“I’m done with vacation rentals” was my recent statement when checking out a wine country home that didn’t live up to the photos. You know them: the “spacious” rooms thanks to a fishbowl lens, the good sunset cast that hides the cracked tiles of the swimming pool and the green water of the whirlpool, the non-existent images at all broken.
There’s gotta be a better way to get a cozy ambience and a full kitchen while on vacation than in an unattended rental with a mysterious duct tape on the ceiling. And there is: it’s called Home Exchange.
Anyone who’s seen Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz swap homes (and love interests) in Vacations knows home swapping isn’t new, but just because someone is willing to open up their bedrooms, bathrooms, and drawers to you doesn’t mean you really want to stay there. Walk in Home Exchange Collectionthe offering from the 30-year-old platform that just launched highly curated luxury homes thrown around the world (and also right here at home).
The high-end collection currently has approximately 300 homes in more than 35 countries on five continents. There are chic urban penthouses, whitewashed beach houses and pastoral estates – and each one has been vetted by the Home Exchange team. Additionally, each member of the platform – including, according to a press release, “notable sustainable and eco-friendly fashion designers, international consultants, interior designers, scientists, architects, artists and engineers” – pays an annual fee of $1,000 for the participation privilege, so maybe that means you won’t have to run out to replace a broken coffee maker; they are owners of means, which also gives us the certainty that they will take care of our own Nespresso machines, etc. when the time comes to trade.
Below, take a look at some of the collection’s finest vacation homes in Europe, the Indian Ocean and here in the Bay Area.
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