The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Summer 2020: why these French people prefer to exchange their house

2020-07-05T23:11:46.192Z


Forced to review their vacation plans or their budget, many of them are interested in bartering their home. This mode of travel, which aims to be economical and user-friendly, seems reassuring. Decryption.


Paris, a Saturday in June. Delphine is preparing her summer vacation on her computer. And rather than looking for a classic seasonal rental, she surfs on Home Exchange, a home exchange platform, of which she has been a follower for several years. During the weekend, this Parisian fiftieth will have sent dozens of requests for accommodation in Brittany and in the South where she would like to spend two weeks of vacation in August, with her husband and their three children.

" The Covid-19 has delayed the moment when I could think of our vacation, I am worried that I will be able to find something that we like, because the demand seems to be high," emphasizes the one who already has about twenty exchanges at her active. It's a lot of work, you have to send a lot of messages and not be choosy. We have a nice but not sublime apartment, we will find accommodation of the same ilk, I am not targeting exceptional villas  ”.

Read also: Summer holidays 2020: the four questions to ask before booking

Exchange requests multiplied by 10

A house offered for exchange in Goult, in the Vaucluse. Home Exchange

Like Delphine, thousands of French people are reorganizing their summer holidays and looking for "made in France" options, if possible away from the crowds. While hotels and campsites are struggling to reassure and attract holidaymakers, home exchanges are attracting new customers. It would be inappropriate to say that the Covid crisis was beneficial for us, it first affected us strongly with more than two months of complete cessation of trade. But since the last week of May, the number of home exchanges has increased tenfold and our community has been growing rapidly  , ”said Lola Florin, communications manager at Home Exchange. Over the months of May and June, over government announcements of gradual release from containment, the platform registered more than 10,000 new registrants in France.

With nearly 400,000 members and 600,000 houses listed, the site claims to be the world leader in home exchange. Facing him, some smaller networks, like Love Home Swap, offer similar services. For regulars, as for new members, home exchange appears to be an economic and reassuring option for this summer full of uncertainties. At Home Exchange, the annual subscription to use the connecting platform costs 130 euros. The rest of the exchanges are non-marketable, the cancellation very simple. Sacred assets in comparison with other accommodation.

For the price of a hotel night, you can go for a weekend, a week or more. Some users make a dozen exchanges a year, ” says Charles-Edouard Girard, president of Home Exchange. And for those who are still worried about the health situation, the home exchange is intended to be reassuring since holidaymakers can chat with their hosts and, if necessary, agree on a specific cleaning. Not to mention the fact that the private aspect of the place limits the number of interactions with other people.

Read also: How to make sure that your hotel respects sanitary measures?

An old winegrower's house in Auvergne for 130 euros

Another effect of the Covid, the geography of holidays is changing. Paris and most of the big cities are abandoned in favor of the countryside. For the first time in years, Île-de-France has been ousted from the top 5 of the most sought-after destinations on the Home Exchange, where it used to be enthroned. Conversely, Auvergne and the Pays de la Loire, which rarely or never figured there, hold a good place in 2020.

Read also: Summer holidays 2020: why Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is popular

After long weeks of confinement, Julianists and Augustians seem to be looking for quiet places, away from crowds and big cities. Our house is south of Clermont-Ferrand, more than twenty minutes from the first lakes and volcanoes of Auvergne. I was very surprised by the number of exchange requests I received: since the deconfinement, we have had a good fifteen  ”, says Mathilde, a new 35 year old barter who lives in a recently renovated winemaker's house. Scheduled for the weekend of Mother's Day, her first exchange was finally canceled, feverishness due to the coronavirus. But Mathilde will welcome a couple the weekend of July 14. And she set up for her and her three boys a first stay in Hourtin, in the Gironde, for the beginning of August.

But the fact that big cities, especially the capital, are disappearing from research radars tends to unbalance the system. Thus, Delphine, worries that her family apartment in the center of Paris is no longer interesting enough to allow her to take her family to go green. Fortunately, the concept of guest points , implemented by Home Exchange for a few years, should allow him to leave anyway.

Read also: Going on vacation by the sea, our experiences to rediscover France this summer

Contrary to the image that one can have of the exchange of houses, the link is not always direct. Admittedly, there are always reciprocal and simultaneous exchanges, but many are done in offset. By welcoming someone to his house for a few days, the host earns guest points which he can use to go in turn to someone else's. " The guest points serve as barter currency to facilitate exchanges and start the machine,  " explains Charles-Edouard Girard. The platform plans to distribute them to Parisians this summer, to correct the current imbalance and maintain a certain flow of trade.

The current enthusiasm for home exchange delights the platform team. Because to make the community grow, the hardest thing is to remove the fears linked to welcoming strangers into your home. " The majority of users are fans of the concept, it is a human and authentic experience, far from mass travel and consumption,  " promises Charles-Edouard Girard.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-07-05

You may like

Business 2024-02-10T05:24:54.842Z
News/Politics 2024-03-26T06:34:38.120Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.