Hundreds of thousands of travelers are ditching hotels for home swaps on vacation — and one couple says doing so saved them more than $8,000

So far, the family has saved roughly the U.S, equivalent of around $8,000 through house swapping.

As travel costs remain high, could home exchanges be a budget-friendly alternative to hotels and vacation rentals?

Why some travelers are making the switch

For Vanderpump, the biggest payoff isn’t just the money saved, it’s trading typical tourist hotspots for a taste of real local life. When his family swapped into a home in a Hamburg suburb in 2024, they spent a week living “like a German family,” discovering lakes on the city’s outskirts that their hosts recommended.

The family told the BBC they’ve managed to save by swapping both their home and car, borrowing their hosts’ electric bikes, visiting local hot spots, and dining at local restaurants recommended by the families they stayed with. These savings have meant they can now take two summer vacations instead of one.

Another experienced home swapper, May Burrough, told the BBC that she’s saved between roughly $6,700 to $10,000 through more than 30 exchanges in destinations including Barcelona and the Swiss Alps. Instead of arranging simultaneous swaps, Burrough hosts travelers in her London apartment while she’s staying with her partner in France, earning credits through online platform HomeExchange that she can redeem for future trips elsewhere.

These are just two stories highlighting the appeal of home swapping for travelers looking to cut vacation costs without sacrificing the experience. Beyond eliminating hotel bills, many exchanges include access to full kitchens, laundry facilities, children’s toys, bicycles, and sometimes even vehicles — arrangements that usually mean more space and convenience especially for families or larger groups.

Unlike traditional vacation rentals, home-exchange platforms like HomeExchange, HostShare, and Kindred connect homeowners willing to stay in each other’s homes. Some arrange direct swaps that happen at the same time, while others use a points system that lets members host guests now and redeem stays later.

And more and more people are trying platforms like these. Kindred, for example, grew to nearly 300,000 members across over 150 cities — adding 150,000 members in 2025 alone. Meanwhile, more than 280,000 people already use HomeExchange around the world, 200,000 of whom are active members with access to over 550,000 homes across 155 countries.

HostShare has fewer members, but it works a little differently. It’s currently a community of over 20,000 active short-term rental hosts. It’s designed specifically for Airbnb and vacation rental owners to trade unbooked nights in their rental properties for up to 21 days of free travel per year. Members only need to pay the cleaning and platform fees.