GTI Home Exchange 'Pets Welcome' addition

Hi

Could I ask but do any of the owners allow dogs in their homes as I am a single person but would like to take my two dogs for company.

Heather

Hello Heather

Thank you for your email and your question about whether any owners allow dogs in their homes. Your question has come at the right time. We are about to introduce this option on our web-site as a result of an upgrade which is just about to be completed. A new symbol, 'Pets Welcome', will be added to the summary search results. Pets Welcome will appear on the membership form as an additional tick box option alongside the current Pet Care Offered and Pet Care Required options. The new option and symbol to easily identify homes where pets are welcome (once members start using it) is being added as a result of a GTI Home Exchange member request (many people like to take their pets on holiday, and more so in the future perhaps as many people may now choose to holiday within their own country in order to reduce their carbon footprint, and so to take pets along becomes much more feasible).

Whilst I cannot give you the exact date when the extra option 'Pets Welcome' will go on-line, it should be within the next week or two. Until that time, any members who are looking for exchanges where pets will be welcome so that they can take them with them, and are willing to accept them themselves, mention this in one of their Summaries about their home, surrounding area, interests etc. But the new option will soon make it much easier to identify and extract these exchange offers.

I hope that we shall have the pleasure of welcoming you as a member of Green Theme International Home Exchange in the near future. If you register before the end of August you will benefit from our summer promotion when the membership subscription is reduced from GB£25.00 to GB£21.00 or Euro equivalent. I will endeavour to remember to drop you another line as soon as the Pets Welcome option becomes operational.

Yours sincerely
Kath Botterill
Green Theme International Home Exchange

Caveat Home Exchanger

It would appear from the number of home exchange clubs now in existence that the home exchange sector of the travel industry is expanding, but with this expansion we would encourage you to be even more diligent when selecting your home exchange partners. Whilst the great majority of people participating in home exchange are conscientious caring people and their home exchanges are entirely successful (as evidenced by the many testimonials that we receive), the world is not perfect and there is always a small minority who will spoil things for others.

Points that have recently come to our notice to beware of are:

Abuse of listings information.

As we mention in our Welcome Message when you join GTI Home Exchange, solicitations to members of any other kind other than home exchange or for any commercial purpose are strictly forbidden. If you should get an enquiry from anyone who appears to be promoting another home exchange agency or other commercial venture, please forward this to us for investigation.

Inaccurate or vague description of location of exchange property

Occasionally people may choose to be economical with the truth and deliberately vague when locating their exchange property. If you suspect that this is the case early on you probably will not wish to follow up this exchange possibility, but if it is in a location you really want to visit, you might. If the vagueness about their 'precise area' continues when you are getting nearer to confirmation of an exchange arrangement, be sure to obtain their exact address before you confirm, locate them on Google maps, and check out if they are anywhere near any well-known landmarks or places of interest that you may wish to visit.

Once you have the exact address you can also check out the neighbourhood for levels of crime in the area. Search for crime and the name of the exchanger's home area on the relevant Google search engine.

Home Exchange Switch

As you know, at GTI Home Exchange members are allowed to list 'rental' ONLY as a supplementary alternative to 'home exchange'. The system is not intended for the advertisement of commercial holiday rentals, for which we provide a completely separate site, Holiday Homes Direct. If you make an enquiry in response to a listing which appears to match your co-ordinates in terms of length of exchange and dates, which immediately receives a negative answer to an exchange offer, but suggests a rental proposition instead, or even directs you to a commercial rental web-site, please let us know. The situation is most likely to arise in relation to listings which are for second or vacation homes. At GTI we do not wish to restrict the listings of second homes as this gives more flexibility for non-simultaneous exchanges to take place. However if we receive a number of complaints about the same listing which is suspected to be guilty of the 'home exchange switch' phenomenon, we will investigate.

If you feel that the 'rental offered' option should not be allowed at all on home exchange clubs web-sites, please add a comment to this post and let us know your views.

The objective of this post is not to put people off home exchange, but to increase the confidence and mutual respect between Green Theme International Home Exchange and First Home Exchange Alliance members. To help us in our endeavours to make home exchange as safe and enjoyable as possible for participants in the future as it has been in the past, please take the trouble to complete our Exchange Feedback Form after your exchange. We look forward to hearing from you.

Memoirs of a GTI Home Exchange Globetrotting Pensioner

Hello Kath,

Many thanks for your welcome email, and bearing in mind the passage of time (over 12 years)? and number of folks who pass through your system I envy your memory, I have difficulty in remembering folks I have met in the last 3 years. Looking back on old papers I think I must have registered with you early in 1995 prior to my cycle ride across the USA. That started on 1st May, lasted 6 weeks and covered 3,800 miles made many friends and raised £8000 for a children's hospice in Wales.

When I returned to the UK after that trip in July 95 there were a number of exchange offers from around the world in my mail. Arising from that I went to Canada the following year (May 96) for 2 exchanges of 4 weeks each. Then in September of that year I spent 6 months (with my cycle) in Australia where I had 4 exchanges around the country meeting up with cycling clubs and clocking up another 3000 miles. It was whilst I was in Australia that I read an advert in an American cycling magazine for the ultimate cycling trip in 2000 which is what my website is all about, although that now badly needs updating.

I think my family were hoping that the 2000 trip would get the travel bug out of my system. I have to say it made it worse, as the following year I did a ride down the west coast of the US from Canada to Mexico ( I was in Vancouver Island on 9/11) . Then over the next 5 years I have undertaken organised cycling tours in France, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Brazil (with 3 trips to the last 2 ) and last year the most difficult challenge was an organised ride in Tibet covering 1000 kilometres from Lasha to Kathmandu.

Having moved to Wales from Bath in 1975 with my job where I retired in July 93 I felt I should relocate, but my travels kept getting in the way of those plans. I eventually put my Cottage in the Vale of Glamorgan on the market in 2004. This was eventually sold in August of last year whist I was in Brazil for 2 months. In the meantime I met Dorothy a widow (4 years my junior) who does not cycle but enjoys long distance walking so whilst I still try to spend time on 2 wheels a minor change in my lifestyle has now arisen.

Hence the reason for getting back into home exchange where we can both indulge in our respective pastime. As you will gather we are booked for a 7 weeks trip to South Africa commencing next January, unfortunately there was a report in the Telegraph last week end that due to an increase in crime there has been a big drop in tourism in SA so we hope it will not affect us.

Finally you did ask if I had any experience from my previous exchanges that I would like to pass on for your web-log, not sure if it will be of interest but there is one couple from Australia who I did an exchange with in 96, they came back to my cottage in 2002 and Dorothy & I spent a very pleasant 2 weeks at their Queensland home in Feb. of this year. There is more to add to that experience but if you think it will go down please let me know and I will prepare something.

What I now have to do is try and get some photograhs on to my listing. I am incidently pleasantly surprised at the level of subscription for GTI compared to other agencies in home exchange. No doubt there are more folks into home exchange compared to 96 but am sure I was paying more then than now ? is there another expense I have overlooked ?

best wishes
sincerely
Arthur