The Home Exchange is attracting more and more French
The French would be cautious to trade? Reluctant to open the doors of their homes to strangers? The development of online trading house in France seems to contradict these assumptions. Appeared in the 1950s, this "vacation mode opened to the French public in the late 1990s. The principle is simple: two partners, often families or couples, come into contact and agree to exchange their homes over a period of a weekend to several months.
The formula has experienced a boom with the development of the Internet. The annual catalogs and postal letters gave way to sites updated 24 hours and 24 e-mail exchanges, fast and free worldwide. A real blow "magic wand", according to William Heinzer, co-founder of the site Trocmaison.com, with over 33,000 deals in 132 countries. At its opening in July 2005, he had only 6000.Homelink France, another leading player in the exchange with 13,000 deals in 70 countries, claiming an increase of 46% of its subscribers since January 2007.
France, the first destination for
The concept comes from the United States, where mobility is more common and less attachment to the old stones pushed in France. However, in proportion to population, the French are among the most active exchange sites. "They are adventurous! exclaims Denise Lemoine, in charge of developing Homelink France. France is the second country after the United States in number of subscribers. Even finding on Trocmaison, the French branch of the American HomeExchange: more than 5,700 vacancies are for housing in France.That figure is exceeded only by the United States.
Why such popularity? William Heinzer of Trocmaison, says he is "very surprised" the dynamism of its site, opened a little earlier than other European versions of HomeExchange. "France is the first destination of choice, he says, the French are so overwhelmed with proposals. Ile-de-France and the Riviera are top research but other regions such as Britain take the game as they pinned the growth of the site also relies on "the usual social networks" , which forces users regularly come into contact with strangers, and on word-of-mouth that can convince wary travelers.
Prepare the first exchange
Allow a stranger alone in his house delights rarely at first."The only way to overcome this fear is to talk with someone who has already made an exchange," says William Heinzer. "Communication between people is the basis of all," says Rudolph Nargeot, founding president of the association free website Switchome. Before making the exchange, both parties get to know each other by mail and telephone. "The exchange is the most difficult first," says Denise Lemoine Homelink. "We fear for his business and what you might find on arrival. But then you get a taste.
But be careful of setting even if, according to trade organizations and their regular customers, incidents and cancellations are very rare. The new "exchanges" and should check with their insurance only possible case is covered, especially if they have agreed to exchange cars with their partners.They can also, if desired, isolate some objects to which they are particularly important. Finally, if they are tenants, they can prevent their owner as a courtesy *.
Exchanging his apartment, but also make some steps to make his home attractive, find partners and agree on dates and different modalities. Once this done, prepare the house and realize a "home book", a veritable instruction manual on home appliances and various local places.
"The tourist in disguise"
But according to the regulars, these few drawbacks are outweighed by the benefits of this original formula. There are of course the financial aspect, not negligible. Indulge in Hawaii three weeks or two months in Australia is not within reach of all budgets.So it is pleasant, exchanging his house, to remove from its budget to housing costs and limit the cost of food.
Above all, the home exchange seduced by his state of mind, away from hotels and tourist buses. The "exchange" seek to discover another way of life by being a "tourist in disguise," said Jean-Louis, who has already made three exchanges. "When we're in Canada, we feel Canadian," says Gregory, another heat exchanger, we take out the trash, we go to the supermarket, we talk with neighbors, in short, we are part of the landscape, we are not tourists lambda in a hotel.
A concept that would attract companies
Born into a community of American professors, exchanging apartment has a hard day to return to the professional sphere.Homelink and Trocmaison trying both to establish partnerships with committees to enable employees to subscribe at a reduced rate and exchange homes with each other or with other subscribers of the site.
Explains Trocmaison have created a partnership with Dell Europe. The initiative comes from a customer site, director of group human resources computer in Italy. Dell was not available to confirm this information "It is not so simple to contact the Works, admits William Heinzer. But this is a project among others. "
Homelink side, efforts are not much more successful: we remember vaguely Ikea partnership ended several years ago between the Ikea Family card and exchange organization.This year, Homelink trying a new collaboration with Works of consulting firm Capgemini, which has engaged the services of the organization. However, "it starts slowly, admits Malika Dellal, head of Capgemini CE West. We will continue to encourage employees from using the vacation mode. Confident, she adds: "We will do a job of communication with the return of the best matches, six families this summer.
Some sites home exchange: – Trocmaison – Homelink – Intervac – Switchome
* Read: Exchanging his house: the new spirit of travel, Pascale Senk and Martin Rubio, the Editions of Ecuador