Home Exchange Functionality on Airbnb

I currently have our property listed on HomeExchange as well as Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17382490. While I like the idea of HomeExchange and being able to trade properties with other owners, the limited number of users on the site has made it difficult to find exchanges. Being new to Airbnb, I wonder if there is functionality on their site that would allow owners to swap with each other. Given the larger pool of owners on the site, it would be great to be able to trade with other owners who have expressed interest in staying in the area where our home is located.

Interesting. I have had no difficulties with arranging swaps on HomeExchange. I am not active “over there” right now, but have had some marvelous exchanges. I exchange my primary house, which is a ton of work, while our exchange sites were vacation homes. Since exchanging a primary home requires a concurrent exchange, it is not impossible.

What has been your issue? Places you want to go aren’t interested in your location? Date availability? Other?

And to actually answer your question, no. At the moment AirBNB has no exchange option. There is no profit in that for them.

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I’m in a closed facebook group called Airbnb Host Swap International. It’s not very easy to utilize but people provide links to their listings on this page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/airbnbhostswap/permalink/1941471582761268/

If you’re interested in a small 2 br apt in Chicago (Bucktown/Wicker Park) send me a PM. What’s the closest airport to your cabin?

The home we have listed is a second home so it is available most times throughout the year depending on if it has already been booked through Airbnb. It is located in a fairly remote area of Wisconsin; however, the area does boast several well known attractions such as fly fishing on the Brule River. I think the problem I have with HomeExchange is that if I run a search there are only 40 people looking to exchange for something located in Wisconsin (and most of those are Lake Geneva). While the home itself is beautiful and well maintained, the chance of finding the right fit through one of these fragmented sites is nil.

Given Airbnb’s huge user base, my thought is that if other hosts had the opportunity to exchange with me through Airbnb via a search engine provided to hosts on the site, the chance of my successfully finding exchanges goes up exponentially. Obviously the devil is in the details; but, I know that I would be likely to use Airbnb more as a guest if I could use my home as currency in the form of a trade instead of paying cash. I’m sure Airbnb would charge something for facilitating the trade. I don’t think this would materially cannibalize their existing business as these types of transactions would only be a small part of their overall revenue. However, in my case, my likelihood of booking my trip through Airbnb over other alternatives would be greatly increased if I could use my home in the exchange.

Thanks for the response but our primary residence is in Chicago. If you ever want to check out the area our cabin is located there is a pretty cheap flight that runs out of O’Hare. The name of the airline is Air Choice One and it flies into Ironwood, Michigan which is about an hour from us. The plane is a puddle jumper so if you don’t like to fly it probably won’t be an option.

I don’t know if it would be a big moneymaker for them or have enough interest from most hosts. There are plenty of sites that offer this service free already, right? I think @azreala participates. Maybe she can enlighten us.

As discussed on other threads, there is no way of contacting other hosts on ABB without making a nuisance of yourself…

Can’t help you with that one unless you want to fly for 25 hours and come and stay in my place in Melbourne for the odd weekend :-):rofl:

As luck would have it though I’ll be near you, sort of, for Xmas (Minneapolis), I’d love it if you could tell me if there’s an easy enough way to make it to your cabin. It looks amazing! It’s my dream to get a wood cabin like this is the forest :deciduous_tree: (woods?) in
the States, despite the obvious fears of bears :bear: and serial killers :joy:

Anyone remember this episode

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The website is called homeexchange.com and is not free, but we have been on it for 7+ years and have 100% recouped the $100 yearly membership. We have stayed at some houses from Bali to Cape Town!

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Hi Emily, we’re about a three hour drive from Minneapolis. Worth checking out depending on how much time you have while you’re here.

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Hi Azreala, do you mind to send me the refferal code?
Thank you