SAN ANTONIO – Booking lodging at a hotel or even an Airbnb can be costly, especially if you have an extended stay. That’s one of the reasons why the “home-swapping” trend is growing in popularity.
Karen Roe is from San Antonio and she has been swapping her home for years, since right before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roe said she has been able to travel to Italy and she even stayed at a flat in Barcelona for 10 days. She’s been able to stay at other expensive places like Boston for a longer period of time at “no cost for lodging.”
She can do this because of companies like “Home Exchange.”
Home Exchange is a site that will list homes available to swap while charging an annual membership fee.
When asked about having strangers staying in her home, Roe said there is a mutual respect.
“You have to realize that you’ll be staying in their house,” Roe said. “And, they’ll take the same care of my house that I will try to take care of theirs. And, it will allow for a nice vacation, a little less cost, if you’re willing to open up your house to do that.”
As far as being a host, Karen has had about a dozen travelers stay at her house over the years. Roe says she really doesn’t make big changes for guests, aside from taking out some personal items out of her drawers, locking up her documents and taking her children’s pictures down.
“When I have a home exchanger here, I have a preprinted note with the Wi-Fi password and a lot of information about how to get to local places near the Pearl District,” Roe said. “I give them a couple of maps. I put this key lock box on the front porch.”
Roe said she also likes that Home Exchange works on a point system, so that every time she takes a trip, it does not have to be an “even swap”. She can use her points to stay somewhere else.
“I often host guests in my house while I’m out of town somewhere else, and acquire points,” Roe said. “And then I use those points to stay somewhere in the Home Exchange System.”
And with her property in the Westfort neighborhood close to downtown and the Pearl District, Roe says she’s acquired quite a few points after having guests stay at her home over the years.