London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jun 20, 2025

The remote workers swapping homes

The remote workers swapping homes

With the changing nature of work, there are new possibilities for people who want to get a taste of life abroad.

Evie Kalo is what you might call a serial home-swapper. She and her husband are among the millions of global workers who became fully remote during the pandemic. Ever since, they’ve exchanged their two-floor apartment in an Amsterdam canal house for a series of “workcations” at homes across Europe, including in nearby Rotterdam, on the beach in Barcelona and in the tony French Riviera resort town of Juan-les-Pins.

All told, the couple have swapped homes five times since May 2021, when they first learned about home exchanges from their upstairs neighbour. “I guess what we love about it is that we trust people to be at our home because they are trusting us to be at theirs,” says Kalo (pictured above). “So, you have this mutual understanding that you are both going to take care of each other’s homes.”

The couple tries to stay in each place for about two weeks so they can have enough time to explore sites around their busy work schedules (Kalo is the founder of baby brand Zipster, and her husband works in sales for a freight-forwarding company). “Since you’re not paying for accommodation, it makes travel so much cheaper,” she notes, adding that a two-week stay in an Airbnb would be prohibitively expensive in many of the destinations they’ve visited.

Home swaps allow people to attain the kind of jet-setting lifestyle they desire at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a pricey holiday- or second home. By leveraging their own most valuable asset – a house or apartment – they’re able to stay in other comfortable accommodations around the world. It’s a cost-saving scheme that has become particularly attractive amid the current travel boom, where the price of flights, hotels and rentals have all skyrocketed.

Job flexibility has also turbo-charged people’s desires to blend the boundaries between work and travel. With more than half of all global companies either fully remote or remote-first, according a recent survey from Buffer, it’s no wonder that Google searches for “home exchange” have grown substantially over the past year.

Home-swappers often have the opportunity to experience living in many corners of the world, such as Juan-les-Pins in France


Rising demand, longer stays


While some people, like Kalo, are using home swaps as a way to spice up their remote-work experience, other white-collar workers are using them to test out new cities now that they’re no longer tied to an expensive urban hub.

Brendan Kelly recently swapped New York City for a month at a home in Longmont, Colorado, which he says is four-times larger than his studio apartment in Brooklyn. His days now consist of hiking and trail running in the Rockies as well as logging on remotely for his sales job with a tech company.

“Maybe it’s just wanderlust, but I realised lately that there might be places out there that have the things I love about New York, but are cheaper and offer more space,” he says. Kelly plans to use home swapping as a way to see what it’s like to live in Tampa, Florida; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Montréal, Canada, throughout the next few months.

So far, he’s finding his home swaps informally through work colleagues or friends of friends. Others have turned to social media, including TikTok and Facebook forums. Yet, the most popular method is an online marketplace such as Home Exchange or Love Home Swap, which offers host-protection policies and can act as a trusted intermediary.

Globally, the number of exchanges finalised per day on Home Exchange in August 2022 was up 50% from August 2019, according to statistics provided by the company to BBC Worklife. Meanwhile, Love Home Swap has seen the average trip length increase well beyond the standard seven days in 2019, based on data seen by the BBC. Some 59% of its members now want to stay for 10 days or more, and many are opting for locations closer to home. Domestic travel is 25% higher than it was is 2019, which Love Home Swap attributes to workcation exchanges between members in cities and nearby rural areas.

The basic formula on home-exchange platforms is largely the same: you pay an annual fee to join, accept smaller fees to book and must agree to host


The basic formula on home-exchange platforms is largely the same: you pay an annual fee to join (anywhere from $40 to $300 (£34 to £254)), accept smaller fees to book (for things like cleaning) and must agree to host. Two parties typically swap for the same dates, though some platforms allow non-reciprocal exchanges where you can bank hosted nights to use as a guest later on. In some cases, hosts may ask guests to water plants or care for pets – terms that must be agreed upon in advance.

Advocates say home swapping, in addition to saving money, is a more sustainable alternative to short-term rental platforms, since it doesn’t take real estate off the market or create the kind of housing crises experienced by many communities in recent years. Platforms such as Holiday Swap also claim that home exchanges emit 66% less CO2 emissions than hotels because of reductions in energy, water and trash due to things like less frequent cleaning and limited food waste.

‘Mobility rockstars’ only?


Most home-exchange sites allow anyone to join, though some higher-end platforms, like design-focused Behomm or the newly launched Kindred, are members-only and have waiting lists. These tend to attract the kind of clientele who might have a Peloton and wine fridge in their home, and want to stay at a property that has the same.

Kindred, which has a $300 (£255) annual membership fee, acts as a kind of matchmaker for people with similar backgrounds or interests, creating “pods” for alumni of certain universities or institutions. “It’s one of the ways we can scale this feeling of intimacy,” explains CEO Justine Palefsky. “It feels more like a trusted connection, as opposed to a random stranger on the internet.”

Kindred was born out the desire of Palefsky and co-founder Tasneem Amina to find a change of scenery for remote working during the pandemic. “We thought, how can we make it possible to live a more travel-rich life, but not have to take on a tremendous amount of cost or hassle to do so,” she recalls. “So, we really started Kindred to solve our own problem.”

Now, the site’s main demographic is remote workers “who are taking these spontaneous trips and saying, ‘Instead of sitting at my desk at home, I’m going to go to Mexico City and work from there’,” says Palefsky.

Brendan Kelly recently swapped his New York City home for a place in Longmont, Colorado, and has been able to hike and trail run as a result


Dieter Müller, a researcher at Umea University in Sweden, who studies tourism trends, sees home swapping as a kind of return to the earlier ethos of sites like Airbnb, which were once prized for offering “authentic experiences” but are now frequently dominated by “superhosts” who rent multiple places they’ve never lived in.

Müller thinks “the rockstars of mobility” – remote knowledge workers with high incomes, nice homes and few family commitments – will be the ones who can really take advantage of this, but he’s sceptical of how much of a trend it might become for the average person. “It’s a rather limited phenomenon because the entry level is limiting,” he explains. “It’s very much a question of where you are and where people would like to go.”

Müller says in order to be successful on a home-swapping platform, you need to have a place that is in an attractive market, be it in a city centre or an amenity-rich rural area. “That’s where this sense of reciprocity becomes kind of tricky,” he explains. The majority of the global population who do not live in a touristic destination may be out of luck.

Kalo is the first to admit that location is everything in home swapping. “We’re really lucky that we live quite central in Amsterdam, in a very popular tourist destination, so we are seen as quite attractive on Home Exchange,” she says. “That means we get to experience quite a few places.”

She and her husband are off to Los Angeles this September, followed by a six-week swap on the beach in Australia starting in October. “We probably work harder than we did before,” she says of their new adventures in serial home swapping. “But now, we make it work around our lifestyle.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
Energy Infrastructure Becomes War Zone in Middle East
UK Home Secretary Apologizes Over Child Grooming Failures
Trump Organization Launches 5G Mobile Network and Golden Handset
Towcester Hosts 2025 English Greyhound Derby Amid Industry Scrutiny
Gary Oldman and David Beckham Knighted in King's Birthday Honours
Over 30,000 Lightning Strikes Recorded Across UK During Overnight Storms
Princess of Wales Returns to Public Duties at Trooping the Colour
Red Arrows Use Sustainable Fuel in Historic Trooping the Colour Flypast
Former Welsh First Minister Addresses Unionist Concerns Over Irish Language
Iran Signals Openness to Nuclear Negotiations Amid Ongoing Regional Tensions
France Bars Israeli Arms Companies from Paris Defense Expo
King Charles Leads Tribute to Air India Crash Victims at Trooping the Colour
Jack Pitchford Embarks on 200-Mile Walk to Support Stem Cell Charity
Surrey Hikers Take on Challenge of Climbing 11 Peaks in a Single Day
UK Deploys RAF Jets to Middle East Amid Israel-Iran Tensions
Two Skydivers Die in 'Tragic Accident' at Devon Airfield
Sainsbury's and Morrisons Accused of Displaying Prohibited Tobacco Ads
UK Launches National Inquiry into Grooming Gangs
Families Seek Closure After Air India Crash
Gold Emerges as Global Safe Haven Amid Uncertainty
Trump Reports $57 Million Earnings from Crypto Venture
Trump's Military Parade Sparks Concerns Over Authoritarianism
Nationwide 'No Kings' Protests Challenge Trump's Leadership
UK Deploys Jets to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions
Trump's Anti-War Stance Tested Amid Israel-Iran Conflict
Germany Holds First Veterans Celebration Since WWII
U.S. Health Secretary Dismisses CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi Urges Overthrow of Khamenei Regime
×