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Is home-swapping solely for the mad and the brave – or is there more to be found?
ADVERTISEMENTI can picture it now. Jude Law turns up at the front door of the twee yet crammed English country cottage I’m visiting – while Kate Winslet discovers all the smart home tech of my colossal Hollywood mansion. If you’ve seen the film ‘The Holiday’ this festive period, it’s easy to be drawn into the fairytale of home-swapping. I love the idea that this type of travel experience can attract friendship and maybe even love.As I gaze out my window over the grey winter skies and unabating rain (we have a word for this in Scotland – ‘dreich’), the film gets me thinking: Could someone, somewhere in the sunshine, really be willing to swap their lovely interior-styled-to-perfection home for my overcompensating-centrally-heated home here in the bleak midwinter of the Scottish countryside?And realistically, while opening up our houses, does home-swapping inadvertently help us open our hearts to strangers? Or is that just the stuff of Hollywood?Home-swapping with heart: Give a night, get a night“Home swap listing sites have existed for a long time, but for decades, home swapping remained niche,” says Justine Palefsky, “because without any curation, services or quality assurance, these sites didn’t deliver the experience most people need to feel comfortable swapping their real home.” That’s why Palefsky and her co-founder Tas set up Kindred, otherwise known as the modern-day The Holiday. This home-swapping network operates on a ‘give a night, get a night’ model, where you can use credits to book your next home-away-from-home. Essentially, it’s almost free accommodation when you travel.Started in San Francisco just four years ago, Kindred now has over 50,000 homes across 150 cities in Europe and North America. “My co-founder, Tas, and I both love to travel and believe deeply that the human connection, education and core memories you earn through travelling make for a richer life,” explains Palefsky. “However, we felt that the travel industry was evolving in a direction that was a far cry from this experience.” Different to most big short-term rent providers that have become a way for hotels and furnished apartments to promote their property businesses rather than meet new people, Kindred is a members-only site, which means you can only view all the cities and properties on offer if you list your home. “We found most travel accommodation to be expensive, increasingly impersonal, and transactional, while often creating a burden on the communities it was supposed to serve.” That’s why you can’t just dip in and pay for nights on Kindred. Right now, 90 per cent of the homes on the platform are primary residences rather than investment properties.This way, members have aligned incentives and a shared empathy that wouldn’t be possible on a pay-to-stay marketplace,” Palefsky says. The concept, of course, is entirely based on trust: to allow strangers to come and live in your home while you’re not there is definitely brave. ADVERTISEMENTWould these fellow members keep my proud jungle in my living room watered? Would they make sure outdoor shoes are kept off my cream carpets upstairs? These are the concerns that spring to mind.What’s more, I’m a curious soul. I suspect that if I were let loose in someone else’s home without them being there, I would be rifling through wardrobes and under-the-sink cupboards, trying to get a better sense of the owner – before I even unpack. That’s probably why there are a ton of guides and a code of conduct all members adhere to. If you violate the policy even once, you’re out of the community.‘Radically more affordable’ accommodation in EuropeWhat’s also good is that, unlike Airbnb, the listings are fully curated and checked, so you won’t have any unexpected and unhappy surprises. Each new member also has their government ID verified before they can go on their first trip.ADVERTISEMENTThe platform offers what’s called a full-service experience, which, hurrah, includes coordinating cleaning before and after the trip to “remove any uncertainty” about the condition of the property at any given time – so I don’t need to worry about my plants or carpets. Plus, there’s 24/7 concierge support and comprehensive host and trip protection.With all those reassurances, I start searching for the catch. Surely it’s a big fee? A quick check under the pricing page and, compared to the usual costs you rack up at a hotel or other booking platforms, I’m surprised to see that you only have to pay a small one-time service fee as a host or cleaning fee as a guest. This is typically around $140 (€ 134) for a seven-night stay in top European cities – and it’s not much more if you’re seeking an extended stay for that popular digital nomad experience.Palefsky sees home-swapping as “deeply human and radically more affordable” and asserts that it’s more empowering than “disruptive to locals in high-demand areas”. ADVERTISEMENTTravel beyond the usual hotspots in EuropeIn the last three months alone, over a third of all trips booked on Kindred were to European locations – and the platform has seen a 1500 per cent increase in homes accepted onto the platform in Europe from 2023 to 2024. While all the typical destinations are there – Paris, Amsterdam, London, Berlin – there are plenty of off-the-beaten cities too, including Novi Ligure in Italy, Graz in Austria or Tallinn in Estonia.Signing up mostly out of intrigue, I find some incredible listings, such as a cottage in Braga, Portugal, that borders a national park and overlooks a serene lake, a lovely traditional wooden home in Figeholm in Sweden and a contemporary country homestead in Ordina, Andorra.As I quickly check where’s best for winter sun in Europe, I’m drawn to a quirky stay in Palermo, Sicily: an awe-inspiring four-storey former convent that has been decorated with unique textiles throughout – because the anonymous host is a rug designer. ADVERTISEMENTGiven my aforementioned love for soft, deep pile carpets, I can imagine the host and I would get on brilliantly, and before I know it, they’d be recommending the best off-season nearby beach for me to get some rays.Is it possible to make friends through home-swapping?Certainly, one of the pulls of Kindred is that local know-how that only someone who lives in a particular neighbourhood would know. You’ll find much thoughtfulness on the platform – much like the early days of Airbnb.One member, I’m told, often writes songs to thank hosts for his stays, while one host arranged a surprise light show experience for her guest in Barcelona after learning that they were travelling solo. ADVERTISEMENTThis focus on local experiences is also likely why the majority of those attracted to the home-swapping platform are millennial remote workers who have the flexibility to travel while working. Most Kindred members stay a week, but some “power users”, Palefsky tells me, have been known to rack up credits to enjoy 40 to 80 nights a year. But Palefsky says, “It’s also a great option for families, retirees and those who are simply looking for more accessible and unique travel”, adding that families are the fastest growing demographic.Kindred is now beginning to host in-person events and dinner parties where members can come together so you can meet like-minded members. And, within the app, you can then request direct swaps, which, I am confident, is how I’m going to meet a Jude Law lookalike on my next festive home swap. ADVERTISEMENTI’d better pack some mistletoe…
