Trading Spaces

The old-school idea of home swapping has gotten a glow-up as travelers seek chic accommodations for longer stays.

- Nora Walsh

THE FIRST TIME Rachel Levak tried home swapping, she wound up having the time of her life on the Athens Riviera, spending mornings on the beach and afternoons café-hopping. "It was so cool—and there were virtually no other Americans around," recalls the Miami-based product manager. What's more, her two-week stay cost a grand total of $435 in service charges and cleaning fees, or about $30 a night, because she'd arranged to swap places with Andreas Sellinidis, a photographer who lives in New York and has a vacation home in Athens.

That kind of incredible value proposition is driving renewed interest in home swapping, even among affluent travelers who can (and sometimes still do) splash out on hotel suites and vacation rentals. While the concept dates to the 1950s, when university professors arranged summer-break swaps, this style of travel is also getting a boost from the ongoing availability of remote work and from technology platforms that make trading places easier.