Travel+Leisure Group Sells Love Home Swap To HomeExchange
Skift Take
American timeshare company Travel+Leisure Group, formerly known as Wyndham Destinations, sold its British subsidiary Love Home Swap to HomeExchange.
Paris-based HomeExchange offers home exchange vacations. The companies did not disclose any details of the deal. But Travel+Leisure Group’s annual report from 2018 shows that it valued Love Home Swap at $50 million at the time of acquisition — or under $53 million in cash, per some reports.
The Social Travel Club, which does business under the name of Love Home Swap, incurred an operating loss of £4.3 million ($5 million) in the UK, and owed £19.5 million ($23.5 million) to creditors, as per reports submitted to the UK Companies House.
One industry source, who didn’t have first-hand knowledge of the deal, confirmed Love Home Swap has faced financial difficulties. “I don’t have the impression it grew much under Wyndham ownership so there is a danger it is worth a lot less now than when they bought it in 2017,” the source said.
The deal marks HomeExchange’s ambitions for market expansion: Its top countries are France, Spain, and the U.S., and Love Home Swap offers homes in the UK, Australia, and the U.S. The integrated entity’s inventory growth rate will rise to 92 percent in the UK, 53 percent in Australia, and 13 percent in the United States.
“As far as people go, in purchasing the assets, we offered to have some of the Love Home Swap team join us for a few months to help us make a smooth and enjoyable transition for the members, and we are delighted that 15 of them accepted our offer,” a HomeExchange spokesperson told Skift.
HomeExchange claims it’s the first global home exchange community — facilitating one exchange every two minutes. The company stated that in 2022, guests booked 3.7 million exchange nights on its platform — 32 percent more than in the pre-Covid period.
“In a time where conversations around skyrocketing costs of often impersonal accommodations make travel seem like an unaffordable luxury for many, the market is ripe for something like home swapping to boom,” HomeExchange CEO Emmanuel Arnaud said in a statement. Adding, “And, we’re seeing that happen — exchanges are up 75 percent compared to just last year.”
The new entity will be part of the Tukazza Group created by HomeExchange CEO Emmanuel Arnaud and President Charles-Edouard Girard along with HomeExchange and sister brand HomeExchange Collection.
Arnaud and Girard founded GuesttoGuest, a Paris-based vacation exchange platform, in 2011. It acquired Cambridge,Massachusetts-based HomeExchange in 2017 for $35 million — the combined entity then came to be called HomeExchange.
Note: This story has been updated to add information about Love Home Swap’s financials.