Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or you only go away on vacation once a year, traveling via home exchange can be a totally new type of holiday. When you participate in this type of exchange you’ve got a better chance of experiencing your environment like a local, with a home right in the area and a kitchen in which to sample local foods. According to the BBC, more than 100,000 people worldwide practice home exchanges on a regular basis, so enough people have done this to establish some basic ground rules. It all boils down to using common sense and treating someone else’s home the way you would wish yours be treated in return.

Cleanliness

Home exchange companies claim that the largest number of complaints they hear about exchanges have to do with varying degrees of cleanliness. When you’re exchanging, you’re not staying in a hotel. This is someone’s home, and should be treated as such. Clean up after yourself, and leave each room you use in better condition than you found it. Talk to the homeowner before your trip to see what their expectations are for cleaning. If you want to clean up, ask them what cleaning supplies you should use. It’s common courtesy, plus a fine way to thank the owners for the privilege of using their home.

Photo by …love Maegan via Flickr

Problems Happen

They’re called accidents for a reason, and no one expects you to go through life without having any. The difference is in how you respond to them. If you’re in someone else’s home and you break something, let them know as soon as possible. You can offer to find a similar item to replace it, pay for it, or give them a gift card to a store that sells home items, like Wayfair.com, so they can pick out a replacement themselves. Just be honest and open to replacing the item in whatever way is comfortable for them. Accidents happen, and as long as you are apologetic, most people will be understanding. Before replacing the item or leaving money, ask the homeowner what they’d like you to do.

Photo by quinn.anya via Flickr

Show Your Appreciation

If you end up loving the home exchange lifestyle, it probably has a lot to do with the home and homeowners you’ve been dealing with. Show them your appreciation by setting their house up for their homecoming. Fold up bed linens and place them in a pile on the bed. Do the same thing with towels. This makes everything easier on the homeowners so they don’t have to wonder what is clean and what is dirty. You don’t have to clean the house from top to bottom — they probably have a specific way they want it to be cleaned — but leave everything as neat and tidy as you found it. Don’t leave dirty dishes or bags of trash. A great way to show your appreciation is to buy them a thank you gift to show them your gratitude. It can be something as simple as a bouquet of flowers you leave on the kitchen table, to a gourmet vintage wine and a set of wine glasses to give them a lovely evening when they get back. Check the local shops for gift ideas or, better yet, bring a souvenir or two from your home city to give as a cultural exchange from your home to theirs.

Photo by angi231700 via Flickr

This is a guest post for Dutch Australian by Phillip Todd.  Phillip owns a handful of rental properties and stops in to check on them in between his global travels.