phenomenon of exchanging holiday homes in Italy around the world

Traveling and discovering new places all over the world without giving up, if not on the sofa at home, at least on something that – philosophically if not physically – closely resembles your usual home. This is the formula underlying the mechanism of the exchange of houses at zero cost, which we could define as the third way compared to the traditional proposals – accommodation in a structure dedicated to hospitality and the holiday home in its various meanings – which those who find themselves in about to organize a holiday or a not exactly short period away from home.

HomeExchange, the leading global home exchange platform, concluded a record season this year. Thanks also – but not only – to the recent acquisition of LoveHomeSwap – the figures are all largely positive. The platform’s community has reached 150 thousand members. Globally, there were 324 thousand exchanges (+51 percent) for a total of 6.088 million overnight stays – therefore those of each individual or family that participated in the exchange are counted, with a positive balance of 42 percent. In the year-end report HomeExchange highlights that 99.7 percent of trades occur without damage or unexpected events. Among the most popular countries are France, USA, Spain, Italy and Canada.

The prospects for 2024 seem to indicate a further upward trend, if we consider that already now the exchanges booked for the year that has just begun are over 46,500 for a total of just under 1.2 million total nights.

Still in the future, the leading home swapping platform foresees growing popularity also in the Bel Paese, where 2,500 exchanges have already been planned, for a total of 51,550 stays or nights booked. The cities that will be most successful will be the great cultural and tourist destinations of the Belpaese: Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, and Turin, which together with the regions of Lazio, Tuscany, Lombardy, Veneto, and Sicily, will be at the center of home experiences -swapping in Italy during the new year

“We are thrilled to see such a strong take-up of our platform in Italy,” commented HomeExchange co-founder Emmanuel Arnaud. “The significant increase in exchanges and overnight stays reflects the growing desire for a more conscious, authentic and responsible way to travel. Our mission is to continue to facilitate this positive sharing, which, thanks to the significant savings it offers, is still an accommodation option that allows everyone to go on holiday.”

In 2024, the company’s ambition will be to play an increasingly important role in the tourism sector, thanks to a vision based on three pillars: democratization of home-swapping, with the creation of a virtuous model without financial logic among its members to make holidays more responsible and accessible to all; ease of use, thanks to the optimization of the platform, also through the use of artificial intelligence, in order to allow the greatest possible number of exchanges to members: in 2023 8 out of ten of them have exchanged at least once, the objective is to reach 100 percent; reduce environmental impact: the platform is committed to reducing its carbon footprint by raising awareness among its community in favor of responsible and sustainable exchange.

In this regard, the platform and its leaders have repeatedly underlined the peculiar and distinctive vocation of HomeExchange compared to the short-term rental model. “Let’s not forget that the first tourists to a city are its inhabitants – the founders Arnaud and Charles-Édouard Girard recently said, underlining how unacceptable it is for them “to hear people say: ‘I can no longer find a place to live in because of tourists and the excessive increase in property prices. Being able to find a place to live is essential, and it is precisely because we want to protect this ownership model that HomeExchange differentiates itself from rental platforms. We are diametrically opposed to that concept, nor do we feel like they are competitors, simply because we do not share the same vision of housing and tourism.”

HomeExchange aims to reach mass audiences in the United States, Spain, Canada and Italy, while continuing to develop in emerging markets. The company’s global goal is to reach 200,000 members by the end of the year.