Over Christmas we had our first full house swap. We´d had a swap for a couple of nights in Frigiliana, my husband, youngest and I a few years ago. This time we wanted somewhere near Malaga so we could pick up the parents and son from the airport but away from the coastal strip.
Exchange Holiday Homes (EHH) is a site we´ve been registered with for a few years now, we´ve only had one actual swap in our rental house as we only ´swap´ it outside main holidays. This isn´t the only site we´re registered with but works better for us as it is based on a point system, is for holiday or second homes only and not a straight house-for-house swap.
Our Villa View
We needed a minimum of four bedrooms, no further than 45 minutes from the airport (as we´d be doing four runs) and somewhere new. Not an easy order but we found a lovely villa, sent our request to EHH who do all the contacting and were delighted when they came back saying the owner had accepted our request.
EHH is not a pay to join site but a pay on swap site. We paid 116 GBP for a 5 bedroom, 8 people, 10 day stay - not a bad deal at all!
Our Villa was actually the owners home during the winter months (they too went away for Christmas), so it was incredibly well equipped kitchen-wise, important for making Christmas lunch, and much more so than many holiday rentals.
When looking for a swap property there are always different considerations. This time it was the number of bedrooms, last time with just three of us it was the location and because we think it´s a fabulous scheme we´ve booked again in the UK next year which again is bedroom numbers rather than location dependant.
I´ve no reservations at all recommending swapping holiday homes or
EHH, we´ve had great experiences so far and looking forward to more. The website is not the most user friendly but the service is better.
Do you have a swap story to share?
