For the first time in a while, I used a product and had a pretty magical experience - one that feels worth talking about.
I travel a lot and have been trying to make home swapping work for a while, to avoid skyrocketing accommodation fees. I have airbnb'd my place in the past, but it felt sketch and had its own headaches.
First, I tried HomeExchange and it was just horrible/poorly thought out. I had to send 50-100 messages myself, only to not succeed in finding a swap. I almost did get one, but the guy seemed sketch and he wanted to swap an airbnb for my actual home (red flag). Most importantly, as a London resident, their points system HUGELY undervalues homes in major cities - can't be bothered explaining why, ask me in the comments if you care.
This week, I'm staying with a host on Kindred for the first time, after being introduced to it by Nikita Maruvanda, and it feels like the same level of life-hack as staying at an Airbnb in the early 2010's, before it became code for "unlicenced hotel".
There's a high bar for entry (you need a home to swap, and it needs to meet a reasonable standard) but this higher-end audience and more personal approach totally alleviated my worries re: hosting, and the places to stay are amazing. Also, big difference, you post a trip and they try and match you with viable hosts and offer very 1-1 support via chat to make it happen rather than me sending 100's of messages. Only qualm is that, for now, supply in europe is somewhat limited - but they're early so it makes sense.
I ended up finding a place to stay in Barcelona for, I would guess, <1/10th market rate, and having got to know the host a bit, it feels so much more intimate/trusting. Plus, staying in a REAL home (not some property investors yield machine, nor as a reluctantly-accepted guest in the necessarily rented spare room) lets you enjoy the location in a much more authentic way.
I have accepted my first guests to stay soon too (they look like a super interesting couple) and Kindred is sending a bunch of supplies to help make sure it goes well, plus support sorting hospitality-level cleaning.
I'm sticking my referral code below as it gives a few intro credits - but honestly, I don't care about the credits, I'm posting this because, as Sam Altman said, I have enjoyed the product so much I am sharing it simply to be early to do so, "for the implied good taste" 😂
https://lnkd.in/e52xq3Ui.col
