We at The Vacation Exchange Network have always believed that our uniqueness speaks for itself.  But thanks to one of our members, it no longer has to….

When Berne and Sam Webb were on a home exchange vacation in the Bahamas, a conversation with a few couples from Miami, Florida quickly turned into a lively presentation about the benefits of The Vacation Exchange Network, complete with a hands-on demonstration!

The Webbs have been Vacation Exchange Network members for a few years.  Last year, they traveled to Sanibel Island, Florida on a non-mutual house swap.  Berne tells me the Sanibel home was beautiful.  Located a few blocks from the beach, it also had a pool in the backyard.  Perfect for an afternoon swim or as a backdrop to evening cocktails.

North Bimini Island in the Bahamas was the Webbs’ vacation destination this year.  This home exchange was mutual and non-simultaneous; the owners of the home in Bimini plan to travel to the Webbs’ home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts at a different time — when the weather in Cape Cod is at its best.

So, how did we convince Berne to serve as our remote marketer?

No convincing was necessary.  Sitting in a North Bimini Island cafe, Berne and Sam struck up a conversation with a few couples sitting at a nearby table.  “What brings you to the Bahamas?” they asked each other.  Berne’s response that she was on a home exchange sparked wide eyes from the other couples, so Berne went on to provide them with a lively description of home swapping with The Vacation Exchange Network.  With her fellow cafe goers’ interest piqued, Berne opened up her laptop, fortunately remembering  her PIN, and took her captive audience on a tour of the Vacation Exchange website.  The other couples were laughing and clapping along with Berne’s enthusiasm.  Apparently, she didn’t even need the white board and film projector we offered to send her!

One of the Miami couples was particularly interested in traveling to Italy, so Berne showed them The Vacation Exchange Network’s homes in Terracina, Rome, and Teramo.

Berne tells me that she raved about the travel opportunities afforded by vacation home exchanges.  Since the Webbs’ children are grown, their travels no longer need to be tied to school vacations.  Like our other members, the Webbs enjoy the freedom and flexibility afforded by the non-mutual and non-simultaneous home exchanges that are the hallmark of The Vacation Exchange Network.  The Webbs can travel when and where they’d like to travel, without the necessity of finding someone else who wants to use their home at the same time.

While hiring a public relations firm to do publicity about The Vacation Exchange Network might get us a few lines in some travel magazines and allow us to garner invitations to a few fancy cocktail parties, having members like the Webbs is much more rewarding.  Our thanks to the Webbs,  and to all of our other members, who speak so graciously about our service.

Please visit The Vacation Exchange Network’s site to join our home swap network, to learn more about how home exchanges work, or to refer a friend to The Vacation Exchange Network.

Have you had an opportunity to tell someone about The Vacation Exchange Network or about your home exchange vacation?  We’d love to hear about it.  Use the comment box below or contact us via email.  We look forward to hearing from you!

This Queensland Australia Beachfront Home is Available for Your Next Holiday Home Swap

Home Exchange is Your Key to Affordable Travel

Do you feel limited by the high cost of traveling?

Outdoor Living in Cote D'Azur, France - This 5BR Home Available for Swap with The Vacation Exchange Network

Continued from Top 10 Reasons Why Home Swapping is Ideal for Family Vacations – Part Four

More Reasons Why Your Next Family Vacation Should Be a Home Exchange

2.  Home swapping enables you and your family to experience your vacation destination as a local.

When you stay in someone’s home, you can live like a local rather than a tourist.  To the extent you want, you can shop in the shops, eat at the restaurants, and stroll the streets away from the tourist spots.  Home swap hosts often leave lists of local dining, markets, and happenings for their home swap partners.  You’ll be able to offer your family a unique opportunity to view a culture from within its boundaries.  You might even meet some neighbors!  They’re sure to give you a friendlier welcome when you are staying in the home of their friend.  More than a few times, my children have befriended some of our home swap neighbors’ children.  Their stories of playing with these children have become some of their longest-standing memories of our trips.

And the number one reason why home exchange is ideal for family vacations….

1.  Home exchange makes travel affordable!

There’s no getting around what many see as the most important benefit of home exchange — avoiding the high cost of lodging.  Hotels and vacation rentals can cost thousands of dollars per week.  This certainly limits vacation opportunities for most of us, especially “ITE” (in this economy).  If you didn’t have to worry about the cost of lodging, would you be more likely to travel wherever your vacation dreams take you?  Would you be more likely to take your children to all of those places you’ve always wanted to take them?  You can travel in the U.S. or around the world without having to check hotel prices.  And you can spend more of your vacation budget on exploring the sites and experiencing all your vacation destination has to offer.

To learn more about home exchanges, please visit The Vacation Exchange Network’s main site.  You’ll find information about how home exchange makes travel affordable and how to join our home swap network.  You’ll also find 1,500 vacation properties to browse to inspire your next vacation.

We look forward to helping you plan your next family vacation!

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This home exchange on Vancouver Island, British Columbia sleeps 8

Continued from Top 10 Reasons Why Home Swapping is Ideal for Family Vacations – Part Three

More Reasons Why Your Next Family Vacation Should Be a Home Exchange

4.  Avoid the four-suitcases-full-of-dirty-laundry problem upon your return home from vacation.

If you’ve recently returned from a hotel-stay vacation, you probably still have the massive line-up of laundry loads fresh in your mind.  Or, maybe there are multiple loads still sitting in front of your washing machine….  At the end of  a week-long vacation, most families are stuck with several suitcases full of dirty laundry.  As if we’re not busy enough when we return from vacation — responding to all of the emails, voicemails, and Facebook messages received while away, reading through mail and paying bills, unpacking the baby and child gear, toys, and toiletries, and trying to revive our water-starved plants — the laundry simply won’t do itself.  When you vacation with home exchange, you can arrive home with suitcases full of clean laundry.  When I’m home swapping, I do a load of laundry every night or every other night (depending to a great degree on how many times the boys put their knees down in mud and whether the kids decided to use napkins or their shirts that day).  Yet another benefit of home exchange — clean laundry and more time to catch up with your life when you return from vacation.

3.  Your teenager — and you — can have some privacy.

Staying in confined spaces with teenagers can often be difficult — for teenagers and their parents alike.  Teenagers value their privacy, and parents know the value of a little personal space as well.  When you swap homes for vacation, teenagers can have their own bedrooms, and usually their own bathrooms as well.  This makes the time you do spend together on your vacation much more harmonious for everyone.

To read more of the top 10 reasons why home swapping is ideal for family vacations, visit The Vacation Exchange Network’s Blog again tomorrow!

To learn more about home exchanges, please visit The Vacation Exchange Network’s main site.  You’ll find information about why you should use our network for your home exchanges, how to list your vacation home for exchange, and how to join our home swap network.  You’ll also find 1,500 vacation properties to browse to inspire your next vacation.

Enjoy a Sun-Filled Family Vacation in Oahu Hawaii with a Vacation Exchange Network Home Exchange

More Reasons Why Your Next Family Vacation Should Be a Home Exchange

Continued from Top 10 Reasons Why Home Swapping is Ideal for Family Vacations – Part Two

6.  Home exchange gives you a home away from home.

After a long day of seeing the sights, playing on the beach, or experiencing your latest adventure, there’s no match to returning to a comfortable and spacious home that you can call your own (at least for the week you are staying there).  We all know that kids need a place to call their own.  A space to relax or a space to play.  Having a home to return to at the end of a day of vacation fun cannot possibly be matched by any hotel room.

5.  A unique place for your next staycation.

In this economy, many families are opting for a staycation rather than a vacation.  Typically, a staycation involves spending vacation time visiting attractions and events that are close to one’s home in order to vacation within a budget.  With home exchange, you can have the best of both worlds.  Rather than using your own home as a home base, you can use a home swap house as your home base.  Visit some of the attractions and experience some of the events that are close to your home swap house, and spend time in the vacation home playing games, watching movies, and making pizza and popcorn.  Your family gets some together time, and you all get to enjoy being somewhere other than your own home.

To read more of the top 10 reasons why home swapping is ideal for family vacations, visit The Vacation Exchange Network’s Blog again tomorrow!

To learn more about home exchanges, please visit The Vacation Exchange Network’s main site.  You’ll find information about how home swaps work, how to arrange your home exchange, and what makes our home exchange program unique.  You’ll also find 1,500 vacation properties to browse to inspire your next vacation.

More Reasons Why Your Next Family Vacation Should Be a Home Exchange

Continued from Top 10 Reasons Why Home Swapping is Ideal for Family Vacations – Part One

8.  When you stay in a vacation home, your kids can have their own beds.

Remember the last time you stayed in a hotel room with your kids?  If your kids are anything like mine, the decision about who is going to share a bed with the “sheet stealer” takes a great deal of negotiating.  In a vacation home, my kids typically have their choice of rooms, and they each get their own bed.  “Can I have the sailboat room?” asks my youngest.  “I get the top bunk,” states my oldest.  More often than not, they all end up staying in the same room.  Because it’s part of the fun of vacation.  And there’s never any arguing about sheet stealing.

7.  No need to sit in the hallway or on the floor of the bathroom waiting for your kids to fall asleep.

A friend of mine recently confessed to me that she and her husband typically sit on the floor of their hotel room’s bathroom or in the hallway outside their hotel room — on the floor — while they wait for their kids to go to sleep.  They have to whisper, of course, and sometimes it can take 30 minutes or longer before their kids are sleeping deeply enough that they can return to the room.  Even then, they must keep the lights and noise to a minimum so as not to wake up the kids and be forced to start the whole process again.  Ever try watching Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Report without laughing aloud?  It’s not easy.  When you house swap, there’s no need to be relegated to the floor of a barely-lit bathroom.  The sofa in the living room, the chaise lounge on the deck, or the bed in the master bedroom are certainly more comfortable than a tile floor.  Your body will thank you for vacationing the home exchange way!

To be continued….

To learn more about home exchanges, please visit The Vacation Exchange Network’s main site.  You’ll find information about how home swaps work, how to arrange your home exchange, and what makes our home exchange program unique.  You’ll also find 1,500 vacation properties to browse to inspire your next vacation.

Anna Maria Island Florida Vacation House Available for Home Exchange

10.  You don’t have to ask for a room away from the noisy elevator.

Concern about where your room will be located — close to or far from the elevator, 2nd floor or 8th floor, smoking section or non-smoking section — is par for the course when you vacation in a hotel.  When you stay in a vacation home, however, the whole house is yours.  No need to worry about noisy guests, rooms that smell of smoke, a view of the parking lot, or being too far away from the ice machine.  Every room in a vacation house is conveniently located and as quiet as you’d like it to be!

9.  In a vacation home, there is no extra charge for room service.

Although I’ll agree that room service has a few benefits, I’d prefer not to have to pay $5 for that cup of orange juice my daughter is asking for.  Home swappers enjoy a kitchen that is open 24/7, which is especially convenient for families with children who wake up hours too early for breakfast at a restaurant and for anyone who occasionally enjoys a midnight snack.   Home swapping enables families to eat some meals at home, saving money on your vacation and adding oodles of convenience.

To read more of the top 10 reasons why home swapping is ideal for family vacations, visit us again tomorrow!

Vacation Home Exchange Opportunity in Kauai, Hawaii

Besides offering a haven of tranquility or a home base for your adventures, vacation homes also offer many owners a major source of income.  A substantial number of vacation and second home owners rent their homes to vacationers.  This rental income is not inconsequential.  Some vacation rentals can go for as much as $12,000 or more per week.  But, even the most desirable vacation properties in the most desirable vacation destinations have unrented weeks.

So, the vacation home sits empty and unused, and the owners of the vacation home consider the week a loss.  This doesn’t have to be the case.  That unrented week can be used in a home exchange, also called a home swap.  By joining The Vacation Exchange Network, an unrented week in your vacation home enables you to take that trip you’ve been dreaming about, in the United States or around the world.  And you can take your trip in an affordable way, avoiding the high cost of lodging.

You don’t have to wait for someone to use your home in order for you to make a home exchange. Unlike other home swap companies, you can travel when and where you want without having to find someone to use your home.   Simply find a vacation home in our Network, or have our home exchange coordinators find one for you, and arrange to stay there for your vacation.  The other home owner will receive an Exchange Credit to be used on a future vacation.  Similarly, when you allow another Vacation Exchange Network member to use your vacation property, you’ll receive an Exchange Credit.

Home exchange is a great way try spring skiing in Colorado, Utah, or Vermont, to dust off those golf clubs in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, or to travel somewhere you’ve never been.  Just browse through our vacation properties to get some ideas, and we’ll help you find that perfect vacation.

To learn more about home swaps, including how to list your vacation home, how to join our home swap Network, or what makes The Vacation Exchange Network a unique house swap program, please visit us at www.TheVacationExchange.com.  We look forward to helping you plan your next vacation!

No more lamenting those unrented weeks; they’re your key to your next vacation!

Do you dream about international vacations in Mont Tremblant, Aruba, New Zealand, or Switzerland?

Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada Vacation Home Available for Exchange with The Vacation Exchange Network

Beautifully Landscaped Home in Aruba Available for Holiday Home Swap with The Vacation Exchange Network

New Zealand House Exchange on Lake's Edge in Bay of Plenty Available for Your Next Home Swap

Switzerland Chalet Overlooks Swiss Alps and Mont-Blanc Available for Vacation Home Exchange

How about an island vacation in Nevis,Turks and Caicos, or Puerto Rico?

A Waterfront View of the Caribbean: Cades Bay, Nevis Holiday Home Available for Swap with The Vacation Exchange Network

Luxury Condo Overlooking an Azure Blue Sea Available for Home Exchange on the Island of Providenciales, Turks & Caicos

Gorgeous Palm Tree Landscaping at This Puerto Rico Vacation Home Available for Swap with The Vacation Exchange Network

Or an unforgettable trip to Arizona, New York, Maine, or Hawaii?

Scottsdale Arizona Vacation Home in Gated Community Near Phoenix Available for Home Swapping with The Vacation Exchange Network

Three Bedroom, Doorman Building: New York City Apartment Available for Home Exchange with The Vacation Exchange Network

Mount Desert Island Maine Vacation Home on 16 Acres Available for Home Exchange with The Vacation Exchange Network

Kauai Hawaii Vacation House in Exclusive Princeville Resort Available for Home Exchange

How Can Home Exchange Help You Realize Your Vacation Dreams?

With home exchange (also called home swap, home trades, holiday house exchange, and many other names), take your vacation anywhere your dreams take you.

At its core, the idea of a home swap is really quite simple — swap a stay in your vacation home for a stay in someone else’s home.

The uniqueness of The Vacation Exchange Network is that you can vacation when you want and where you want without having to find a home exchange partner who wants to use your home.

Home swapping and traveling on a budget go hand in hand.

With housing exchange, your home enables you to take unforgettable vacations on a budget.  You can save thousands of dollars on your holiday by leveraging one of your biggest assets, your vacation home.

To find out more about how home swaps work, how to list your vacation home for swap, how to join our home swap Network, or how to arrange your home exchange, please visit us at The Vacation Exchange Network’s website.

The Vacation Exchange Network is a unique home exchange program that allows home swappers to travel when and where they want, without having to find someone who wants to use their home.  You may think you need to re-read that sentence, right?  Well, you read it correctly.  Yes, it is true — you do NOT need to find someone who wants to use your home in order for you to travel with The Vacation Exchange Network.  We are the only home swap program that offers this type of Non-Mutual Exchanges, while also offering unbeatable customer service, help finding and arranging your home swaps, and the promise that we’ll prove our value before you pay.

Our blog will help us showcase upcoming home swap opportunities, share our insights about home exchange and travel in general, and bring you stories of our members’ home swap experiences.  We hope that you’ll read our blog often and add to the conversation by commenting on our posts.  To be sure you stay updated, subscribe to our RSS feed, and bookmark us on your favorite social bookmarking site.

Of course, we invite you also to visit our main site at www.thevacationexchange.com and to become a member of our Network.

We’ll see you back here soon!