Home Exchange Horrors

So, this is going to be a bit of an awkward one as it does involve a bit of a rant, but I feel it would be remiss of me if I didn’t discuss it. Also, I think this demonstrates how things sometimes aren’t quite as they seem, and not all Home Exchanges are good experiences.

As some of our readers know, we have used Home Exchange several times in the past, and ALL of these exchanges have been absolutely brilliant. We have Home Exchanged in Chicago, New Hampshire, Spain, Halifax (Nova Scotia) and Bangkok. Home Exchange worked really well for us when we had our little 1-bedroom flat in the Merchant City area of Glasgow, and during that time, we did several exchanges and hosted various people for guest points instead of us doing a reciprocal exchange with them. As a result, we built up a healthy balance of ‘Guest Points’ which we were happy to use at some point in the future when we were able to.

Fast forward to last year when we took early retirement, and we did two Home Exchanges in Bangkok, and even though one included house-sitting a dieting cat called Neko, it was great and worked out really well for us. We don’t plan on renewing our Home Exchange membership this year, so we were hoping to use up most of the remaining points by getting another Guest Point Exchange for some of our time in Bangkok this year, and ideally, once the kids had left. Lo and behold, we found a suitable exchange, and although this home could sleep 6-six people and was in a very popular tourist location, it meant the Guest Points used for this were quite hefty, as there were only two of us staying, but the points per night were still the same regardless. We booked to stay 6 nights, although I made a slight cock-up in that I thought we would have been out of the other place and would need somewhere for all of us (including the kids) to hang about until they left for the airport. Anyway, I informed our host that I’d made a mistake, and we’d be arriving the following day from our original agreement. No big deal – I’d wasted some precious points, but it was totally my fault. Now you often don’t get the full check-in instructions until closer to your arrival date, and again, that was all fine. I dropped the host a message the week before we were due to arrive, and she explained how we would get the keys and also that she would send me some additional information. Again, this is all pretty standard.

So, in the morning of our departure from our lovely Airbnb, we got up, ensured everything was left clean and tidy (and exactly as we found it – well apart from the repaired ornament but that’s our little secret, dear readers!) and left to make our way to the new place. We’d ordered a taxi, and it wasn’t that far, so all good so far.

We arrived at the Home Exchange residence, and the security guards and Residence Manager were lovely. I showed them the host’s photo with a note that we were staying as her guests. Again, all good.

We collected the keys and opened up the apartment door, and as soon as we entered, we were quite shocked and disappointed. Now I need to explain why this was the case. R and I have done a lot of Home Exchanges and apartment rentals over the years, and we are quite good at looking at a place and ensuring it meets all our requirements. These are usually things like having a kitchen, a washing machine, WiFi, a balcony or garden of sorts, a decent sofa, a TV and heating or air conditioning (depending on where we are going) and perhaps access to a pool. This home had all these items, and from the photos of the place, it looked great.

However, in reality and up close, it wasn’t very nice at all. Now I am no snob or clean freak by any means, BUT if I knew that people were coming to stay, I’d certainly ensure the place was as clean and tidy as possible. Again, it’s sort of hard to describe, as the place was “sort of clean and tidy in parts”. For example, the floor was clean (apart from some damaged areas and some yellow paint in some parts). The bedding and towels were old but clean and freshly laundered. There was space set aside in the fridge for us to be able to use. The things that were wrong or lacking, and in no particular order were:

• The kid’s (the hosts have a 5-year-old kid) pen marks all over the furniture – why?

• The chipped paintwork around the door frames, skirtings, and furniture - ok, it was old

• The dirty marks from old cellotape that had been on some of the furniture at some point in the past and had never been cleaned off – clean this off!

• The dirty marks around the light switches – yuk – clean it!

• Walls that were marked with scrapes and pens – paint the walls

• The dirty shower curtain in the bathroom – gross!

• The bathroom mirror that had not been cleaned properly (not that you could really see in the bathroom to use it) – but clean it FFS!

• Black mould around the seals in the bathroom sinks

• The sofa and chairs that had dirty marks and holes in them – clean and put a throw over the sofa seats!

• A kettle that had a broken lid, so you needed to be very careful to avoid 3rd degree burns if you used it and it fell off as you were pouring – replace with a new one FFS!

• The dirty dish draining/drying unit at the sink – replace these are cheap!

• The sink that hadn’t been bleached in a long time – get some bleach FFS!

• The old sponge left at the kitchen sink – replace!

• The tiny little ant-like bugs that we found in the kitchen worktop and sink – OMG I’m not F’N using this kitchen!

• the two teaspoons and a drawer of cutlery that looked a bit ‘bogan’ – why!

• The dinginess of the rooms was because several of the downlight light bulbs had been removed, and the ones remaining were probably very old and dull – replace and fix!!

• air conditioning remotes and other remotes that did not work because the batteries had been removed from the controls – really?

• Pictures that were squinty on the walls or photos were just stuck to the walls in places – fix these!

• A ripped/broken lampshade (it was a cheap lamp) on the bedside table 

• Layers of dust on all the ceiling fans – OMG, can you just clean these every so often – PLEASE!

In addition, the host’s instructions had requested that we:

• Refrain from using the air conditioning as much as possible because "electricity is very expensive in the building".

• If we needed to use the air conditioning, consider leaving some money for this.

• Use the fans where possible

• Water all the plants daily (there were a lot of plants on both 2 of the 3 balconies)

• Leave 1000 baht (almost £24) when leaving for the cleaner to clean the apartment.

Now we have always tried to accommodate any host's requests as much as possible, especially within reason, but given the ‘state’ of the place, it seemed a bit cheeky. I understand that the host is probably renting the place (it must be cheap!) and they probably don’t want to spend additional money on it, but for goodness sake – how can they not see that this is quite a poor standard and especially when you are using it for Home Exchanging purposes and having other people stay there!

I think part of the problem for us was that for a little investment of some paint, some replacement of basic items, and a bit of a deep clean, the place could look so, so much better and much more comfortable and inviting. It was a great-sized apartment, but they weren't making the most of it.  

All the furniture was old and white gloss painted, but over the years, it had been badly chipped and scratched. It would not have taken very long to repaint and make the furniture look so much better. The sofa and dining chairs could probably be steam cleaned, and any holes either patched or covered with a throw. A few Ikea uplighters would brighten the whole place up (if they didn’t want to replace the missing recessed bulbs), as would a coat of white paint to refresh the walls.

Whilst we both were really disappointed in our ‘new home’ for the next 5 nights, part of us felt like we could easily do a full make-over in that time! However, as much as we were disappointed and annoyed, there was not a lot we could really do. Yes, we could perhaps have tried to find another place to stay, but that was not in our plans, and we would have lost our guest points into the bargain.

The host was very nice and seemed genuine in her communications, but how do you tell someone (a teacher at an international school) that her place is a bit grotty and needs a good clean (and sacking of the current cleaner!)?

Anyway, we decided we could put up with it for a short time, but we were so glad the kids didn’t experience this place, or it would have left them with a bad memory of Bangkok. We had no intention of using the kitchen, so we would be eating out for the next 5 days, and we would try to spend most of our time away from the apartment if possible, too.

Next was the area. The apartment was on a very quiet street (great), and it had a lovely pool (not that I used it, as we were out most of the time we were staying there). It was an older-style condo complex with 20 floors. There was also a little shuttle bus that we could use to get to the nearest BTS station (Nana) or Terminal 21 (at Asok). We would usually just walk rather than wait for the shuttle bus, which left every 30 minutes from the complex. Nana is NOT our cup of tea. Again, we are not snobs or anything, but it’s way too loud, touristy and tacky for us with all the bars, girls, weed shops, erotic massage (I kid you not), Tuk-Tuks, and street Rolex watch sellers. I’m sure there are many nice restaurants and bars around this area, but the vibe is just not for us. Needless to say, we didn’t venture into any of these establishments and stayed well clear of them.

We did manage to ‘survive’ our Home Exchange horror. We didn’t use the air-conditioning, we watered the plants, and we left the cleaning fee (something I never believed in charging people as a host – we always cleaned the apartment ourselves after guests had stayed). Now I need to think about how I’m going to leave an honest and accurate Home Exchange review, so that other Home Exchangers don’t end up as disappointed as we were with this place. I think it will need to be a read between the lines of what I have said and what I have not said, sort of review.

So, after check-in on day one. We unpacked minimal things and lived out of our suitcases for the duration. We then headed out to spend as long as possible in the shopping malls and elsewhere.  We can 100% say that this was our worst Home Experience ever - which is such a shame because Home Exchange can be fantastic!

Day 42: 5 January 2026

Bangkok, Thailand