Top Reasons to Seriously Consider a Long Term International Home Swap

The Holiday, the blockbuster romantic holiday movie, has warmed hearts and minds for the last decade with the enchanting idea of beautiful home swaps, exciting new adventures and falling hopelessly in love.

While the “falling in love” part can’t be guaranteed, the opportunity to swap houses now can! With Swaphouse you can temporarily trade your house for another one anywhere in the world and make the adventures of The Holiday come true for yourself.

How does it work?

Swaphouse caters to remote workers interested in international home swaps. Our aim is to make a digital nomad lifestyle accessible by not having to shell out hundreds of dollars a night simply for accommodation.

Our platform and the services are free. So when you match with someone, you start talking with them, smash out the details and jet-set-go to your new home while they come over to yours. No money is exchanged in the entire process.

Bountiful benefits of home swapping

So why would someone consider a longer term international home swap? Here are the key advantages that can’t be ignored:

1. Get immersed in exotic places

A downside of traditional week or two-week long holidays is that they’re often too short to get a sense for the cultural nuances and learnings that distant destinations can offer. A surface-level tourist route through a destination offers only a glimpse into what it’s like living there and for what it really is. The culture, the language, the food – you get a rough introduction to a new world and before you know it– it's time to go back home.

An international home swap allows you to get a glimpse of what it’s like living in a different destination while you’re living like a local. Travel is attributed with opening the mind and fostering learning and understanding of differences. It’s a creative gateway to living a fuller and more varied life, and a long term home swap offers an accessible way to make travel a lifestyle.

2. Customized local recommendations

Unlike with hotels and commercial Airbnb’s, home swaps are a unique 1:1 experience where you can take advantage of all the best local recommendations from your fellow swapper. Their recommendations will offer endless opportunities to discover local markets, hikes, playgrounds, best days to visit museums, local entertainment at restaurants, free parking options, and many other nuggets that would otherwise take hours of research to discover–or likely aren’t even available.

Home Swap vs Hotels: Which is Better for Remote Workers?

Comparing home swaps and hotels for remote workers: cost, comfort, work suitability, and eco-friendliness.

3. Save your vacation days

With increasingly more companies offering working from home as an option to employees, it has become easier than ever to stay connected to work while on the go. So rather than spending precious holidays exploring new destinations, remote workers can now do all their exploration outside work hours without needing to take any vacation days.

Working remotely relies on staying connected to work with a stable Wi-Fi connection. Luckily that’s something that can be guaranteed with home swaps. Every Swaphouse listing includes the Wi-Fi speed at the home so that swappers can rest assured that they can work remotely without any internet issues.

4. Save money

The average global Airbnb nightly price is $137 per night. By doing a home swap you can save 100% of these accommodation costs. That’s almost $2.000 for a 2 week trip. Imagine all the delectable local goodies you could splurge $2.000 on instead. Michelin star dinners, concerts, museums, boat rentals – all covered just because you chose to swap instead of pay.

At Swaphouse, we’re committed to making workations accessible to everyone. That’s why you’ll find absolutely no hidden fees on the Swaphouse platform, just a lot of memories to be made by signing up and swapping out.

5. Stay comfy

With a home stay you get much more than a place to park your luggage and sleep. You get a sense of belonging in a new, unfamiliar destination, and all the comfort that comes along with it. By staying in a local’s home, you’ll get a fully equipped kitchen with the tools needed to cook up a local dinner or throw together a quick lunch between work calls. You can have more space than a hotel would offer, and more amenities as well.

Moreover, many homes in a swap may include personal touches and conveniences such as a private garden, a swimming pool, or even a cozy fireplace – luxuries that might be costly or unavailable in a hotel setting. These amenities add to the overall experience, making your stay more relaxing and homely. Staying in a home that's set up for day-to-day living provides a level of comfort and authenticity that's hard to replicate in a more commercial accommodation setting.

✨ Swaphouse of the Month: Sunny, modern apartment in Lisbon, Portugal

6. Create life-long friendships

You may be thinking: It feels scary to have complete strangers hanging out in my home. But something magical can happen during swaps. Swapping homes with someone offers lots of opportunities to exchange information, preferences, goals and personal habits – for example how often you water your plants, or the details of how recycling should be sorted.

Throughout the swap you’ll likely stay in touch about recommendations or to explain where items can be found in your home. Through these information exchanges, you’ll get to know your swapper on a more personal level– so much so that previous swappers have maintained friendships with their swappers long beyond their stays, and continue to swap homes regularly.

From feeling like a local on the other side of the world, to making trusted friends out of strangers, long-term home swaps offer endless opportunities to spice up your remote working life. We hope you’ll give a swap a try!

Happy traveling! 🌍