Dorothy Savage

Lives in a ninth-floor, two-bed apartment in upper Manhattan, New York. Swapped to a smaller 11th-floor apartment in the 13th arrondissement, Paris

The image that stays with me, after another hard day’s nosing around central Paris with my friends, is of getting back “home” and sitting out on the balcony with some French bread and delicious white wine, staring out over the city to Montmartre and the (slightly less appealing) Pompidou Centre. There’s just no comparison to staying in an impersonal hotel - in atmosphere or cost.

This was my first house swap. Friends had kept telling me that with a two-bed flat in Manhattan, I’d be inundated with offers. I liked the look of the Geenee.com website and registered, and once I’d got some pictures done, it’s true, the offers rolled in, from Berlin, Las Vegas, Rome and even Australia.

Not all the proposals suit me, of course - some are just too short-notice, and I’d never want to be away from my family at Thanksgiving - but Danielle’s offer looked just fine. She’s a professor and, although her flat was a little smaller than mine and her balcony had a slightly more urban view, the prospect of staying a fortnight in the heart of Paris for nothing was mindblowing.

For two glorious August weeks we’d eat breakfast and a light supper every day at the apartment, making our holiday extremely affordable despite all the sightseeing! What made it extra special was the fact that Danielle had stayed to welcome us before heading to New York with her daughter. That made us feel right at home, especially as she introduced me to her friend across the hall who helped us when there was a little problem with the plumbing. Danielle was already an experienced house-swapper, so she knew the best things to do beforehand to make sure the swap went smoothly. The website’s written agreement is helpful too, and, of course, because you are living in each other’s apartments at the same time, you both have a strong incentive to keep the other place clean.

I’m recently retired and always knew I’d want to travel more - but house swapping has changed the way I think about vacationing completely. Right now I’m busy so am in a “receiving” frame of mind; I’m not suggesting swaps and am just leaving it up to chance. It’s so exciting to get an offer of a swap every so often on my email - it could be from anywhere in the world. I’m sure I’ll fix another swap up soon.

In fact, the place I really want to go is a beautiful little town in northern Arizona called Sedona, right in Red Rock country. Now if I could just locate someone up there …

Daniele Abecassis

Swapped her Paris flat with Dorothy’s New York apartment

This was my second time in Manhattan with my daughter. We stayed on 125th Street in Harlem, which is a real melting-pot. We lived in a neighbourhood with black people and with Mexicans. It was good to meet people on the street and talk for five minutes and live the way New York people live.

I have a lot of very happy memories of the city, of visiting Staten Island on the ferry, walking over Brooklyn Bridge or going to Times Square in the evenings. The city had a good vibration.

My first house swap was seven years ago and I have swapped with people all over Europe, in Ireland, France, Austria and Spain. I have had six or seven visits to my flat, which is in the centre of Paris. It’s not big, only 50 square metres, but it is very, very central. By Metro, you can get anywhere - the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame - in five to 20 minutes.

When I prepare my flat for a house swap, everything must be perfect. I leave everything out, my computer, my telephone. I want people to feel as if they are in their own home so they have internet access and use of the telephone. I leave shampoo in the bathroom and drinks in the fridge so people feel good about being there.

But not everyone can do it. It takes time and energy. There’s the cleaning but also the precautions. It can take between five and six months for me to organise a house swap. I have a method now. When I contact a person, I want to get to know them, because they are going to be living in my home. I want to be sure the person lives where they say they live so I ask for a copy of their passport and proof of their address. So many people are naive and don’t take precautions, but I have a contract that I send out, which has to be signed. If it doesn’t come back, you know the people aren’t serious.

I don’t like to stay in hotels any more. If I rent a hotel room, I am a tourist. I prefer to exchange flats, because that way, not only can you travel two or three times a year, but you can live in exactly the same way as a person from a different country. In Manhattan, I had the same habitat. I was an American for a month and that’s the way I like to travel.

The best accommodation swap sites

Geenee.com is a slick addition to the house swapping roster - and right now it’s free to sign up, too. Houses mainly in North America, UK, France and Australia.

Homebase-hols.com Active and well-organised site started in 1985. A one-year listing costs £29, but that gets you a highly detailed list of free swap offers. A founder member of the First Home Exchange Alliance.

U-exchange.com is free if you want to swap homes for a holiday. Listings also include other barter offers (jeep, anyone?) which can get a bit confusing.

Sabbaticalhomes.com is for the academic community only. It’s free to post a “home wanted” ad.

Mindmyhouse.com offers to find free accommodation in exchange for house/pet sitting duties, and membership is currently free.