Kindred Home Swapping

This platform was once great. Great guests and community. I hosted 70 nights over 2 years, was asked to be in their PR story, but I don’t recommend it anymore. If you want to use the platform as a guest, it can be pretty good. But if you are a host, I would think twice before giving this platform your home. Their operational diligence and approach to safety and care has become comically low. Consistent pattern of failures across four areas: Privacy violations • Dec 2024: A cleaner opened a privacy-stickered cabinet, reportedly while searching for a plunger. The sticker exists precisely so that cleaners message me instead of entering. • Jan 2026: Privacy tapes were torn in two separate rooms — the bathroom and the living room. Not sure why whom. • May/Jun 2026: Privacy tape torn in 2 places. Cleaner opened my main closet, which had a privacy sticker on it, and used bedding there instead of the designated linens clearly labeled in the linen closet and in the instructions. Access and security • May/Jun 2026: Emergency access codes I shared with concierge team for a one-time situation were copied into the permanent access instructions for my home — without my knowledge — across multiple guest stays. I flagged this on Jun 1 and it was brushed off. On Jun 5, the next cleaning team tried to use the dead codes, couldn’t get in, and called me frantically while I had to manage the fallout remotely. • When I raised this with support on Jun 1, I was told adding backup codes to permanent instructions was standard practice. That concerns me more than the individual incident. • This is part of a broader pattern of access problems being pushed onto me rather than handled internally. In Nov 2024 and again in Jun 2026, I was called internationally while traveling because a cleaner couldn’t use the entry app. Both times, your concierge team contacted me without first verifying the credentials themselves. Both times, when they finally tried it themselves, it worked immediately. The entry app has never had an issue. The cleaner simply couldn’t use it correctly. Careless handling and damage • Dec 2024/Jan 2025: Perishable food left to grow mold in my fridge, damp towels left on chairs, items moved and not returned, vacuum left under the TV stand. • Dec 2025/Jan 2026: Pillows damaged and found torn, an unfamiliar pillow left behind, wine glasses left sticky and stored incorrectly. A guest explicitly reported the home was not clean on arrival and that the headboard was loose — your concierge was notified mid-stay and nothing was rectified at checkout. • Jun 2026: several items missing. Was told to hold 7 days before they can open a case. Then told me I need to report before the 7 day deadline. Completely unclear. So much hassle for prob 35 bucks of household items. Feedback and investigation handling • Dec 2024: Rather than using the manufacturing date on the moldy food to identify which guest’s stay it was from, your team emailed all guests across four back-to-back stays — unnecessarily implicating innocent guests and damaging guest relationships. When I’ve raised these issues, the responses have been slow, fragmented, and focused on process over accountability. When issues were resolved at all, compensation came in the form of platform credits — which is meaningless when the host lost trust in the service entirely.

I had nothing but amazing things to say about the app until I realized you could only stay as many nights as you rent. I understand the entire concept is about giving and getting, and also sharing your space with the community. However, my property has been listed for a long time with no requests to book. As eager, as I am to continue using the app, traveling, and building community, I’m limited because there are either to many people swapping homes in my area that mine is not getting traction, or because my apartment is simply not as desirable as others. It’s unfortunate that I am limited by that as I am getting no booking requests.

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