The idea of letting a stranger sleep in your bed and use your kitchen while you are away might make some people uneasy. But for a growing number of families, home swapping is the secret to cutting holiday costs. Henry Vanderpump, 42, his wife Elliw, 39, and their two young children have had two home exchange holidays in the past two years and have another planned this summer. In each case, they stay in another family’s home while that family stays in theirs, a five-bedroom house in Tarporley, rural Cheshire. Neither side pays for accommodation, though they do pay an annual membership fee to Home Link, the listings site they use to book the trips.
So far, the Vanderpumps have stayed in similarly sized properties in Hamburg and Copenhagen. Henry says they have saved around £2,500 on accommodation per trip, plus a further £700 on transport, as they also swapped cars. “We used to have one holiday a summer, now we have two,” he said. “And the kids love the idea of living in someone else’s house while that person is living in theirs.”
“Families save thousands by swapping homes with strangers, embracing authentic travel amid rising costs.”
For Henry, the best thing about swapping homes isn’t the savings but the authentic experience. When the family visited Hamburg in 2024, they stayed in a suburb and lived “like a German family” for a week, exploring lakes on the edge of the city recommended by their hosts. Last year, they stayed in “a very Scandinavian house” in suburban Copenhagen, which was “all on one level and had no clutter”. Their hosts left them several electric bikes. “We cycled to the beach, swam in the Baltic and tried restaurants they recommended,” Henry said.
Home exchanges have been around since at least the 1950s, but an increasing number of people seem to be embracing them because of the rising cost of living, or simply to experience a new type of travel, commentators say. Still, some people are not comfortable with strangers staying in their home, and for those who are, there is a lot of preparation and tidying to do before guests arrive. Home swappers also may have to be more flexible about when they travel. Home Link says members typically send 10-15 messages before getting an offer. “Last minute bookings won’t always work,” says May Burrough, 38, a chief operating officer from London who has done 34 home swaps over the last three years using HomeExchange.
Rather than doing direct exchanges, May hosts people in her central London flat while she is overseas staying with her partner in France. This way, she builds up points on the platform she can use to book trips elsewhere. For families like the Vanderpumps, the savings are transforming their travel habits – turning one summer holiday into two, and swapping tourist traps for suburban lakes and electric bike rides along the Baltic.