someone to stay at theirs.<\/p>\n
The system enabled Merceron, a pharmacist originally from France and based in Germany, to travel to New Zealand with his wife Lisa and 10-month-old baby for a two-month holiday.<\/p>\n
They are paying nothing for accommodation.<\/p>\n
Merceron says that between the three of them, they have been saving about $2000 a week by using HomeExchange instead of paying for a hotel. But for Merceron, it\u2019s not about the money.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the money we do not spend [on hotels], we will most likely spend it somewhere else,\u201d he says. \u201cSo it\u2019s like we get to enjoy our trip even more – instead of paying for hotels, maybe we go to a restaurant every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says what makes HomeExchange particularly incentivising is its points system. Members primarily earn points through hosting guests at their home, but the business has other ways to keep members engaged with its product.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a lot of games,\u201d says Merceron, \u201cFor example, they say if you watch The Holiday with a friend, and take a selfie, they\u2019ll give you 100 points.<\/p>\n
A house listed in Pauanui on HomeExchange. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you organise an event, you gain 300 points … for me, 300 points is worth two nights for us in this trip.\u201d<\/p>\n
While points help people use HomeExchange, they\u2019re drawn to it for different reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a high trust in the people who are on HomeExchange,\u201d says Merceron. \u201cIt\u2019s a kind of community feeling.<\/p>\n
He used to be a habitual Couchsurfer, another website that enables travellers to crash at a stranger\u2019s home for free, usually on their couch. Becoming a father changed everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a baby now, so we were looking for a clean place because sometimes Couchsurfing is not that clean, or you don\u2019t really know what to expect,\u201d Merceron says. \u201cThat\u2019s less the case with HomeExchange.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiwi House Swap is a local house-swapping company that is generally cheaper than its international competitors. Currently priced at $99 annually, director Alix East indicated the company is looking to reduce prices further.<\/p>\n
There are around 100 existing listings, mostly Kiwis swapping their homes within New Zealand, and a few international listings.<\/p>\n
Asked what she thinks draws members to sign up, East said, \u201cKiwis like to switch with other Kiwis\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been amazed by how many people like to swap within New Zealand,\u201d says East.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a similarity in just expectation, and it just gets rid of any worries about what kind of property I\u2019m going to when they can have this secure messaging and personal messaging beforehand.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says people find comfort in not having to make their home \u201cimmaculate\u201d – the home is \u201cjust for Kiwis\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our members will describe their property as comfortable, as lived in, full of joy, come and enjoy it, come and use our games and toys,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re not looking for that immaculate holiday home experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not all just done by email or chat – we do encourage that personal [interaction]. <\/p>\n
There is a catch, however. You have to be a homeowner to use both home swapping sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cA condition of joining is that you list your home with images,\u201d says East.<\/p>\n
The view from a home in Tauranga listed on Kiwi House Swap. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Kiwi House Swap requires members to send a passport or driver\u2019s licence for personal identification, and also a document showing proof of home ownership, such as a council rates letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also reserve the right to check public websites for rates and owner information,\u201d the company says on its website.<\/p>\n
East added that they considered the service being available to tenants, but there were too many layers of complication when navigating with landlords.<\/p>\n
In some countries, housesitting is considered work as you are providing a service in exchange for the cost of accommodation. That means a work visa may be required, and members should research carefully before accepting a swap in a different country.<\/p>\n
It has caught out members in the past. In 2022, Australian tourist Madolline Gourley arrived in Los Angeles and was on her way to a housesitting opportunity in Canada. But authorities denied her entry as she was travelling on an Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) visa waiver scheme, instead of a work visa.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, Gourley had a \u201cblock\u201d put on her passport after she answered \u201cyes\u201d to the entry refusal question on the NZ Travel Declaration form. Speaking to Stuff, Gourley said: <\/p>\n
\u201cA Qantas worker then tried to swipe\/scan my passport at his computer and it wouldn\u2019t read. He tried this three times before going to speak to his supervisor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guests can sun lounge on this spacious sunny deck belonging to a home in Tauranga listed on Kiwi House Swap. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Kiwis should also check their insurance policy before arranging for strangers to stay in their home through home swapping.<\/p>\n
HomeExchange provides certain protections as part of its fees, for example, for damage and theft, but Kiwi Home Swap does not. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe really recommend that people talk to their home insurer before they swap,\u201d says East. \u201cWhat we find is that because they\u2019re classed as a home swap, which is classed as a non-paying guest, most insurers don\u2019t have a problem with insuring you for accidental damage. <\/p>\n
A Nelson property listed on HomeExchange. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you need to think about is just the potential for theft or malicious damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
For those who want to swap locally and forgo a membership fee, there are a number of Facebook groups set up to help facilitate the exchange. Facebook groups House Sitting New Zealand has more than 70,000 members, and House Swap NZ has more than 16,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of things you have to buy in this world,\u201d says Merceron, \u201cand this is one of the few things that is without money involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Varsha Anjali is a journalist in the lifestyle team at the Herald. She is based in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quentin, Lisa and their baby in Auckland. Photo \/ Supplied Following an online sign-up, a verification process, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[11689,6527,8666,138,132151,124,6309,26098,189,6800,188254,221,702,807,130,111,139,69,6122,11590,915,2069,201,81566,131,165,8229,2742,61,686,3608,197],"class_list":["post-356094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-11689","tag-airbnb","tag-aware","tag-business","tag-considerably","tag-could","tag-do","tag-heres","tag-holiday","tag-homes","tag-homeswapping","tag-how","tag-it","tag-kiwis","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rules","tag-save","tag-saving","tag-stay","tag-swapping","tag-temporarily","tag-than","tag-their","tag-they","tag-thousands","tag-to","tag-week","tag-were","tag-you"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}