How to travel for free – if you are a homeowner

Rebecca Morice and Judy Cogan reveal how house swaps and renting out property while you are away can cancel out the cost of your holiday

Catherine and Rod Banner frequently open their modern and inviting Wandsworth home to strangers. Their stylish place, which they have affectionately named Assisi, after the Italian hill town in the province of Perugia, has a sprawling designer kitchen-dining area and floor-to-ceiling windows, with views on to a tropical garden terrace. This summer, it will become a relaxing London retreat for another family – whom they have never met – as the couple jet off to an exotic destination.

Because of the income Catherine and Rod get from letting out their home short-term, they can take around five holidays a year. Recent trips have included one to Gran Canaria, where they travelled off the well-worn tourist trail into the centre of the island, taking in the mountains and open landscape; and to Italy, where they enjoyed Tuscan-style views north-east of Rome with their whole family. They have also travelled to far-flung destinations such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Japan.

Hordes of enterprising British couples and families like the Banners are jumping on the let-to-holiday trend. Luxury holiday rental service Plum Guide, the company Catherine and Rod use to list their home short-term, has reported a record number of people joining the site in recent months.

“We think it’s partly driven by people enjoying flexible working, who are able to go away for extended work-holiday hybrid trips for months at a time,” says Graham Foulds, Plum Guide’s chief operating officer. Inflation is also driving families to be more creative when it comes to maximising their holiday budgets.

In London, the average house makes £300 to £500 per night on Plum Guide, with the length of stay averaging around eight days. That is between £2,400 and £4,000 to put towards a holiday.

Airbnb has seen similar earnings across the board. “UK hosts typically earned more than £6,000 on Airbnb last year, which is around two months’ extra pay for the median UK household,” says Amanda Cupples, Airbnb general manager for northern Europe.

Home swapping, meanwhile, may

‘You get the house back in one piece, and realise that actually it’s almost like having friends over’

not make you money, but it allows you to save it. Love Home Swap, a platform where users list their homes for stays in exchange for access to others around the world, has seen a surge in sign-ups, with an 82 per cent increase in new UK members in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same period last year. The average member saves £2,000 on a seven-night stay when choosing a home swap over a hotel or B&B.

But what does it really take to be a host? Is it safe? And is it more hassle than it’s worth? Catherine and Rod, along with two other couples, share their experiences here…