Kindred Home Swapping

Really wanted to love Kindred but utterly unimpressed. As someone who has hosted and been a guest dozens of times on Home Exchange and Airbnb - this falls far short. It’s as if they haven’t thought thru basic contingency plans. As a host - I’ve gotten some fairly odd / sketchy requests. Like from people requesting not for themselves but for friends / family members not vetted or on the app. Or a 25 year old who lives 20 minutes away who says they just want to “experience” your neighborhood. (We have a large family home and my worst fear is someone throwing a party). The worst part is kindred forces you to respond and when you reject the request, they block the dates on your calendar so you can’t host anyone else. I’m in the middle of my first stay as a guest and am floored by how hard they make it to contact customer support and the host. The host put up dozens of post its on topics like which dishes cannot go into the dishwasher , which I respect and understand - but failed to note the wifi password anywhere. (Not in their house manual, nor posted in their house). This is a particular issue because the house is in a very remote location with no cellular data access. 1 out of 4 phones received any data at all. I tried contacting customer support - but laughably all communication is via the app - which I cannot use because of the lack of wifi and no data. We contacted the host and support at 4pm and as of 10pm I’ve received no response from the host and 1 message (via app I can’t access) from support. I never received any welcome note or check in from the host at all. I have no idea why Kindred doesn’t have multiple ways to contact the host or support. They seem eager to completely set up everyone for failure

For my first stay in NYC, I was accepted very quickly without needing to jump around and look for different options. Maybe I got extremely lucky. But after that for my second trip to NYC, it’s been very very difficult to find a place to stay. As others have mentioned, you are restricted to sending 2 requests at a time, which makes it very difficult when nobody responds to you. Then you might miss out on other places. I’ve sent 6 requests and counting this week with no responses/acceptances within 48 hours. This app is a great concept but I’m starting to realize it doesn’t work very well for booking trips. I would also mention the whole purpose is to home swap and save money, so while I understand there are some fees, the fees do seem a little high as they can still be similar prices to hotels/not a whole lot cheaper unless you’re looking for long/extended stays.

I am trying for weeks now to get a place in New York City. I have been so frustrated. The rules just don’t work well for requesting tripsWhen hosts do not answer for days at a time and you’re only allowed to have two requests at a time. I am not sure that I will stay on this app anymore. I have 56 days that I have hosted and I cannot seem to use the days that I need in New York City and I’ve been looking for weeks.