Our Story

Our Shared Homes started with a simple realisation: some of the best travel experiences of my life didn't happen in hotels.

Over the past several years, my family has stayed in more than 60 homes across ten countries through home exchanging, from a cottage in the English countryside to a family villa in Bali, a cabin in Norway to a shotgun house in New Orleans. Every stay was different, but they all shared something hotels never gave us: we weren't just guests passing through. We belonged there, even if only for a week. I've made friendships through home swapping that have lasted years, the kind of connection you don't expect to find through a booking.

Along the way, I also started noticing what home exchange makes possible that traditional travel doesn't. Families (like ours!) who could never justify the cost of a week in a hotel could suddenly afford a month (or more!) abroad. Trips happened with a fraction of the footprint of a hotel stay, no daily linen changes, no half-empty buildings running air conditioning around the clock, just a home already being lived in, shared with someone else for a while.

What I wanted to build was a platform that matched the way it felt to travel this way. Somewhere every member is verified, so trust is real and not just assumed. Somewhere every stay is backed by a clear agreement, so everyone knows where they stand. Somewhere the community feels like an extension of the experience itself.

We're not trying to be the biggest name in travel. We're building something smaller and more considered: a community of people who'd rather stay somewhere real, meet someone new, and travel in a way that costs less, treads lighter on the planet, and feels like belonging.

That's the whole idea behind Our Shared Homes.