Home Swappers Newsletter: Issue 14
February/March 2002
http://www.homebase-hols.com
Newsletter Archive: http://www.homebase-hols.com/news.shtml

Home Swappers Newsletter is published bi-monthly to provide information on home exchange holidays for current and recent members of Home Base Holidays, enquirers, Newsletter subscribers and journalists. If you do not want to receive further Newsletters please send us a message with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line plus your name in the message:

mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

Topics Covered:

1. New Year Membership Discounts & Directory Deadline
      (a) New Members - 25% Discount Until 21 February 2002
      (b) Renewals - 40% Discount on Internet Option
      (c) March Print Directory Deadline - 21 February 2002
  2. Exchange to Harry Potter Land!
      (a) Harry Potter Film Locations to Visit
      (b) UK Home Exchange Offers Near Harry Potter Locations
      (c) Recommended Websites for Further Information
           (i)   About United Kingdom for Visitors
           (ii)  BBC Newsround (Children's News)
           (iii) TravelBritain
           (iv) LondonTown.com
           (v)  VacationKids.com
 3. New Specialist Agency Affiliates
      (a) Discounts for Home Base Holidays Members
      (b) Our First Specialist Affiliates
           (i)  Long-Term Exchanges
           (ii) Gay Home & Hospitality Exchanges
 4. 'Home from Home' TV Series
 5. Home Swap Tips
      (a) Attract Attention with Your Description
      (b) Keep Looking, Keep Sending Offers, Be Flexible
      (c) Newsletter Publicity for Your Exchange Offer
 6.  New Website Enhancements
      (a) Search by Exchange Type
      (b) Search by Activity Themes
  7. Home Swappers Archives
  8. Newsletter Contributions
  9. Subscriptions

 1. New Year Membership Discounts & Directory Deadline

      (a) New Members - 25% Discount Until 21 February 2002

Hoping to arrange an exchange this year? As it can take some time to find a suitable swap and make your arrangements, it pays to join well ahead of the dates you want to exchange. To encourage new members to join early there is a 25% discount on the  internet option rate until 21 February - in time to also have your listing included in the March directory. The discount rate is £28.50. For rates of exchange for pounds sterling in other currencies check the Oanda currency converter: http://www.oanda.com

      (b) Renewals - 40% Discount on Internet Option

Listing expired? Log on to the Member Area to easily renew on-line (£22.80 only for internet option membership renewal).
www.homebase-hols.com/login.shtml

Forget your User ID or password? Contact us, giving your name and address, and we will forward this information to you: info@homebase-hols.com

      (c) March Print Directory Deadline - 21 February 2002

Most members now choose the internet only option but we still do have a small number of members without internet access who use the print directories to read home exchange listings. Directories are published in November, March and June. If you are not already a current member, join by 21 February for immediate listing on the website and publication in the March directory. Listings received later will be included in the June directory.

www.homebase-hols.com/join.shtml

  2. Exchange to Harry Potter Land!

Recently I read a title on an American website - 'Visit Harry Potter Land,  formerly known as Great Britain'. Not having children of the age to be reading Harry Potter books, and not having yet seen the film, it was a surprise to find a platform for our North London suburban trains at Kings Cross Station had now become Platform 9 3/4 for Hogwarts Express!

      (a) Harry Potter Film Locations to Visit

There will undoubtedly be organised tours to take in the film locations that are open to the public but, home exchangers, being such independent travellers, will no doubt be able to arrange their own visits to fit around other activities when on vacation in the UK. There are links to useful sites below (c) to provide further information.

      (b) UK Home Exchange Offers Near Harry Potter Locations

So what does Harry Potter have to do with home exchange? Not a lot! But you will find a large number of very attractive home swap offers throughout the UK with many within easy access of one of the film locations (for those who are interested). Although I believe that locations in Scotland were also used in the film (perhaps members will let us know), those we have found are all in England. Whether you are interested in Harry Potter or not, if you are looking for an exchange to England especially, you can easily check the listings by county by clicking the link to Europe under the search box on our website, then England. You will then see a list of counties where there are current listings. Harry Potter film locations include London plus the counties of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Berkshire (there will be others!). Check out the useful map on the Travel Britain site (iii below) if you are unfamiliar with the location of any counties.

Site Search for Visitors:
www.homebase-hols.com/preview.shtml

Home Base Holidays Members Login:
www.homebase-hols.com/login.shtml

      (c) Recommended Websites for Further Information

      (i)  About United Kingdom for Visitors - Harry Potter locations to
       visit (at last count - 11)
       http://gouk.about.com/library/weekly/aa010702a.htm
      (ii)  BBC Newsround (Children's News) - includes map showing
      locations. Search  'Harry Potter locations' (1st link)
       http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews
      (iii) TravelBritain - the Official Site for Americans Traveling to
       Britain. Includes link to the Harry Potter movie map
       www.travelbritain.org/
       and a a map of the UK with links to counties in England, Scotland,
       Wales and Northern Ireland
       www.visitbritain.com/usa/maps/
       (iv) LondonTown.com - the official internet site for London
       www.Londontown.com
       (v)  VacationKids.com - a US family travel reservation center
       www.VacationKids.com

   3. New Specialist Agency Affiliates

We are always looking for new ways to give Home Base Holidays a wider choice of exchange offers. Although usually this is through various efforts to reach new potential members directly and increase visitors to the site, we are now developing partnerships with other closely related businesses for the benefit of all. Our first partners also provide a home exchange service but, unlike Home Base Holidays which is open to anyone, these are specialist agencies with a specific client base.

      (a) Discounts for Home Base Holidays Members

Each specialist home exchange agency partner agrees to provide a discount membership rate or other special offer to current Home Base Holidays members in return for the same. As each specialist agency is restricted in some way only a percentage of our members will be able to take up any particular offer. However, we intend to find partner agencies from a wide range of specialisms - by profession, age, special needs, etc - in order to give many members the chance to list on the second site for more home exchange opportunities.

      (b) Our First Specialist Affiliates

           (i) Long-Term Exchanges - this agency specialises in long-term exchanges (average 8 months to one year) for  academics. Current Home Base Holidays members looking for longer exchanges can join the agency free of charge and don't have to be academics to take advantage of the offer.

           (ii) Gay Home & Hospitality Exchanges -  the second agency is the
world's largest specialist gay and lesbian home exchange and hospitality agency. Home Base Holidays members are offered a 35% discount off the
regular rate of £39 for a 2-year membership.

New and renewal Home Base Holidays members will be given details on how to claim special offers from specialist agency partners but, if you are a current member and either of these first offers are of interest, please contact us giving your name and User ID and we will send you the links and how to claim the special offers:

   4. 'Home from Home' TV Series

A number of UK members and subscribers will have watched some of the 25
programmes on home exchange that were shown on Channel 4 late afternoon in October/November last year. Some Home Base Holidays members who took part in programmes were mentioned in the last Home Swappers Newsletter (www.homebase-hols.com/news13.shtml). There are 10 more programmes that are meant to be shown 'early in 2002' but Channel 4 did not have a firm schedule for when they will be broadcast at the time of writing. The suggestion was to 'keep an eye out on the listings mags'. This we will be doing as we particularly don't want to miss the programmes that focus on Home Base Holidays members' exchanges. Thanks again to all members who took part in the series.

   5. Home Swap Tips

      (a) Attract Attention with Your Description

Both members and visitors to the Home Base Holidays website will know that when you do a search you will first see pages of 10 brief listings per page. The most important information for each listing is given - town/country, dates of exchange, number of people in the exchange party, destinations, duration plus a descriptive summary of the exchange offer. These brief listings enable you to quickly check for the most likely exchange offers and then click on the town/country link to see full descriptive listings for all that are of interest.

The descriptive summary included in the brief listings consists of the first few words (13 words on average) from the description given in the full listing. When we edit listings for style and consistency before releasing them on the site we try to find a phrase from the description entered by a member that seems to encapsulate one of the most attractive features of the exchange offer. There are separate fields for the basic information on number of bedrooms and bathrooms, number of persons the home will accommodate, etc and, generally, it is better to not repeat this type of information in the important first few words in the description that will appear in the summary.

For some listings it will be the home itself that is most important (perhaps it is a period home with original features or an ultra modern architect designed home); for others it is the location that may best attract interest (one home may be near several well known attractions while for another it will be its peaceful isolated location that's the attraction). Here are a few brief summaries from very recent listings, picked at random, from many attractive offers in the UK. These are fortunate members who appear to 'offer it all' - unique homes plus great locations but please don't feel that no one would be interested in your home if it doesn't quite match these offers. Every home and area has its own attractions and most members are looking for a home that's a good base for the places they want to visit or activities they want to pursue.

HE11320 - Located in Dartmoor National Park this is an extensively restored
Georgian property ...
HE12384 - A 600 year old house in rural Kent, but only three minutes from the Channel Tunnel ...
HE7904   - Located in funky multi-ethnic area close to Portobellow & Notting Hill. A purpose ...
HE11158 - Our home overlooks the sea & has its own direct beach access. It has been designed ...
HE12376 - Beautiful traditional fishermans cottage, 10 steps from the sea. Fully modernised ...
HE11262 - My place is in the tower of a beautiful converted 100 year old house in a leafy ...

Consider the short phrase that you feel best summarises your own offer and, if you are a current member, do feel free to make any changes you think would improve your listing and attract more interest. Note: visitors and members can use the Detailed Search facility, Find Listing by Member ID, to enter any of the reference IDs above to view a listing in full.

Visitor Search: www.homebase-hols.com/preview.shtml
Member Login: www.homebase-hols.com/login.shtml

      (b) Keep Looking, Keep Sending Offers, Be Flexible

For the best chances of finding a suitable swap it is always important to be
pro-active rather than wait for offers to flood in. You may well receive an attractive offer from another member that you decide to pursue but, in the
meantime, contact as many members with your exchange offer as you want
(remembering of course to let any who express interest in your offer know as
soon as possible whether you want to go ahead with the exchange). Try to be as open on destinations and exact dates as you can be so that you don't put off members with very attractive offers from contacting you. Check the site often for new listings since your last search.

Although the short-haul cheap fares airlines appear to be booming it is taking much longer for long-haul air travel to get back to pre September 2001 levels. Being based in London we are very much aware of the combined effect of the foot & mouth disease crisis in Britain last year (now over) plus the slow-down in visitors, particularly from the USA and Canada, since September has had on the UK tourist industry. As a result there are still many bargain air fares across the Atlantic. This newsletter has had rather a focus on exchange offers available in the UK and there could never be a better time for members in other countries to find a great home swap here. Of course there are attractive offers in all countries - check them out!
Visitor Search: www.homebase-hols.com/preview.shtml

      (c) Newsletter Publicity for Your Exchange Offer

This issue of Home Swappers is unusual in that it doesn't include the normal
input from members in the way of exchange stories, tips and questions. One of the best ways to give your exchange offer some extra publicity is to send us your useful feedback, whether a short article on your last exchange or just some ideas you feel would help other members when making home swap arrangements. This input is particularly useful for subscribers not familiar with the home exchange concept and for first time exchangers. We include your User ID reference and location so that readers can easily find your listing. The newsletters are also archived on the website and, from our site statistics, we know that many visitors do spend some time reading past issues.

If your exchange dates are drawing near, or you do want an exchange to a
specific location and are having trouble finding a suitable swap, we are also happy to include a mention with your User ID in the next newsletter to give your offer extra publicity. The next newsletter will be published on 1 April so, if you need this extra circulation, please let us know by 29 March at the latest:

  6.  New Website Enhancements

We are always looking for ways to make searches easier and quicker and feedback from members and site visitors is valuable when deciding which changes or additions to have made to the site. Amongst several other changes we have recently commissioned (and you will shortly see on the site) are:

      (a) Search by Exchange Type

Although the majority of members are looking for a home exchange there are additional options - hospitality exchange, weekend exchange, house sitting offered, house sitting wanted, bed and breakfast offered, rental offered. A new search facility will enable you to search for listings offering any of these options.

      (b) Search by Activity Themes

Members are able to indicate if their location suits a particular themed holiday - boating, fishing, golfing, horse riding, skiing, tennis and walking. There is already a search option to find listings by theme but, as yet, only one theme can be chosen per listing. As many locations will suit more than one of these holiday themes we hope to soon offer the choice to indicate any number of themes in a listing.

  7. Home Swappers Archives

If you miss any issues of Home Swappers you can read back editions on the website:

http://www.homebase-hols.com/news.shtml

  8. Newsletter Contributions

If you have had a home exchange we would be pleased to receive your contributions for the Newsletter - short articles about your exchange experiences and tips for those new to the idea of swapping homes. Members' articles include HE reference numbers to give added publicity for their exchange offers. We also welcome questions from all considering home exchange for the first time.

Information on travel related websites or other travel bargains which could be of interest to readers of Home Swappers are also appreciated.

Happy Home Swapping in 2002

Lois Sealey

mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

 9. Subscription Information

We are very happy for you to forward Home Swappers to friends and colleagues who may be interested in home exchange but the newsletter must be sent in full. All Home Swappers content is copyright and cannot be used in any form without written permission from Home Base Holidays.

To subscribe, send us a message with your name and e-mail address and 'Subscribe' in the subject line.

To unsubscribe, send a message with your name and e-mail address and 'Remove from mailing list' in the subject line.

mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

Copyright © 2002 Home Base Holidays

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HOME BASE HOLIDAYS, 7 Park Ave, London N13 5PG, England
tel: +44(0)20 8886 8752
mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com
http://www.homebase-hols.com
1985-2002: 17th year providing a home exchange holiday service worldwide