exchange holiday homes.

2011-11-20T09:54:00.001Z

Special Festive Offer for our Members

Between now and the 25th Dec 2011011)

As well as the weeks that are showing in our late offers section, any weeks that are requested and added, will be at the Late Offers discounted rates and costs (see our Late Offers page for details).

So, if you see a place you like with no dates and that members agrees dates within the next 6 weeks from then, you will only have to use (or buy outright) the Late Offer credits values!

For more details contact us via email;
admin@exchangeholidayhomes.com
or +44 (0) 1579 321402
www.exchangeholidayhomes.com

2011-11-13T10:24:00.003Z

Well it's been busy this week with lots of members looking for a short break before Christmas and also members now thinking about their holidays for next year.

We have been working to get more members, as more members means more choice, so we have offered all members an instant 7 free credits if they introduce a friend and they become a member.

Word of mouth is effective, as people are reassured if someone has personal experience of something that is new to them. We do have regular members that are happy to talk to potential new members about how the club woks, all you need to do is contact us.

Although EHH is an Internet business, one of the main criteria for the business is personal service. I have over the years of the Internet developing been fed up with how it is more and more difficult to contact people or get a straight forward and quick answer .

Having many years of experience in retail management, I have aimed to offer a good service with real people who do want to help and advise. We do help our members search for their holidays, and we don't charge for this service. We get to know our regular members and what they want , it is always good for members to let us know the sort of places that would be of interest as we can let them know of anything new.

We are a growing club with over 850 members , but we still need more, so if you have a second home and have already registered, why not join now,it's free to join EHH and there's no obligation !

Debbie
(Owner EHH)
www.exchangeholidayhomes.com

Sorry we haven't posted for a while!

2011-10-28T07:56:00.003Z

Sorry we haven't posted on the blog for a while, but we have had a few staff changes here over the past couple of months , as well as it being busy arranging lots of new exchanges.

Now I will be looking after this blog for a while, and I will endeavour to make sure we post much more regularly, I promise!

We are still working hard on the new websites, but the cost has gone through the roof and so it may be a little while before we can get it all organised.

Meanwhile we have been welcoming lots of new members and it's been busy with sorting out exchanges . We have even arranged exchanges as far as Oct next year!

Although we now have over 850 members, we are constantly on the hunt for new members as it does mean more choice for everyone, and so pass the word as it is free to join us, there's no obligation to exchange and you have us to help you with the exchanges or your search for a holiday!

We have members at the moment looking for places in Canada - Nova Scotia and Vancouver, also London and New York. We always want more properties in Spain and Italy so if you have one there , take a look and please do ask us if you don't understand how it all works.

We also have a shortage of properties in South East England so if you have one, take a look.

All best for now - Debbie (Owner of EHH)

Hoping for a 1000!

2011-07-07T09:47:00.002Z

France

We have now over 780 properties and counting, so it wont be long before we hit the thousand! Some examples of new members this week are below.

Why not join now , after all it's free to join us and help us reach that thousand! All our members are 2nd home owners and we offer a personal service helping you find your holiday.

There are no hidden charges and no obligation if you join, so come on what's stopping you !

Peak District UK

Maine, USA

We are particularly looking for city centre properties and properties in the US

2011-04-02T15:21:00.001Z

We now have 717 members live on the website , with over 60 properties being added in March.

There's lots to choose from, but we want more, so just for this month we are offering all members 7 bonus credits for anyone they recommend who joins and goes live on the listings!

Find 4 friends and that's enough for a holiday without giving up any of your own weeks!

And that's not all, you will still receive the normal offer we have of 21 credits when you recommend a friend, they join and agree to an exchange!

Great last minute deals , including a fantastic ski in/ski out chalet on the French/Italian borders -

Any or all dates between the 4th and 25th April this year!

So if you have got some spare time this April, how about some skiing or snowboarding!

2011-03-29T09:35:00.002Z

It's been a busy month for us here at EHH. We have had 59 properties join so far this month and now have a total of 709 live listing!

7 new ones in Palm Desert, Pal Springs California, stunning house in the Lake District, UK, large ski chalet in France/Italian borders, 2 apartments in Italy, several places in Brittany, France, and several villas in Florida, to name just a few!

It has also been very busy for exchanges, we have successfully tied up loads of exchanges this month, for all times of the year. We do pride ourselves in our excellent service and try to help our members find what they want.

So keep on joining lets see how long it takes for us to hit the 1000 members!

How time flies!

2011-02-12T10:59:00.000Z

We have been so busy recently that we have neglected this blog! How could we

Well we are growing from strength to strength, and can now report that we have over 650 members , with around 150 is the 'nearly member' stages.

We are particular about who goes live on the listings as we do want to make sure that there are photos, good descriptions and so on. We personally read and look at all members before they are made live and try to weed out any time wasters.

One point that I really would like to make is that EHH does offer a personal service. We try to get to know our regular exchangers re what they are looking for and so on. We do help members to find somewhere and we will go out and try to find places for members.

This is not just an automated website , with a back office that no one can contact. We are here to help and help we do!

We are actively looking now for our members for places in Italy, also city centre properties in Paris, New York, London .

So if you know of any , let us know, don't forget it's free to join, but only second home owners please!

Oh how the times, they change.

2010-07-21T09:52:00.000Z

Time flies when you're having fun, so the saying goes. In the time between our last blog I've been lucky enough to have literally been flying, up above the offices in fact. While I've been messing around having fun, a lot of work has been done too.

While they were workling, I was circling.

We are excited. We want to implement big changes to Exchange Holiday Homes and we've got a lot closer to signing some dotted lines to help make them happen. In the meantime, we've been lucky to truly add some fantastic new properties to the site (pictures below) and it's been lovely to see so many of you fly off on your summer exchanges.

In fact I'm jealous and I really think you should consider our feelings when having such good times without us all.

If there are any idea that you'd like to see in amongst any other changes we make, the do please let us know. To keep things short and sweet today I'll close with the pretty photographs of some of the new places you can now visit through EHH.

Sunday Times Feature May 16th

2010-05-23T09:17:00.001Z

If any of you bought the Sunday Times on May 16th, you hopefully will have seen the Travel section and us in a feature there.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/where_to_stay/article7126839.ece

We have had lots of new members because of the article and continue to do so. Some of the new members have holiday homes in Hungary, Maylasia and many more!

Behind The Scenes

2010-04-28T10:38:00.001Z

Confession time. We haven't blogged for far too long. Not that it's a secret, as you can quite clearly see when we made the last addition below. Now we don't generally like to make excuses but this time we're making an exception. They all follow below.

1. Lots of swaps! Those of you already with us have been livening up recently and wanting to take many more holidays that we've previously experienced. I'd like to make it absolutely clear that we are in no way complaining. It's a very welcome challenge for the team and means improving our efficiency and behind the scenes systems has been a must.

This won't just benefit us (that would just be selfish), as some of the new methods we are putting into place will make it physically on to the website and improve how you make enquiries and the tracking of the responses you receive. We've had superb feedback from those of you who have flown off on holidays recently and will shortly be improving it's implementation into the website with both words, and, wait for it, holiday photos! Very exciting, we're sure you'll agree.

2. Lots of new members! We are pleased to see our numbers steadily and readily increasing. For example, we were happy to add five new properties over just this weekend and have many still in the midst of registration. It's always a pleasure to welcome people into the club and see what exciting properties they bring along with them. The property photographs within this blog are all from new members recently added to the site.

3. The Place in the Sun exhibition! (Exclamation mark added for consistency) I recently (Matt) attended the Place in the Sun exhibition in London and met with a lot of companies that we can form working relationships with to benefit both them and us. The response has already been extremely positive and many discussions are ongoing. The increase in exposure and the resulting new members helps to further expand the club and provide new and exciting places for you all to visit.

All of the above and much more behind the scenes have been going on here and I could spend much more time telling you all about it all. The only problem being I must stop and get back to everything else that needs doing.

Until next time swappers. (They'll be less of a gap this time, I promise)

A Place in the Sun

2010-02-26T11:56:00.005Z

A Place in the Sun magazine comes out today, we have placed an advert with them over the next few months to coincide with their exhibition (26th/28th March) and we hope that this will bring in even more new members.

We are busy though, and are having members join every day! Organising exchanges now for the summer and even Christmas.

Credit System Revision

2010-02-19T10:46:00.000Z

Hello all,

Slighly delayed this morning due to the slippery ice and slushy snow. Not as much this morning as the last time when some of us had to walk here though.

The revision above isn't the type that most of us tried to avoid during our school years and crammed into the day before. It's a slight change to the way that the credit system is displayed to you, the user when you log into EHH.

Previously when you added weeks of availability in your property to the website, your credit total was instantly inflated and showed your total credits figure. You only keep the credits if somebody books your week and there was no way of telling how many credits were 'Confirmed' and how many were 'Potential' credits until somebody selected your property for a holiday.

We really thought outside the box on this one and after many strenuous hours of painful thinking, we decided to list, 'Potential Credits' and 'Confirmed Credits'. We've even beed kind enough to let you know how many you've used and how many you have to 'spend' on your holidays.

We think that the system helps to clarify what was previously an occasionally confusing system. Please do let us know if you agree or if you think we could make any further adjustments. All constructive feedback is very welcome and helps to keep us in check as we grow and make sure we're always doing our very best for you.

Below is what I personally hope will be the last time we'll have seen that kind of snow down in Cornwall this year. I'm quite looking forward to some sun.

A Place in the Sun

2010-02-02T09:59:00.001Z

We have just placed a couple of adverts in the 'A Place in the Sun' magazine to coincide with their exhibition at Earl's Court, London. We anticipate having a stand at their Autumn show to bring even more exposure to EHH.

We hope this will prove fruitful and bring in even more new members and spread the word about Exchange Holiday Homes and what a great idea it is!

Search option added

2010-01-24T09:38:00.001Z

We have added an extra search option in your Members Home page. Just add the ID Ref no of the one that you want to go back to and it will take you to that property , instead of having to find it in the lists.

This will save time for you all. We are working on adding more search options , so watch this space!

Back in to the Swing ...

2010-01-18T11:50:00.006Z

... Of things.

We have been promoted. There is a temporary link to this blog on the front page on Exchange Holiday Homes now. I'm sure we'll get a much more pretty link at some point in the near future maybe even with a picture. We have a big redevelopment planned with lots of new features, so maybe we can push to be a bigger part of the NEW EHH. Capitalisation added for emphasis.

One of the latest properties added. Kilkee - Co Clare - Ireland

In other news, we've been really pleased with the number of new members applying to join in the early part of 2010 and the number of you making swap enquiries. We've had people flying around the world all over the place. It's enough to make you jealous.

We are recruiting more estate agents and property developers to our cause too (have a look at one of our partners, pictured above, here), and look forward to helping them sell their properties with the knowledge that the clients can use our club to see the world and not just their same holiday home multiple times every year.

We would also like this to be a forum for your thoughts and ideas? Is there anything you think we could do better? Could add in the future? That's not forgetting our main forum here,

http://exchangeholidayhomes.com/forum/, but feel free to add anything you'd like to say in the comments below.

Would you like this blog to tackle specific issues? Is there anything you think is difficult to understand with the swap system? You input is invaluable. You are the reason we are here and we want to our very best to get it right.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-12T12:41:00.005Z

Firstly we'd like to wish all of you reading a very Happy New Year. We may be a little late but we've been more than a little busy so I'm sure you'll forgive us. What's new I don't hear you asking, but assume you are thinking. Well, most popular in 2010 so far are hot properties. By that I mean people seem to be very interested in the properties located in more temperate environments than this.

Our holiday home in the snow.

People, including ourselves, can't wait to warm back up in the foreign sunshine. So if you own a holiday home in such a location, add some weeks on Exchange Holiday Homes and you could well find yourselves with a lot of interest. You then earn yourself credits and can start looking for your own holidays.

We're just hoping it warms up a little here and I can actually leave the office at some point this week. It's currently snowing again. Heavy. Maybe one of the enquiries you might get will be from me.

We had an unconventional snowplough operator visit this year.

Twitteriffic

2009-12-17T14:26:00.019Z

Hi members, potential members, and non-related lurkers,
We wanted to bring to your attention to what we believe is a fabulous new invention known as Twitter. Well, it's not that new, it's been around for a few years now, and I'm sure more than a few of you have heard and maybe even use the service.
The good news is it's completely free and allows you to easily keep up to date with friends, family, current events, and just about anything else you have an interest in. We missed out the most important one there though. Did you spot it? It allows you to keep up to date with us here at Exchange Holiday Homes.

We 'tweet' (technical term) throughout the working day with updates on new members, people looking for swaps, and even the odd unrelated to business updates. It allows us to keep in touch with you efficiently and you can tweet right back.

So we encourage you to have a look at Twitter, and start to follow our Tweets. Our personal page is found here: http://twitter.com/holidayhomeswap

We hope to be adding you to our list of Tweeps (people who follow us on Twitter) soon.

Invite to Hotels and B&B's

2009-11-28T14:34:00.003Z

Now that we have added short breaks to our Exchange system, we are inviting Hotels and B&B's to join.

You can add a min of 2 nights to gain credits which you can use to select other members properties. This opens up the choice even further for our members as there is always a time when we need a Hotel or Bed & Breakfast for a couple of nights!

Don't forget if anyone needs more info contact us at www.exchangeholidayhomes.com, admin@exchangeholidayhomes.com or 01579 321402, we are here to help!

Swap Swap Swaps!

2009-10-02T07:43:00.013Z

Firstly, our sincere apologies to our regular blog readers that we have been blogless for quite a while. We promise the disappointment has been without good reason.

We've been busy building up relationships with some fantastic estate agents and property developers which in turn has kept us busy registering all the new members' properties and arranging swaps left, right and middle.

My personal new favourites are the four properties we have available in Killerig, Carlow in Ireland. Nestled amid 130 acres of manicured parkland within the grounds of the stylish four star Killerig Resort Hotel. Located just 1 hour from Dublin, you are surrounded by a fabulous scenic hinterland landscape and framed on the west by the Killeshin Hills.

My favourite part though is that all lodge residents have full use of the resorts facilities. An example of which being the 16m Deck Level Swimming Pool Sauna, Steam room and Jacuzzi.

The lodges can all be found on Exchange Holiday Homes and we can make the enquiries for availability on your behalf.

We will keep you updated and list more new properties next week.

You can now take Short Breaks with EHH

2009-09-06T10:34:00.005Z

We have added the facility to take short breaks with EHH. We hope this will appeal to our members.

Out of season particulary there often spare days here and there, why not add them and if they are taken up, then there are extra credits to use for your holiday.

We will be also approaching Hotels and B&B's to see if they wish to add nights that can be used by our members!

Short Breaks

2009-09-03T11:59:00.005Z

We are just re doing our pages to include information about the short breaks, and once that is ready we will be uploading and enabling our members to add short breaks.

This will open up lots more possibilties for our members and as there are always odd days here and there available when you have a holiday home it will be easy to build up lots of credits to use on other members properties. Ideal!

FAcelift!

2009-08-24T21:09:00.004Z

Our design team have given the Home Page a little facelift with a new logo and slight change of colours today. Will be tweaking it over the next couple of days, but we are very happy with it so far!

Hoping it implement the short breaks very soon and then we will be looking to invite Hotels/B&B's to join our club, all very exciting!

Feedback

2009-08-10T11:09:00.007Z

We have now added a feedback section to each property, so people will be able to see if a member has visited and what they thought. It is important to remember everyone has different standards, but hopefully it will be useful.

Not many there yet, but early days dont expect to see many for a while as a lot of exchanges that have been arranged since we have changed over to the new system are for next year.

We have also added a link to see the last 7 members that have joined and the latest dates that have been added.

Still working on more improvements and features, particularly the short breaks... watch this space!

Search By Month

2009-08-03T12:26:00.003Z

We have now added 'search by month' so members can select a month and see what is available at a glance. But it is always good to remember that many members upon request will add a week if they have it available, so it is always worth asking us to contact them about a particular date.

We are about to add feedback forms to the lsiting so that members can see if anyone else has visited and if so what they thought of it. Will be up and running very soon just adding the final tweaks.

We are also about to add the button to see the latest members that have joined and also the latest dates that have been added so this will make it easier for members to see new dates or potential properties.

2009-07-28T08:58:00.006Z

More and more members are joining every day, we are so pleased by how enthusiastic everyone is about our website and system.

The feedback forms that we have started to send out now are coming back and so far we have only had really positve comments about the swaps members have done. We will be adding them to the relevant swaps when the links have been added to each listing.

Working on the short breaks and how Hotels/B&B's system will work, we are hoping that will all be added by the end of September. Should open up the possibilities even more!

Dont forget everyone if you dont see a week added against a property, send us the ID number and we will request a suitable week for you, lots of members are happy to add weeks upon request.

We will be welcoming a new member of staff (Matt) in a couple of week , the Head of Sales and Marketing, he will be working hard to promote Exchange Holiday Homes worldwide , so we hope to see an even bigger increase in members once he joins the team !

NB All photos shown on this blog are (at the time of publishing) members of Exchange Holiday Homes

Adding Weeks

2009-07-20T08:44:00.005Z

New members are joining every day and we are working on adding short breaks/hotels/B&B's by the autumn.

We hope that members understand that many other members dont always add weeks until they are approached and we are thinking about changing the wording on the website to make this more clear to new members.

We do want members to add weeks, it does make it easier, but we are happy to try to sort out an exchange for any member.

We have found this is part of the process as many members are unsure about which weeks to add. Msot members that have been approached by ourselves on behalf of another have tried to help and are willing to add weeks if they can.

So dont forget to ask us, it is a free service after all!

Going from Strength to Strength!

2009-06-30T10:40:00.005Z

We have had a very positve response to our new website and new members have been joining daily!

We had a mention in The Sunday Times this week (also online)
Click Here

We have now started sending out feedback forms to people who have returned from an exchange. This is to help all members and to make sure tht everyone has successful and enjoyable exchanges!

Late Offers

2009-06-16T12:59:00.003Z

We have added a 'Late Offers' section for our members.

Less than 6 weeks away are available at discounted credits.

up to 3 bedrooms 28
up to 5 bedrooms 35
over 5 bedrooms 42

If members do not wish to use their credits or don't have any credits, here they can purchase credits for the total value of these late availability weeks at £39 per 7 credits.

Although the late availability weeks are offered with discounted credits, the member that owns the holiday home will receive the full weekly credit rate.

These weeks are offered with discounted credits to encourage selection, thus enabling our members to keep the credits allocated to them for the weeks.

We think it's a great idea , so join us now if you have a holiday home it's FREE to join!

2009-06-02T09:47:00.003Z

We have been busy with exchanges and now are planning to improve the website with more options. Until all our old members have been contacted we will continue to show the list with both porpeties with weeks added and propetiew without, but once they have been contacted we will separate the list.

We will also be adding late availablity, search options such as search by date and so on,

We are still really interested in hearing peoples thoughts on the new system and whether it's easy to understand

We are woking hard to make sure that our website will be the best holioday home exchange websktie on the net !

New members joining every day!

2009-05-21T06:37:00.004Z

Lots of work to do on the new site, maybe to make it a bit more clear.

However we have lots of new members and new ones joining every day so we are really pleased and excited by the way it's going.

Weeks have been booked out and we have also been really successful with finding exchanges for members, lots of the old members are happy to add weeks although they haven't got around to it, once asked they are happy to do so though.

We have added the words in red "includes" dates to each of the previews to make it easier to find dates.

So, if you are a holiday home owner join now , membership is free !

Getting used to everything

2009-05-11T07:15:00.006Z

Well we are all getting used to the new way of working at Exchange Holiday Homes.

New members are joining every day and we have been contacting all our old members who so far have been positive about the new systeam and wish to stay as members (over 80%)

We need to persuade more members to add week/s, rather than wait to see a week they want before adding one ( bit of a catch22 situation going on) They can if they need them back take them back (as long as they are not booked) and they dont go into negative credits (if that is the case then thaey can take them back as long as they replace them with another week)

Whilst its all changing we are helping people to find places and so if they dont see anything suitbale, contact us. I have been working hard contacting other members to arrange something for them, I have had good results from this, so let me know what you want and we will try to help!

We are in the process of improving the searching facilites, so that you can see just holiday homes with available weeks, and also the latest additions/ new weeks will be shown on the home page, this is in the pipeline and will be up and running soon.

We will be adding short breaks to the website soon and by the end of the year we will be having a section for Hotel/B&B's exchanges, so all very exciting!

We are here to answer questions or help in any way so if anyone is unsure or needs any questions answered, contact us we will be pleased to help !

Great Start !!

2009-05-01T07:22:00.008Z

We have been very busy over the last few days, with new members joining and contact old members to add weeks etc, but it all has been very positive. Most old members are happy to stay with the new scheme and we are seeing the weeks increasing daily.

We have found that not all understand how it works and we are looking at how to explain ti better.

We have seen a couple of potential problems and are working out those now.

But overall it's been great.

We are organising exchanges for people and have been successful in that, lots of members that don't actually have dates , when contacts are happy to add a week or two, so we have been able to sort out exchanges for members.

Overall very good start and come on everyone add more weeks, you can have them back if you need them after all!

People are being very patient while we change over and are helping us enormously by giving up constructive feedback, thansk and keep it coming !

Busy , but need more weeeks added !

2009-04-26T08:33:00.006Z

We are getting a very positive response to our system, but we need even more members to add weeks!

They can get them back if they need them and they can add them up to a year in advance, the credits they earn are valid for 3 years too

It's understandable that people hold back, new system and everything, but weeks added are the key to making it work.

We will contact any member that has a place that someone likes the look of to see if they will add weeks to help spur things on, but we need old and new members alike to take a step and add weeks so there are plenty to choose from

Weeks are being added but come on all our members , log on and lets get some more to make the choice even bigger

Very busy and pleased with the new system!

2009-04-22T11:29:00.002Z

Been so busy sorting out the new system and contacting existing members to see if they want to add weeks etc! Lots more to contact, very positive so far and we are having lots of people join , but it's important to get photos and weeks added.

So if you read this and have just joined, please add photos as your advert wont be made live until there are any photos .

We also need people to bank weeks to get the ball rolling , you can change the week if you want it back and it's not been taken and you have up to 3 years to use the credits earned.

Finally uploaded!!

2009-04-13T13:54:00.003Z

It been uploaded now and the new system is up and running at last !!

We have to go through a few of the pages and re do wording etc and I am sure we will find somethings that need sorting out over the next few weeks, btu at least it works!

We need our members to add weeks and update thier photos and information so that will take a bit of doing. Any members reading this please log in and add more info , photos and weeks. Remember you can change weeks that have been added should you want them back ( as long as they havent been taken by another member)

2009-04-07T13:17:00.004Z

We are now changing over the system finally, and by the end of the weekend we will be able to make the new system live!

We hope that all the people that expressed an interest in joining will do so (we will email them when it's switched over) and that our old members will add weeks once it's ready.

We will need the help of all our members to get this up and running by adding dates, more photos and information or they can contact us with the information and we will add it to their new details.

2009-04-03T07:14:00.005Z

Dar I say this .... we are still working on the new system !! There has been so many holdups that we are all here in the office very frustrated ( an understatement ).

I think that the system will be up and running very soon, but I have heard that a million times before from the web designers/coders!

However, we have been testing it and it does appear though to be almost there so I am hopeful, but we do feel a little silly having told people that it will be ready in a few days about a month or so ago!!

So my apologies to everyone that is waiting ( we have a big list of people that want to join and we promise as soon as we can we will contact you all the very instant it is ready !) and we will continue to be optimisitic that it will be fully functional VERY soon !

2009-03-16T08:08:00.008Z

Well it's Monday morning and we are working on the new site. We are receiving looks of enquriies to join everyday now and I so hope tht it wont be long before we can get it up and running.

We are almost here but I must admit I didnt realise how technical this was until we started the process. Perhaps I was too optimistic in the first palce , but it's neqrly ready and it's easy to say things in hindsight as we all know!

We will be contacating all our old members soon getting them to add weeks to the system and explaining how it will all work. There is a brochure that explains it should anyone want to know more details , CLICK HERE to view the pdf brochure

Prospective members can still email saying they woukld like to join , when its ready and we will contacat them all once it is. After all the more people wanting to join the better the choice

So email us at admin@exchangeholidayhomes.com with " Please let me know when the new system is ready " in the title and we will do so !

Getting there !!

2009-03-13T10:05:00.005Z

As soon as I think that it will be ready , another problem crops up. It seems to be difficult to link the 2 different systems togther , but I think there are just 5 more files to sort out before the it works ! The photos can be uplaoded but they are trying to work out a uniform size for them and then we are in business.

I do wish though that deveolopers would be more pessimistic about the time frames as I have been told so many times "only a few more days" & "almost there" which I pass on to discover it is more complicated !
I then feel responsible for the fact I have told others "only a few nmore days" and that is not the case !

Well back to work and will update when I hav emore news !

2009-03-02T09:21:00.005Z

Well it's an agonising wait to get the new system added to the website. There have been various problems connecting the two systems togther, but I am told that it has been sorted and we are on the final straight!!

It has been quite complicated, as it will be automatic , the new system will calculate all the credits, bookings and you will be able to join direct from the website and add photos, make amendments, add weeks and so on.

This is a big improvment, and it has to be checked thouroughly to make sure everything is working as it should be.

Well I will wait and see, we are over a month behind scedule but I hope that it will be very very soon and we can get on and start our new system !!

Patience is a Virtue ( so I am told!)

2009-02-19T09:29:00.016Z

It's so frustrating , when you are thinking that it is all ready and then something else happens ! I know this is normal with updating websites and I am not at all technical so I dont understand all the techy stuff, but we are all geared up here in the office and ready for our big changeover and still it's being altered!

I am told that most of it is in place and that the delay is connecting up the main database with the new one, a few gremlins here and there. Well I hope that I can report that all will be well in a day or two ( I hav ebeen assured that it just a matter of days)

Once it is ready of course we have to get our members to add weeks and let the new Owners waiting to join know its ready, so it will still be in a transitional stage for a while, I hope that all our members support us at this time and add weeks, because until we have weeks on there the system wont work. So calling all members please help us start this new system off and add some weeks ( you can change them later should you need to and they havnet been taken)

I have pasted below a little video/slide show we did ( first attempt by the team, will be doing a better one shortly we promise !)

2009-02-17T11:59:00.005Z

Well we are still plugging away sorting out the automation of the new credit system and connecting it to our orginal database. I am being assured that it is only days away, so I will keep all informed

We have a good list of people wanting to join once the new system is ready so we are very keen for it get a move on !!

Have a look at our brochure for details of how the system will work

A Long Haul !

2009-02-09T07:39:00.005Z

Well it's been a long haul, getting everything working , but we hope that we will be able to activate the new system by the end of the week.

Ther are at the moment all sorts of things happening on the website and you may find some error/test pages.
Sorry , but all in a good cause!
Once the new system is in place we will be contacting all our members to add weeks so that the system can really get started, but it will take time for that to happen. New members can go straight ahead and add weeks, but may have to be patient before they see a good choice from other members !

We will let everyone know once it is all ready !

Gremilns

2009-01-27T14:21:00.002Z

Well we still have a few gremlins in the system, so we are working on that now.It 's big changeover so it's not surprising, will keep you posted ....still !

2009-01-24T12:19:00.002Z

Update: the new registration system has been loaded so we are hoping that the rest will be mainly done over this weekend.

We are very excited about the new system and hope that all our members will add weeks to start the ball rolling once it is ready

Will keep you all posted !

Uploading this weekend !

2009-01-23T13:39:00.005Z

Our new system is due to be uploaded over this weekend and so we hope that we will be able to invite all our members to add weeks and earn their credits next week !

If you have a Holiday home and want to join ,just email us and we will let you know when the new system is ready !

admin@exchangeholidayhomes.com

2009-01-20T09:28:00.004Z

Well the testing is almost over and we will ( hopefully) be changing over to the new system within days !!

It will take a little time to get all our members to add weeks and to add more photos and so on, so this will be a transitional stage and I hope that everyone will bear with us until all is well.

There are bound to be some hiccups, but in the long run this will make swapping so much more interesting with lots more to choose from.

We have people emailing us every day wanting to be added once the system is up and running so contact us if you want to know when it is ready to view and then you can decide to join if you wish.

After all it is free to join !

Contact admin@exchangeholidayhomes.com

with "Let me know when the new system is ready" in the title bar and we will email you when it is.

We're Excited !

2009-01-08T13:27:00.004Z

Our new Banking system has been made and the developers are now linking it to our system and testing it !

This will open the possiblities for all our members , not to just be able to swap direct, but choose from a much wider choice of holiday homes

We are hoping that it will be ready by the end of next week , but will keep everyone posted, still lots to do !!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Link to the Sunday Mirror Article

2008-12-29T12:14:00.004Z

Here's the link to the article in the Sunday Mirror about Holiday Home Swaps

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sunday-mirror/2008/12/07/try-a-swap-if-you-want-a-change-of-scenery-115875-20953082/

Featured in the Sunday Mirror

2008-12-07T10:53:00.004Z

We have been featured in the Sunday Mirror today in their Homes & Holidays magazine.

In the article about "How to make money out of your Holiday Home" , it suggests the alternative of swapping your Holiday Home.

It shows seven of our exchange properties and points out the benefits of swapping your vacation home.

So if you have a holiday home, join now, it's free to join after all !

New 'Banking' System almost there !

2008-12-05T08:49:00.010Z

We are excited about our new 'banking' system , due to be uploaded very soon !

Although it is a great idea and there is no need to swap the same weeks, the main stumbling block can sometimes be finding a holiday home you want to go to and they to you.

So we are changing and we will be adding a credit system, all members can add weeks ( min 1) that they are happy for other members and their families to use, they will receive credits for each week they bank and then they can use those credits to pick from the whole available list.

This way it means members will have a greater choice, and it will be instant, once they find somewhere, all they have to do is click and then go through the booking process.

We think this will open up the opportunities for holiday home owners to go all over the world, who knows, they may never go back to their own holiday home !!

It will be free to join and there is only a small exchange fee of £67 payable once a swap has been agreed. So can't get much cheaper than that for a holiday !!

The new system will be automated , but we are on hand to help in any way. We hope to have the system connected to the website within the next three weeks, we are just testing in for any gremlins at the moment !

Over 300 members and still counting !!

2008-11-05T08:10:00.008Z

Well, we have reached over 300 members on Exchange Holiday Homes and so we are the largest Holiday Homes Swap website based in the UK. We have swaps in the UK, Europe, USA, South Africa, Ghana, Australia, New Zealand and we are still adding them !

We have been trying to work out what would be the best way of swapping for our members to give them the most choice and we have come up with a "banking" scheme.

We aim to introduce a 'Banking' System where all members 'bank' a week (min 1 week, no max) that they are happy for another member to use, each week will earns credits , which can then be used to select another participating members holiday home on the swap list.

This will enable members to have a large selection of Holiday Homes from all over world to choose from when you fancy a change from your own vacation property.

The options will increase to the whole swap list and members won't have to find someone who wants to swap directly with you.

The credits are worked out mainly by the number of bedrooms the vacation property has, we have kept it as simple as possible but we have allowed for the time of year that the swap takes place ( eg. Peak season, mid season according to your countries seasons)

Members will of course, receive the information and contact details of the person who is going to use their holiday home and all the homes listed are still all holiday homes

We have made a thread on our forum for comments or to share thoughts about the new system and we would appreciate it if people would spare the time to do so.

If you find any problems with the forum we would really appreciate it if you could let us know and we will do our very best to sort it out.

If you have any constructive suggestions, we would be very interested to hear via the forum or if you prefer email us : admin@exchangeholidayhomes.com

We want to make Exchange Holiday Homes the leading Holiday Home swap website and for all our our members to have happy and exciting new holidays worldwide !

Free Membership and New Forum !

2008-09-09T11:45:00.005Z

Well it's been a long time since I have posted on here !

We have updated http://www.exchangeholidayhomes/ and added an brand new forum !

To celebrate the new look we are giving away 100 FREE memberships ( valid for 1 year)

The forum has advice , swap experiences, there is even a thread for direct (primary) home swaps , so take a look and join.

You don't need to be a member of Exchange Holiday Homes to join the forum. We need members as it is very new so take a look now !

Why swap a Holiday Home

2007-01-30T10:06:00.004Z

When we started with Late Getaway 2 years ago it was to promote our own holiday cottages. Since then it has grown and now we advertise holiday homes from all over the world. Speaking to Holiday Home Owners we have found that sometimes it would be fun to take a break somewhere other than our own holiday home. So we started http://www.exchangeholidayhomes.com/.

Unlike swapping your own home, holiday homes are much easier and you don't have to swap at the same time !

We would love to hear from anyone that has swapped their holiday home and how it has been for them, the pros and the cons !

I recently swapped a weekend in Dorset for my cottage so that I could take my daughters to a concert in Poole to see Panic! at the Disco ( a band that my daughters are into, not my cup of tea I must admit, but I remember when I was their age ......!)

It was great and didn't cost me a thing, I got to meet the really nice owner and she is coming to my cottage in Feb . I am now having a look to see if I can find somewhere for a break in the Autumn , a bit further afield this time and without the kids !