This study explores the experiences and perceived values of home exchangers in Budapest to fill a significant gap in the academic literature regarding peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation platforms and aims to answer the research question: What role does home exchange play in catering to special interest tourists seeking personalized, immersive experiences in Budapest?
The research has applied the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews conducted with nine home exchange hosts in Budapest.
The findings indicate that besides economic benefits, users value the opportunity to experience destinations as locals, with hosts and guests frequently highlighting the importance of authentic cultural exchange and personal connections.
The main limitation of this study is the small sample size of the research. As the study applied a qualitative instrument (semi-structured interviews) with a small sample, the results are not generalizable. Furthermore, a possible selection bias needs to be highlighted as a limitation since the participants responded to an open call for interviews within a home exchange community, and the voluntary interviewees are all enthusiastic members of the community wishing to contribute. Finally, the results relate to the specific Hungarian (Budapest) context and would require further research to examine a broader context with a larger sample.
The article does not include formal perspectives from tourism practitioners or policymakers; however, home exchange hosts actively participate in and shape the home exchange ecosystem; therefore, they can be considered practitioner-adjacent stakeholders. Their insights add practical knowledge on how home exchange works in real-world settings as well as industry-relevant trends, particularly around trust, guest expectations, commercialization risks and strategic considerations for home exchange platform operators and regulators.
The results suggest that home exchange can be a sustainable tourism alternative, reducing overtourism and fostering localized, slow travel experiences.
From the perspective of special interest tourism in Budapest, this study is particularly important as it highlights how home exchange caters to travelers seeking niche experiences that go beyond typical tourist activities. Special interest tourists, who often prioritize unique, personalized and immersive travel experiences, find home exchange an appealing option for engaging with local cultures and communities in a meaningful way. This study’s added value also lies in its focus on a largely overlooked area within P2P accommodation research – home exchange’s role in enhancing guest experiences through noncommercial, community-driven travel. By addressing this research gap, the study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how different P2P platforms cater to distinct user expectations and cultural values, thus broadening the scope of tourism literature and offering valuable implications for future research and platform development.
Introduction
Considering special interest tourism (SIT) as a counterpoint to mass tourism, which highlights new forms of tourism that have the potential to meet the needs of tourists and hosts (Douglas et al., 2001; Trauer, 2006), the starting point of this study is that home exchange can be seen as a segment of SIT, as claimed by Forno and Garibaldi (2014), since it contributes to satisfying a special need of tourists seeking personalized and immersive experiences.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodations – lodging arrangements based on direct contact between the hosts and the guests, facilitated through online platforms – have the potential to contribute meaningfully to the tourist experience. This article focuses on the use of home exchange, a particular example of P2P accommodation, in which every guest is also a potential host and vice versa. The practice of home exchange is examined in the context of the vibrant capital city of Hungary, and the study aims to provide a better understanding of this form of special interest tourism.
There are several home exchange platforms which have the same structure. In exchange for a membership fee, they provide the opportunity for their members to publish the description of their homes and create their own profile on the homepage in order to get in contact with each other and conclude exchange arrangements, which are either reciprocal – simultaneous or non-simultaneous – or non-reciprocal. The membership fee includes assistance and guarantees for hosts and for guests. Another important feature of these systems is the possibility of rating the different aspects of the stay by both parties (guests and hosts) and providing comments on each other after concluding an exchange. These are published on the homepage and constitute a source of information for other members to be used for future exchanges. Whereas the most common type of exchange is when guests use the property in the absence of the host, hospitality exchange is also possible: in this case, the guests can use a bedroom or part of the accommodation privately with access to common areas shared with the host. Focusing on users of a home exchange platform, we aim to provide an answer to the following research question: What role does home exchange play in catering to special interest tourists seeking personalized, immersive experiences in Budapest?
Literature review
Within the research on P2P accommodations, questions related to the use of home exchange platforms have been less explored than the role of well-known companies offering short-term rentals, such as Airbnb, and non-profit hospitality networks, such as Couchsurfing (Casado-Diaz et al., 2020), which have been analyzed more extensively (Cheng et al., 2019; Dolnicar, 2021; Garay-Tamajón et al., 2022; Medina-Hernandez et al., 2020; Kuhzady et al., 2020). However, when analyzing the system of home exchange, we can use findings related to Couchsurfing and Airbnb for comparison as reference points. Even if we can observe some similarities, such as the use of private homes to offer tourist accommodation in return for a benefit, it is the expected (monetary or nonmonetary) benefit which marks a clear difference between these platforms. Monetary benefit (the rental fee) is the key driver of Airbnb hosts, who often advertise their rental properties on different platforms. In contrast to Airbnb, Couchsurfing is a non-profit form of P2P accommodation, where accommodation is offered by hosts who are also present in their property. In this hospitality network, travelers meet with locals, who assist them in exploring their destinations (Kuhzady et al., 2020). As a system, home exchange resembles a short-term rental, since the members of an organization who pay a membership fee get access to short-term accommodation, a key difference is that the benefit of hosts in the system of home exchange is not monetizable. Home exchange also has strong similarities with free hospitality networks such as Couchsurfing, but the membership fee and the absence of the host in most exchanges are a clear distinctive feature. Jung et al. (2016) emphasize the difference between the nature of the information shared by users of Couchsurfing and Airbnb: while couchsurfers disclose information about themselves and discuss their host or guest experience, the information shared by Airbnb users focuses on practicalities and the characteristics of the accommodation. Users of home exchange platforms share both types of information: the description of their profile and the detailed information about their accommodation illustrated with their own photos.
Hamilton et al. (2022) highlight the dual characteristics of home exchange, stating that even if home exchangers attach an entrepreneurial meaning to their homes, interpersonal relationships and mutual trust remain their key features. Forno and Garibaldi (2014) define home exchange as the modern interpretation of the old form of bartering in the context of tourism, which consists literally of the mutual exchange of one’s home for varying periods. They argue for considering the use of home exchange as a form of special interest tourism and demonstrate that those who register on home exchange digital platforms are not only driven by the idea of saving on accommodation costs but also share a strong passion for travel using this form of accommodation. Their research, carried out in 2013 among Italian users of the HomeLink platform (N = 156) analyzes the motivation of the platform users and demonstrates the importance of shared values such as trust and authentic tourist experiences. Besides these values, Casado-Diaz et al. (2020) found in a literature review that domesticity (feeling at home) and sociality (meaningful interactions) contribute to the uniqueness of the home exchange experience. Although the majority of research emphasizes the added values home exchanges can have as opposed to commercial accommodation, some negative tendencies are also identified, such as the threat of over-commercialization of the platform (Hamilton et al., 2022), the commodification of the home and the personal sphere (Gyimóthy, 2016) and the commercialization of authenticity (Sigala, 2019).
In contrast with the proliferation of Airbnb offers in Budapest, elevated to around 13,000 accommodations at the end of the year 2023 (Casado-Diaz et al., 2020; Könnyid, 2024), home exchange remains a niche accommodation sector in the case of Hungary.
Research methods
The research described in this paper is part of a mixed-method research project investigating the home exchange phenomenon from different perspectives through three instruments: semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and content analysis. In this paper, the primary instrument used to answer the research question: What role does home exchange play in catering to special interest tourists seeking personalized, immersive experiences in Budapest? was the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews, since they offer a rich source of information to explore the role home exchange plays as a SIT immersive experience in the context of Budapest.
Interview sample
Our research included nine semi-structured interviews with hosts from Budapest who responded to our search for volunteers for our interview research. Their main motivations for joining a home exchange community, as they explained in the interviews, are summarized in Table 1, where respondents are ordered by the length of their home exchange experience.
Participants of the qualitative research: summary of key information
| Interviewee (pseudonym) | Membership | Motivation for joining the home exchange community |
|---|---|---|
| Gizella | Less than a year | Access to high-standard, full apartments at no cost. Convenient use of a separate property without hosting in her own home |
| Johanna | 1 year | Affordable travel with family and creating personal connections |
| Anna | 1 year | Cultural exposure and shared family experiences while traveling affordably |
| Nora | 1 year | New possibilities: travel with her companion to destinations she has never thought they would get to |
| Arnold | 2 years | Flexible, secure and affordable way to travel for extended periods. Attracted by the community aspect |
| Maria | 2 years | Affordability while working remotely in expensive cities like London |
| Barbara | 3 years | Joined when planning a visit to her son studying abroad. Loves the freedom and affordability of exploring new places with her family |
| Gyula | 5 years | Affordability of family trips with three children. Opportunity to meet friendly people and build trust |
| Krisztina | 11 years | Opportunity to travel affordably and maintain social connections. Values the personal element and cultural experiences |
| Interviewee (pseudonym) | Membership | Motivation for joining the home exchange community |
|---|---|---|
| Gizella | Less than a year | Access to high-standard, full apartments at no cost. Convenient use of a separate property without hosting in her own home |
| Johanna | 1 year | Affordable travel with family and creating personal connections |
| Anna | 1 year | Cultural exposure and shared family experiences while traveling affordably |
| Nora | 1 year | New possibilities: travel with her companion to destinations she has never thought they would get to |
| Arnold | 2 years | Flexible, secure and affordable way to travel for extended periods. Attracted by the community aspect |
| Maria | 2 years | Affordability while working remotely in expensive cities like London |
| Barbara | 3 years | Joined when planning a visit to her son studying abroad. Loves the freedom and affordability of exploring new places with her family |
| Gyula | 5 years | Affordability of family trips with three children. Opportunity to meet friendly people and build trust |
| Krisztina | 11 years | Opportunity to travel affordably and maintain social connections. Values the personal element and cultural experiences |
Source(s): Authors’ own work
The interviewees represent different age groups (Arnold is a recent graduate, whereas Krisztina is retired), and they have been members for different periods between less than 1 year (Gizella) and 11 years (Krisztina). Not all the interviewees mentioned their profession, but among those who did, there is an engineer, a sales professional, a researcher who often travels abroad as a guest professor, a media expert, a sociologist and a professional translator. The location of their homes also differs, ranging from very central (Maria: very central square and Nora: area of the castle district) to remote locations (Johanna: 1 h from the city center), including homes in central areas close to the Danube on both sides (Krisztina, Gyula and Anna) and slightly less central residential areas, like Óbuda (Gizella and Arnold) or the 11th district (Barbara). Two interviewees use a second home for home exchange purposes, whereas seven interviewees use their primary homes.
The interviews took place online in October and November 2024, carried out through Microsoft Teams or Zoom and recorded with the consent of the interviewees. The average length of the interviews was 16 min. The audio recordings were transcribed with Riverside software and translated from Hungarian to English using automated translation tools, corrected by the authors where clarification was needed. All data allowing to identify the interviewees were carefully eliminated, and pseudonyms were created for the same purpose.
Findings
The interviews provide a rich source of information concerning the purposes of home exchange guests’ visits to Budapest and also paint a nuanced picture of the practical and emotional added value of the home exchange experience according to Budapest hosts and guests.
Diversity of travel purposes
The interviewees were asked about the main motives of their guests’ visits to Budapest. The answers are summarized in Table 2.
Main perceived purposes of guests’ visit to Budapest in the framework of a home exchange
| Interviewee (pseudonym) | Main purposes of their guests for visiting Budapest and recommendations as hosts (if applies) |
|---|---|
| Gyula | Family friendly attractions: playgrounds, zoo, Varosliget and museums |
| Gizella | General sightseeing purposes; attendance of a training in Budapest; spending time with kids (guests asked for recommendations for family visits, thermal baths and Christmas markets) |
| Arnold | General tourism, dental care treatments, visits from Hungarians living abroad and visits of Hungarian hosts from outside Budapest |
| Krisztina | Sziget Festival attendees, transit travelers. Guests often explore cultural or atypical locations based on Krisztina’s recommendations |
| Barbara | Mostly general sightseeing, though some guests have visited for personal events (e.g. birthdays). Barbara provides detailed local recommendations (e.g. pastry shops and hidden gems) and suggests third-party guides for broader tourist information |
| Anna | Mostly general sightseeing; some guests come with specific plans like revisiting family memories or unique events |
| Maria | Cultural tourism, sports events and holidays; e.g. Athletics World Championships and Formula 1 fans |
| Johanna | Mostly general sightseeing; visitors appreciate the spacious accommodation for families |
| Nora | Recommends personal favorite places instead of tourist places to be avoided in Budapest (e.g. less frequented thermal baths, specialty coffee shops and wine-tasting in Etyek) |
| Interviewee (pseudonym) | Main purposes of their guests for visiting Budapest and recommendations as hosts (if applies) |
|---|---|
| Gyula | Family friendly attractions: playgrounds, zoo, Varosliget and museums |
| Gizella | General sightseeing purposes; attendance of a training in Budapest; spending time with kids (guests asked for recommendations for family visits, thermal baths and Christmas markets) |
| Arnold | General tourism, dental care treatments, visits from Hungarians living abroad and visits of Hungarian hosts from outside Budapest |
| Krisztina | Sziget Festival attendees, transit travelers. Guests often explore cultural or atypical locations based on Krisztina’s recommendations |
| Barbara | Mostly general sightseeing, though some guests have visited for personal events (e.g. birthdays). Barbara provides detailed local recommendations (e.g. pastry shops and hidden gems) and suggests third-party guides for broader tourist information |
| Anna | Mostly general sightseeing; some guests come with specific plans like revisiting family memories or unique events |
| Maria | Cultural tourism, sports events and holidays; e.g. Athletics World Championships and Formula 1 fans |
| Johanna | Mostly general sightseeing; visitors appreciate the spacious accommodation for families |
| Nora | Recommends personal favorite places instead of tourist places to be avoided in Budapest (e.g. less frequented thermal baths, specialty coffee shops and wine-tasting in Etyek) |
Source(s): Authors’ own work
In all cases, the results show that tourists’ motivations for visiting Budapest are remarkably varied, and there is no common purpose that is shared by home exchangers.
Connectivity
All the interviews without exception reflect the enthusiasm of the interviewees about home exchange – this might be a reason why they volunteered for the interview. As phrased by Barbara: “It’s like everything has opened up for us; nothing is impossible.” Or, with Nora’s words: “Home exchange literally changed our life.” Nevertheless, the interviewees’ enthusiasm is not merely linked to the affordability of high-standard accommodation for their own use within the system, although it is a key factor for them in joining a home exchange community, as shown in Table 1. Besides this economic benefit, mentioned by all interviewees and emphasized by interviewees with larger families or young children (Gyula, Anna and Johanna), all participants link their positive feelings about the system of home exchange with the possibility of personal connection between hosts and guests: “There is so much more emotion in it from both sides, which makes it so magical” (Johanna). “The biggest result was that we made a very good Icelandic friend” (Krisztina). “This is about people getting friends in Europe, or even worldwide” (Gyula). Some of the interviewees explained that hosting means much more for them than an obligation embedded in the system, which leads to future benefits, namely the possibility of getting hosted when they travel: “This kind of care should be included in such exchanges, and I always try to give this to them” (Anna). A characteristic feature of home exchange is that hosts are not hospitality professionals, and Johanna compares this role of having home exchange guests to “hosting a family member.” She also adds that she was surprised at how much the guests appreciated the detailed information she provided.
The interviewees’ enthusiasm for the affordability aspect and the connection with guests is in line with the dual characteristics of home exchange as described by Hamilton et al. (2022), stating that its key features are the entrepreneurial spirit of home exchangers combined with the importance attributed to interpersonal relationship and mutual trust.
Shared values
The interviews give a deeper insight into the interpretation of the shared values of the home exchange system. The principle of home exchange would not suit the majority of people. It is Gyula’s remark that best illustrates this statement: “I talked to many of my friends about it and nine out of ten completely rejected the idea.” The shared special interest lies in the shared values, including an open-minded attitude. Gyula’s insight sheds light on this attitude:
They [the friends] say, how do you even think that they [the guests] go to your home and sleep in your own bed? And you even let them in, what happens if they steal the picture from the wall and so on, they say stuff like that. I say I don’t have pictures on the wall worth millions, and if I sleep in a hotel how many people have slept in that bed, I tell them that. And I am not a prudish personality who has secrets or is afraid that a child will make my child's room dirty, my own kids do that too.
Arnold and Maria emphasize that among shared values, mutual trust – embedded in the system – plays a crucial role: “It feels safer and more secure because you know others are trusting you with their home as well” (Arnold). “It’s about everyone thinking the same way about this concept. You take care of their home because you expect the same in return” (Maria).
The interviewees praise the concept of home exchange, encouraging personal connections: “It is like having an aunt that lives abroad whom I am happy to see again” (Johanna). Personal feelings have an important role, and Maria’s following insight highlights the role of intuition in accepting or rejecting a home exchange request: “When I get requests on home exchange, I look at people’s profiles, and I check what they wrote about themselves, and if for any reason I feel like I do not like them, I simply say no to them” (Maria). This shows the importance of personal sympathy as a factor for the hosts to conclude an exchange.
Several interviewees explicitly compare home exchange with other types of accommodation. Maria emphasizes authenticity and mutual involvement as a host and a guest, which differentiates home exchange from platforms such as Airbnb: “Airbnbs often feel artificial, with fluffy pillows and decor meant to mimic home. In a home exchange, you can feel it’s a real home that’s lived in.” “If you pay for something, like with Airbnb, people tend to think they can do anything, but with a home exchange, people respect each other’s homes more” (Maria).
A recurring theme across the interviews was the contrast between the impersonal nature of commercial accommodation and the warm, authentic feeling of staying in someone’s home. Most interviewees emphasize their emotions in this regard or highlight the value of this personalized touch:
“I really like the real, homelike homes” (Maria). “This is much more than being hosted in someone’s home or hosting them in mine, this property is like I live there, it is not a cold something” (Johanna). “In a hotel, you might have all the amenities, but it’s just another building. Staying in someone’s home feels different – you feel connected to their life, to the city” (Anna).
According to Anna, the members who choose her home have high-quality expectations she is happy to fulfill, and she also expects similarly high standards:
I appreciate people that come, they can be grateful, and everyone is more careful about others’ stuff than about their own. I felt that in everyone. And I feel that those who come here, they don’t come here because they can’t do it financially but they’re looking for another quality standard.
Finally, when the interviewees mention their own recommendations given to their guests, they also shed light on some of their guests’ will to avoid acting as typical tourists. Gizella noted how the local context of her apartment in Óbuda has added value for guests: “My flat is in a residential area, not a touristy part of Budapest. Guests told me they loved walking to the local market and seeing how people live here in the district.” Nora, who lives in a touristic area, gives her guests a guide on how to avoid tourist places. Johanna recommends restaurants with “real” Hungarian dishes. The following example recalled by Anna illustrates that behaving as locals do not mean an imitation of the locals but a sensation of freedom to act as they feel like: “Some Dutch guests almost cried when they could ride the bike to the 80,000-forint worth opera show they came to see and did not have to take the taxi.”
Concerns about increasing commercialization of the platform
The interviews reveal specific concerns about the platform’s increasing commercialization. Especially members with longer experience perceive this phenomenon. Krisztina mentions her own travel experience when she stayed in a flat used for short-term rental and for home exchange alike. “It was so different from what we were accustomed to in home exchange, that we even asked if we could take the cookies which were on the table for free or if we had to pay for them.” The use of cleaning fees by some of the members is the source of fierce debates among the members of the home exchange communities, notably on the related forums and Facebook groups. Our interviewees are also divided about this issue: Krisztina expresses negative feelings in this regard: “It has become a thing to ask for money in exchange for the cleaning. We had to pay once, although it was not that big of a sum. My husband suggested that we do the same … but I don’t like it either, and if it’s possible, I wouldn’t choose a place like this.” Maria expresses the same opinion: “I don’t like the idea of charging guests for cleaning.” Nora says the same, “I clean my house anyway, so it would be strange to ask money for changing the sheets” and so does Barbara, who claims: “We always clean thoroughly, and it’s part of the hosting experience for me. If people start adding cleaning fees, it takes away from the spirit of home exchange.”
This issue highlights a perceived drift from the original ethos of trust, community and personal connection that made home exchange appealing to the interviewees. Nevertheless, the counter-arguments of the two interviewees who do charge a cleaning fee are also convincing: Anna explains that she offers her home for guests during a limited period of the year when the whole family moves out to a summer holiday home, and she recurs to the services of a cleaning professional to help her clean her home before each visit in order to offer a spotlessly clean accommodation for the next guests. Johanna has the same argument: she offers a large property ready to accommodate large groups of up to ten people, and her experience is that guests do not mind paying a cleaning fee. Apart from this issue concerning shared values, Anna and Johanna’s views do not differ from the other interviewees’.
Conclusions
Our research investigated the role of home exchange in meeting the needs of tourists seeking personalized, immersive experiences in Budapest. Our findings indicate that home exchange plays a pivotal role in fulfilling these expectations. By offering an alternative to traditional travel accommodations, home exchange aligns with the principles of SIT, which emphasizes authentic, relational and meaningful interactions. The added value of home exchange lies in its ability to harmonize dual motivations: affordability and personal connection. For many participants, particularly families and individuals conscious of travel costs, home exchange provides a financially accessible form of accommodation. Beyond its economic benefits, it offers a platform for building trust and fostering meaningful interpersonal relationships. This dual focus aligns with the evolving definition of SIT, which highlights situational and relational participation as central to the tourist experience (Wen and Wu, 2020).
Similarly to previous research (Casado-Diaz et al., 2020; Hamilton et al., 2022), a key feature of home exchange has been found to be its ability to facilitate authentic and immersive tourism. Unlike commercial accommodations that often feel impersonal or artificial, home exchange creates opportunities for travelers to engage with their destination by connecting with hosts and their environment. The emotional and psychological dimensions of home exchange further enrich its appeal. All the participants of the research agree that the act of sharing homes fosters mutual trust, gratitude and care, transforming the travel experience into a reciprocal exchange of hospitality and respect. Hosts often find fulfillment in preparing their homes for guests, while travelers appreciate the opportunity to live as locals. Despite these benefits, home exchange remains a niche activity due to differences in conceptions about trust and sharing personal spaces. Concerns about the commercialization of home exchange systems indicate a fear among community members of losing shared values.
In summary, based on the interviews, home exchange not only caters to special interest tourists but may redefine their experience by offering a model of travel rooted in authenticity, affordability and connection. In the context of Budapest, it may provide a powerful means for tourists to engage with the destination.
Although the article does not include formal perspectives from tourism practitioners or policymakers, it does have implications for the tourism industry as it adds practical knowledge about peer-to-peer accommodation. The results suggest that home exchange can be a sustainable tourism alternative, reducing overtourism and fostering localized, slow travel experiences.
Limitations of the study and future perspectives
This study is subject to several limitations that should be acknowledged. First, the relatively small sample size constitutes a primary limitation, which constrains the generalizability of the findings. Given the qualitative nature of the research design employing semi-structured interviews, the results are context-specific and exploratory rather than representative. Additionally, potential selection bias must be considered, as participants were recruited through an open call within a home exchange community. Consequently, those who volunteered were predominantly enthusiastic members motivated to contribute, potentially skewing the data toward more favorable perceptions. Lastly, the study’s findings are situated within the specific cultural and geographical context of Budapest, Hungary. Future research should aim to incorporate larger and more diverse samples across multiple national contexts to enable comparative analysis and enhance the external validity of the results in relation to global trends.
