Going on vacation in exchange for a house with your dog: economical and practical!
Every summer, the French get ready to go on vacation, but for us dog owners, the task is a little more difficult! It's not always easy to find accommodation for the holidays that meets all our desires, our criteria and that accepts our pets... So I recently became interested in home exchange and I carried out my little investigation before telling you about it. talk ! Ultimately, when you want to go on vacation with your best four-legged friend, exchanging your house is too much W'ouf!
After having discussed at length with you on social networks, I realize that many of you have already adopted this system and your opinions are more than positive (you will find some of them at the end of the article). It must be said that the advantages are numerous: significant savings, lighter suitcases, unparalleled comfort, the possibility of discovering the secret corners of a destination (especially those where our doggies are welcome)... in short, the little paradise for the whole family, including the dog!
If some people exchange their homes from private to private, many of you use platforms for more security. The exchanges are then well supervised and the offer diversified. Several of you have also told me about HomeExchange so I inquired about their platform and other similar platforms, such as Behomm, Love Home Swap or Homelink. According to your opinions, HomeExchange really stands out. After discussions with the team of HomeExchange, I obtained some advantages and tips reserved for EmmeneTonChien.com users… I'll explain all this to you a little later, don't be impatient!
WARNING: To benefit from this Too W'ouf good plan, register on the platform via the links presented in this article, they will allow you to obtain advantages reserved for dog owners! (You will find out more about this later in this article). For information, my opinion is 100% objective, I don't earn any money, GuestPoints, or anything when you use these links, they simply allow you to access good deals 😉
If you want to register right away, that you want to register your house, because you are impatient to discover the field of possibilities, it's right here:
Your opinions allowed me to learn more about this less conventional way of traveling with your dog. Today, I'm sharing everything I've learned with you. You will learn everything about home swapping with a dog: how it works and why swapping your home with your dog.
How home swapping works with your dog
The principle of home exchange is very simple: during your holidays, you leave your house to holidaymakers and you go to their house instead. If we talk about exchange, it is because there is no financial counterpart. Yes, exchanging your house during your vacation with your dog is completely free. Of course, you will have to pay the fees for the platform you choose, but they will pay for themselves on your first trip. All the testimonials I received from the community confirmed to me the fact that it is better to go through a platform. It is much more secure and you will be able to benefit from the customer service of the platform in question. In reality, exchanging your house with someone is also leaving for the time of a stay to discover another destination, a local family, a nice house or a nice apartment! In exchange, your host will discover your region by staying with you.
At HomeExchange, for example, more than 450 accommodations are referenced: in France yes, but also all over the world. Regardless of your accommodation, there will always be a family interested in discovering your region! All the houses are exchanged, you are not asked to have a palace, far from it. And above all, you will be spoiled for choice when it comes to finding a Too W'ouf destination to visit with your dog! Yes with your dog, because on the platform, you can apply a filter to see only the accommodations where your doggie is accepted. And if you prefer not to take your dog, to avoid heat stroke in South Africa or the 000-hour plane ride to Australia, know that you can even indicate in your house ad that you are looking for an exchanger that will want to keep your four-legged friend during your vacation. Farewell, super expensive daycare services…!
Thanks to a €130/year subscription, HomeExchange can guarantee its exchangers cancellation protection, a non-compliance guarantee, as well as damage coverage. For example, if you arrive in an accommodation that does not correspond at all to the description, HomeExchange offers you a fallback solution. This is why it is really important to go through a platform, everything is secure and under control!
In addition to the subscription, the platform also works with GuestsPoints (GP). How does it work ?
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Register for free on the site via the links in this article to benefit from our good plan (to discover just after).
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Discover the accommodations, descriptions, destinations… You will then find what you are looking for.
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Complete your profile. Then, register your house: description, photos, reception conditions. A number of GuestPoints (GP) per night will be allocated to it (this is actually the estimated value of your house per night)!
And you? You will earn GuestPoints thanks to several actions: 350 GP for completing your profile, 350 other GP for creating your house file… and also welcome GuestPoints.
Thanks to all these accumulated GuestPoints, if you want to make a first non-reciprocal exchange, then this exchange will be almost free! -
Then choose a destination on the platform and find THE house of your dreams. At this point, two possibilities for this new journey.
Classic exchange: you simply exchange your house with another family for the same period.
GuestPoints formula (non-reciprocal exchange): you find an available house in a destination that appeals to you, but the owner cannot come to your home. Don't panic, you can still leave, but you give him GuestPoints (GP) in exchange, which he can reuse whenever he wants to go to someone else's house. Practical, no?
The good plan that I promised you!
Tempted by the adventure? Do you want to exchange your house? Know that I have dug up a great plan for you. Thanks to HomeExchange, as soon as you register, you benefit from 950 GuestsPoints offered (700 offered for your registration + 250 via the partnership with EmmeneTonChien.com)! Your registration will allow you to take advantage of your first stay (almost) free with your dog without having to make a reciprocal exchange.
Exchange your house between Wouafer's!
Second good plan, with HomeExchange, we have created a club “EmmèneTonChien.com” just for you, so that you can exchange your houses between Wouafer's ! If you are already a member of the site, you may need to join the club manually. To do this, go to “My account” on the platform (1), then go to the “social” category (2), scroll down until you see “My clubs” (3). At this stage, if you see the logo of EmmèneTonChien.com in "My clubs" it means that you have successfully integrated the club by clicking on the link of the good plan, otherwise you can click on manage my clubs and add manually (4).
After completing your profile, all you have to do is find your dream home for your almost free weekend thanks to GuestPoints! The payment of the subscription is only made when you are sure to make the exchange.
Leave with a light wallet and with your dog
One of the Too W'ouf advantages of home exchange is of course the fact that your accommodation for the holidays costs you nothing!
This may be a great opportunity to replace the usual rental fees with other pleasures! This money can thus be spent elsewhere: on the transport side to go further with your doggie for example or to do a super dog-friendly activity.
It's also a great way to get away more often and longer with your dog. So if you and your dog are on the move, why not give it a try? In addition, there is no constraint of dates, sometimes annoying during a classic reservation: with the exchange of house, you are not obliged to leave from Saturday to Saturday.
The big advantage? Some exchangers even include the car in their exchange!
Go on vacation in comfort with your dog, the light suitcase
Does every vacation look like a move? Gone are the days of big suitcases to take on vacation with a bunch of accessories and all the sheets to lug around. With a home exchange, you get all the comforts of your home, without having to take half of it with you. Sometimes there are even little extras: a surfboard in a house on the coast; a jacuzzi in a mountain chalet; luxury for doggies with five hectares of garden. Besides, if the exchanger already has a dog, the suitcase shrinks by one more size!
Swapping your home will also allow you to leave with peace of mind, because when you return, you won't have to reschedule that little move you make every vacation.
Being surprised with your dog
Going on vacation or a weekend with your dog thanks to the home exchange is a great opportunity to discover a region that you do not know and that you had perhaps not even considered. visit one day. With the exchange of house, you do not choose only a destination, but also an accommodation. The important thing for me, for example, is that Musher has everything she needs on site, so of course if I can exchange my house with a Wouafer's I say yes!
In addition, before the exchange, you can discuss with the exchanger so that he or she can direct you on what to visit with your dog on site. A great way to get good addresses. The interchange will necessarily have specialized and human experience that tourist offices cannot necessarily master. So ask them all your questions, home exchange is also and above all, a human exchange. You can sometimes meet very nice people and find new friends all over the world. If you exchange with a member of the EmmèneTonChien.com club and therefore a Wouafer's, then his good dog-friendly addresses will be the ones you are looking for!
Before I delved into this topic and started writing this article, I was a little skeptical. Indeed, my greatest anguish was to be told that strangers come to my house and live in my house for one, two, three weeks or more.
But come to think of it, exchanging your house brings security. When I go on vacation with Musher and the whole little family, there is no one left to watch the house (apart from the alarm and the neighbors). So if I can exchange my house with a respectful family who will come to bring love to my house and occupy it while I'm gone, I say yes!
And honestly, between us, I also tell myself that the person who is at home must have exactly the same reaction, that's really what reassures me!
Wouafer's have tested HomeExchange for you!
Having never used a home exchange platform before, I consulted you on social networks to find out about your different experiences. Many have told me to use the HomeExchange platform, you are apparently all very happy with it, here are the opinions that I was able to collect:
Bridget:
“I made about thirty exchanges, always positive, never a problem thanks to the reciprocity, the confidence and the guarantees of the HomeExchange site. It's an incredibly easy and comfortable way to vacation with your dog. I can only recommend you!”
Stephanie:
“I'm on the HomeExchange site and I love it. You can search with a pets accepted filter, but you can also ask [the exchanger], because some people don't specify it, but finally after discussion accept that you take your dog. There is also a deposit and notice system that allows you to frame. Thanks to the subscription, we are covered in the event of an exchange. We can go all over the world all year long if we find an exchange of course. For example for us, 4 exchanges this year between March and October (from 3 to 15 days). Not only is it not expensive to pay, but this assistance and deposit is also reassuring! [There are] not necessarily any difficulties, we always find great reciprocal exchanges or against points (not reciprocal), also if we are ready outside school holidays we can make great exchanges!”
Benedict:
“We are on HomeExchange and we systematically ask if our dog is ok. We have an Akita. We had very good experiences. We have been in Belgium and Brittany with lately, it was perfect. It pays off from the first exchange for the insurance, but 130 € per year, believe me, we quickly paid for it.”
Sylvia:
“We were also on HomeExchange. We've been on exchanges for 10 years and had some great stays in places we wouldn't have gone if we rented. We don't do it anymore, because our daughters have grown up and stay at home during our holidays. We will then resume.”
I remind you all the same that it is always possible to make non-reciprocal exchanges on the site, if you still have GuestPoints of course. Just put your girls out to organize some exchanges Sylvie;).
Helen:
“Hello I'm on Home Exchange and I love this holiday mode. There are few people despite everything who accept dogs (people have a lot of cats and rather want someone to watch them!) But the more we are with our dogs, the better it will be!”
Thank you Hélène for this last comment. Shall we all do it then? That way, there will be more and more possibilities for exchanges. It's time tojoin the EmmèneTonChien.com club on the platform and benefit from your 950 GuestPoints offered!!!
By completing your profile in a few minutes, you accumulate nearly 950 GuestPoints! You can already go on vacation during a non-reciprocal exchange, without having to exchange your house.