A SEMI-RETIRED couple has saved thousands of pounds on holidays with a little-known travel hack – and anyone can do it.
Jane MacDonald, 65 and her husband John, 68, have travelled to dozens of locations and haven’t paid a penny for accommodation.
They’ve done this by “home swapping” – where families stay in one another’s homes for free instead of forking out for a hotel or Airbnb.
Since signing up to home-swapping site HomeExchange in 2017, the couple have stayed in 33 homes overseas and around the UK and it hasn’t cost them anything.
They have sometimes swapped homes at the same time, while in other circumstances, they have stayed with other families as guests.
Former self-employed tourism worker Jane estimates they have saved thousands of pounds on travelling the world by not paying for accommodation.
So far, the couple have travelled to the following destinations through HomeExchange, as well as other locations they have lost track of:
- Chicago
- Seattle
- San Francisco
- New York
- Barcelona x 2
- Valencia
- Amsterdam
- Avignon
- Nantes
- La Rochelle x 2
- Javea x 3
- London x 2
- Cornwall x 2
- Wales
- Rome x 2
- The Algarve x 2
Hundreds of thousands of people are home swapping every year, figures suggest.
HomeExchange says it has over 150,000 members and it’s just one of a number of similar platforms to choose from.
How does HomeExchange work?
HomeExchange is a platform where holidaymakers can arrange to swap homes with other families to save on the cost of accommodation.
You can choose to either swap homes at the same time, or you can offer to host guests in exchange for “guest points” which you can then spend on staying elsewhere.
So, if you find a home you want to stay in but they don’t want to swap with you in return, you can pay them in guest points.
Those hosts can then use guest points to stay somewhere else as guests in future.
The platform costs $220 (£175) a year to sign up to, and in return, you can go on an unlimited number of house exchanges and get 500 guest points to spend in your first year.
The site also provides support and assistance for guests and hosts in a similar way to other platforms such as Airbnb or Booking.com.
“Our very first exchange was a reciprocal one – we stayed at the home of Gabriella and Mauro just outside Rome and they spent a lovely, albeit wet, holiday here in the highlands revisiting places they had first visited 30 years ago,” Jane explained.
“We have done a few simultaneous exchanges, but we mostly use guest points because of the flexibility it offer.
“We receive lots of requests for July and August, but those are the two months when we don’t travel because of school holiday flights being costly.
“Our default position is to choose where we want to go in April, May, June, and September, look for a guest points exchange and then make our calendar blue to receive guests with guest points.”
It’s worth bearing in mind that the guest point system only works if your home is somewhere others would want to stay, so properties located in or near tourist areas will see higher demand.
Jane and John get a lot of interest in their home because of its location in the Scottish Highlands, which means they attract visitors from overseas who are willing to swap their properties.
“Being in the highlands means we get plenty of interest, mainly from the US and Canada, so it is relatively easy to find guests to stay here while we’re away,” Jane explained.
There are a number of similar websites
How much could I save by home-swapping?
Jane and John originally stumbled across HomeExchange after looking into it as a potential way to travel on a small budget, while also allowing others to experience the Scottish Highlands.
“We were already comfortable sharing our home with visitors from all over the world having previously been Airbnb Homeshare Hosts for many years (pre-pandemic) so it wasn’t a big change for us,” Jane said.
“We simply love meeting folk from all over the world.”
She estimates they’ve saved thousands on accommodation across the 33 destinations they have visited over the past seven years, although it’s difficult to place an exact figure as they never considered paying for accommodation.
A nine-night holiday abroad typically costs £317 per person for accommodation, according to research by data firm NimbleFins.
For a couple, that’s an average of £634 saved per holiday of just over one week.
If you saved that on 33 different trips, you would save £20,922 in total.
However, be mindful that most sites charge fees. HomeExchange charges them roughly £175 a year.
“We are semi-retired and usually enjoy a couple of holidays per year, but now we are actually free to travel more often and home exchange allows us to take more trips without having to worry about accommodation costs,” Jane said.
“The opportunity to interact with folk from all over the world is very precious to us which is why we love welcoming members on hospitality exchanges.”
The couple have now introduced several other friends and family to home exchanging, including their son and his family.
Of course, it’s worth bearing in mind that there are similar companies offering the same sort of service too.
Maureen and Joseph Arnfield earn thousands of pounds a year through Homesitters, which allows them to stay in people’s homes across the UK by “house sitting” for them while they’re away.
Another woman has secured £11,000 worth of accommodation for free using Trusted House Sitters for several years.
Remember you will need travel insurance if you’re travelling overseas to protect you if you have an accident or if there is an issue with your travel plans.
You will also need insurance to host people at your home if you’re hosting through a platform like Airbnb, to cover you in case your guests injure themselves.
Tax rules around earning extra income
It’s worth remembering that anything you earn with an extra income alongside your full-time job can be taxed.
You can earn up to £1,000 without paying tax thanks to the trading allowance.
However, if you are renting out an extra room in the home you live in, such as through Airbnb, there is an extra “rent-a-room” allowance which allows you to earn up to £7,500 tax-free.
The odd jobs where you can earn up to £1,000 tax-free include money made at car boot sales, online selling or auctions, according to HMRC.
It could also include money made from food delivery or by charging other people for using your equipment or tools.
Once you earn more than £1,000 a year, or over the rent-a-room allowance, you need to complete a self-assessment tax return and start paying tax on your extra earnings.
How much that is will depend on how much you already earn.
Options for holiday spending if you don’t want to exchange currency
THERE are several specialist cards that can give you a great exchange rate.
These cards include travel credit cards and pre-paid cards which can let you pay abroad without fees or at a set exchange rate.
Travel credit cards:Â Travel credit cards allow you to spend money abroad without being hit by any fees or hidden charges.
But, they may still charge you for taking cash out.
We recommend the Halifax’s Clarity Card as it won’t charge you for using it abroad, nor are there any fees for withdrawing cash.
But you will be charged interest if you don’t repay your balance in full at a rate of 19.9 per cent.
And you will be charged interest on cash withdrawals until your balance is paid off too, at a rate of between 19.9 and 27.95 per cent depending on your credit score.
In other words, just because you are using plastic abroad doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay these credit cards off like you normally would.
Always pay off your balance before the end of the month with these cards to make sure that any money you saved isn’t wiped away by paying interest.
For more on travel credit cards you can read our guide here.
Pre-paid cards:Â An alternative to carrying cash around is to get a pre-paid card.
These cards allow you to put a set amount of cash on the card at a fixed exchange rate.
So if the rate is good at the moment, you can put money on your card and it will stay that rate when you are on holiday.
Just keep in mind that these cards can sometimes have hidden costs and charges so be sure to read the small print.
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