A SAVVY couple have saved thousands of pounds on holidays using a little-known travel hack that anyone can do.
Becky Pyat, 35, and her partner Sam Pearce, 36, have travelled around the world without paying anything at all for accommodation, meaning they only pay for flights and extra spending.
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The couple have been to the USA, Iceland and Belize in Central America with their two-year-old son Archer by swapping homes with other families through a platform called Home Exchange.
Becky said the couple typically pay around £400 for a two week holiday now, not including spending money – a fraction of the price they used to pay.
“We’re going to see the Northern Lights in February and then Albania in Easter, then in the summer we’re going to Norway,” she said.
HomeExchange is a platform where travellers can arrange to swap homes with other households to save on the cost of accommodation.
Hundreds of thousands of people are home swapping every year, figures suggest.
You must sign up to the platform and become a member, which costs around £175 a year.
In return, you can go on an unlimited number of house exchanges and the site provides support and assistance for guests and hosts in a similar way to platforms such as Airbnb or Booking.com.
One of the big benefits, Becky says, is that you benefit from having all the comforts and appliances of a house rather than just a hotel room or small apartment.
“You feel more at home because it’s an actual house, there’s often things to actually play with rather than being cranked up in one room,” she said.
The family are going on three holidays this year and say they would recommend the scheme to anyone who loves to travel.
She says: “I would 100% recommend it to anyone because you get to meet people from around the world, you get to go on a lot more holidays.
“We wouldn’t be able to afford it if we were doing it the traditional way, it’s really cost effective.”
How much you could save depends on what kind of holiday you would have gone on before, but a calculator on Home Exchange’s website suggests two travellers visiting Paris for seven days would save around £493 on accommodation, based on staying in a two-star hotel.
Meanwhile, for a seven day trip to New York City, a family of four would save around £1,535 on hotel costs.
OTHER HOME SWAP SITES
There are a number of websites that help people home swap and each will charge different fees, so shop around to find the best one for your situation.
Home Base Holidays, for example, lets you swap homes around the world. You simply list your home and say where you’d like to travel to in return.
You can try a free trial for two weeks, after which it’s £35 to join for six months, or £49 for a one-year plan, making it a cheaper option.
HomeLink, which has been operating since 1953, costs £125 for one year in exchange for worldwide support through the website.
The website breaks down “styles of vacation” so you can pick a home that’s right for what you want, such as homes with pools, pet-friendly homes and homes near golf resorts.
Remember that you will need travel insurance when travelling overseas to protect you if you have an accident or your flights have issues.
You will also need your own insurance to host people in your home, to protect you if they have an accident. This is known as personal liability insurance.
And make sure your visa for the country you are visiting allows a house swap, as in some countries this is considered house sitting, which requires a special work visa.
The site you are using should be able to advise you.
‘We love the comforts of having a whole home’
SEMI-retired management consultant Liz, 70, and husband Ivan, 71, have been using Home Exchange for nine years and now spend around £800 all-in for each trip abroad.
But it’s not just the cheaper price tag that attracted them to home swapping – the couple also loves the extra flexibility and the home comforts.
“I got involved because a friend had said she did a home exchange, and I’d heard of it vaguely before.
“I looked into it and looked at the various different sites and then we gave it a go,” she said.
“In the first few years, we mainly did places abroad – Alaska, Washington DC, South Africa, for example, but in the last couple of years we’ve done more in the UK as well.
“If it wasn’t for swapping our home, I wouldn’t have been able to afford and fulfil lifelong ambitions to travel.”
Liz says there are several reasons why the Home Exchange scheme works for people – citing home comforts and affordability.
But like with any scheme, she says anyone considering it should think everything through carefully and decide if it is a fit.
“I think the fact that you’re going to have people in your home, it’s not for everybody.
“We don’t lock things away, but some people might have something that is a family heirloom or of particular value. So think about those sorts of things before you embark on home exchange.”
