If you have a flight in the evening, it can be a real drag if you stay in a hotel and have to check out in the morning, then spend the day in an unfamiliar city, with all your holiday luggage.

With home exchange, you don’t have this problem. It makes your time spent travelling a lot more flexible.

The same applies if you do a vehicle exchange too. Clearly, you have to enter into an agreement of trust with the other party. But it frees you up from some of the time obligations and constraints that can cause problems if you’re dealing with a paid-for service. However, make sure that if you’re doing a home exchange that is precisely simultaneous, it can be important to check not only the date, but also the hours of arrival.

In 2007, the average cost of a hotel room in Europe was a staggering figure. One single night in a 3 star hotel in Moscow would have cost you £194*. So if you went with your family for, let´s say, two weeks, that would amount to a colossal £2,716. That´s nearly four thousand dollars - $3,911.21. Pretty incredible, huh? So let´s take a look at the cost for one night for some other popular European must-see destinations:

Venice £125

Geneva £109

Rome £104

Edinburgh £103

Oslo £103

Copenhagen £99

Barcelona £95

Milan £94

Amsterdam £92

Stockholm £93

Vienna £89

Nice £85

Frankfurt £82

So. You could say that staying in a hotel in Europe is a little on the pricey-side. So if you want to travel in Europe, you´ve got three options. You could make the sticky decision between staying in a Travellers Hostel - which is cheaper but you lack privacy and space - or, spending a phenomenal amount on your accommodation. Or, you could avoid all of these problems, and do a home exchange. To have a comfortable holiday, staying in a hotel in Europe could end up costing the earth. So why not amplify the comfort, the space and the imtimacy, for none of the cost! Home exchange. You know it makes sense. If we don´t convince you, maybe the list of hotel prices will…

(*All figures in this post are quoted from site: http://www.hotels.co.uk/press/hotel-price-index-2008.html#price_changes)