NOVEMBER - DECEMBER
WEBSITE
- New "Last minute" filter in the search which will allow you to only see homes available in the next two weeks.
- Improvements on the mobile site: fixed issues, more visible access to the search from the header
IOS & Android Apps
- Home and profile editing: it’s now clearer if there are any missing information
- Clarification of error messages
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER
WEBSITE
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Traveler filter: Indicate whether the people traveling with you are adults, children or infants. The houses you’ll see in your search results will be more relevant, since they will have the appropriate sleeping accommodations for your party.
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Search on the map: The button "update results" is now more visible when you search for homes. When you move the map (zoom, drag), the search results are not updated automatically so you have to click on "update results" to display new results.
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New ‘zero results’ page: If your search does not give any results, we give you tips to widen your search criteria and find the homes you’re interested in.
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Sign-up process: We added some messaging to guide new members through the sign-up process.
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Profile and listing completion achievements: From your dashboard, you are assisted to complete your profile and listing. We’ve added two more banners, one to celebrate the completion of your listing and another to add your preferred destinations to dream about your next exchange.
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Improved user experience on the mobile site: Use of search filters, fixed contact button on the home page, calendar view in home listing.
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A few reminder messages are now displayed so you don't miss your loyalty discount, or when your payment method has expired.
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Clarification of the automatic renewal pop-up.
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Bug fix: It is no longer possible to change the currency after the first payment.
ANDROID & IOS APPS
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Search: New auto-completion tool for your destinations in the search engine. You no longer have duplicate cities in the suggestions of destinations, and you can search for islands again.
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When you make a search, you can now save it to your preferred destinations and receive notifications of new homes that may be of interest to you.
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Improvement of the design of some pages: On the ‘my exchanges’ page, confirmation of exchange finalization screen and membership confirmation screen.
ANDROID APP
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Redesign of the ‘my account’ page: We’ve made it easier for you to access your personal information, your home and your calendar with a totally redesigned page.
IOS APP
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Traveler filter: Indicate whether the people traveling with you are adults, children or infants. The houses you’ll see in your search results will be more relevant, since they will have the appropriate sleeping accommodations for your group.
JULY - AUGUST
WEBSITE
- Default payment: we indicate which payment method is used by default on your "My Membership" page. It's now clearer, and more flexible for those of you who wish to change your payment method.
- Payment-in-installments: many of you have asked us to give you the option to pay in installments. This is now a possibility for users with no current subscription when you pay with a credit card and in euros: you will pay €45 each month for the first three months of your membership. This price includes a €5 administration fee.
- Search: we've added a suggestion in the search bar: "find an exchange in your country". Especially given the current situation, it's a good opportunity for us to discover our regions and support local tourism!
- Apple sign-in: you can now register or sign in via the Apple sign-in. An even more secure way for Apple users to log in.
Application ANDROID
- Search: just like on the web, we have added direct access to search for an exchange in your country. Especially in this current context, let's support local tourism!
- Traveller Filter: indicate whether the people travelling with you are adults, children or infants. The houses that you'll find in the search results will be much more relevant since they will have the appropriate sleeping accommodations for your search.
- Security: we have introduced a new rule of random positioning of houses on the map to guarantee your privacy. Houses are displayed not at their exact location, but within a perimeter of a hundred meters. This is already the case on our other platforms.
- From your "My exchanges" screen, scroll through the photos of the houses you will soon go on exchange in.
Application IOS
- Search: just like on the web, we have added direct access to search for an exchange in your country. Especially in this current context, let's support local tourism!
- Apple sign-in: you can now register or sign in via the Apple sign-in. An even more secure way to log in.
JUIN
WEBSITE
- Our blog is now highlighted on the homepage, to better guide and inspire you about the community and for your next exchange. If you don't know it, check it out, it's HERE!
- Security: new email verification rules to increase security on HomeExchange
- Referrals: new milestones to better reward in GuestPoints the referrers and the referred when the referred carries out certain actions, such as the completion of a house and the taking of the subscription.
- Recommendations: homes suggested on your home screen are more relevant and personalized thanks to an optimization of our machine learning algorithm.
- Bug fixes and optimizations on the home edit page and the search in the messaging system
Application ANDROID & IOS
- New "My exchanges" screen: even richer than its web counterpart, it has been designed to facilitate the organization of your exchanges, to access all the information and to be able to react in 1 click in case of a problem during your exchange.
- Messaging: Optimized header and quick access to folders, a more relevant search bar, a folder of cancelled exchanges
- Year of birth added to your profile
- COVID restrictions added to the list of reasons for cancellation
MAY
WEBSITE
- New "my exchanges" page: many of you have told us how difficult it was to find the details of your finalized exchanges in your mailbox. From now on, from the drop-down menu on your account, you will be able to access the "my exchanges" page and see with a glance all your future, current and past exchanges.
- Travellers: it is not always easy to find an exchange partner with a family composition similar to your own which might make it complicated when it comes to finding an exchange. We have therefore developed a tool for you to indicate your travelling group in your profile. This information will be visible on your home page with some limitations, as well as your profile page.
- Some optimizations and bug fixes for the mobile version of the site
- New reasons for cancellations due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Application ANDROID & IOS
- Bug resolutions
- New reasons for cancellations due to COVID-19 restrictions.
APRIL
WEBSITE
- Can you accommodate doctors or nursing staff in your home? Add the group Solidarity COVID 19 to your profile so that members can contact you.
ANDROID Application
- Adding the pre-approved exchanges folder in your mailbox
- Correction of the deeplinks that allow you to open directly your app from our emails
IOS Application
- Adding the pre-approved exchanges folder in your mailbox
- Addition of “Complementary Results”: if you obtain less than 20 results for a search, other homes are offered below the first 20 results. These homes respect the filters you may have added, but either do not have an up-to-date calendar or do not have dates corresponding exactly to yours. We think that you may still find an exchange in this list!
MARCH
WEBSITE
- Banner informing about the impacts of Covid 19
- Increased security in all transactional emails, related to login
- Messaging: a better organization with new folders for deleted messages, pre-approved and cancelled exchanges + a small alert that reminds you of the importance of never paying anything outside the HomeExchange platform
- Search: new button "Search in this area" allowing you to update the map if you have zoomed / unzoomed or moved it and will display all homes corresponding to your search.
- Profile and home edit pages: optimizations allowing you to better locate missing information and thus reach 100% completion. Also, you will now be able to save changes even if some information is still missing.
- Verification: have you sent a verification request? Until the validation of your documents by our team, you will see a “verification pending” status in your profile.
- Sponsorship: sponsorship is so important for our community, and if you haven't done it yet, now’s the time! (and it allows you and your friends to earn GuestPoints!), a new link is now in the drop-down menu of your account.
- Fixed bugs on reviews
ANDROID Application
- Payment method: possibility of paying via Paypal and the possibility from now on of saving payment methods and thus no longer having to fill in your card detail with each payment.
- New celebration screen to confirm finalized exchanges or a successful payment.
IOS application
- Landscape and portrait format on all phones and iPads.
- “Already contacted" information on the homes which you have already contacted.
FEBRUARY
WEBSITE
- New automatic data entry tool for entering your destinations in the search engine: there are no longer duplicate cities in the destination suggestions, and you can search for the islands again!
- Access to your finalized exchanges is more accessible from the drop-down menu in the "My Account" header. This redirects you to the "Finalized Exchanges" folder in your mailbox, but soon you will have a dedicated page. We are working on it.
ANDROID Application
- Survey about how you use the app and your expectations for it is in progress: we want to know how we can improve it. :)
- Adding the phrase "Already Contacted" in the search results map as well as the home screen (it was already done on the results list), when you have already sent a request to that member.
- Some corrections were finalized in the contact information section of the exchange screen.
- A new flag icon for the English language (US English + UK English)
INTERNAL TOOLS
- Modification of a finalized exchange in our back-office tool. This allows our team to respond more quickly to your requests for the modification of dates.
JANUARY
IOS Application
- Changes in the map: a few months ago we tested a new provider to display the map, but the experience was not satisfactory. So, we went back to the previous version which works much better.
- Improvement of the “My Membership” screens according to your Membership status for greater clarity
- Adding a little alert when your Membership has expired
ANDROID Application
In addition to the above IOS optimizations:
- Addition of “Complementary Results”: if you obtain less than 20 results for a search, other homes are offered below the first 20 results (or less depending on your search). These homes respect the filters you may have added, but either do not have an up-to-date calendar or do not have dates corresponding exactly to yours. We think that you may still find an exchange in this list because sometimes our members do not think to update their home’s calendar, which does not necessarily mean that they won’t be interested in your exchange request.
WEBSITE
- Highlighting the type of exchange in your search: this is a new feature, so we have added a small tutorial in order to better explain what it is for. You can filter the search results according to the type of exchange sought, Reciprocal or with GuestPoints.
- Added the type of exchange in the contact pop-up: now, when you want to contact another member, you can specify whether you want a Reciprocal exchange or an exchange with GuestPoints. We hope that this will facilitate your exchanges! We hope that this will also allow you, as a host, to receive requests relevant to the type of availability that you have entered in your calendar.
- Hiding your response time: this time was incorrectly calculated and although it did not affect the search results, it was frustrating to see "2 weeks" when you really responded within 24 hours. We have hidden this until it is corrected.
- Adding a "deleted" message folder, so you can always access it. Without this, we observed that a certain number of members deleted messages without replying to them and saw their response rate drop without being able to do anything about it. Other steps to simplify the messaging process have been planned and will be taken in the coming months.
- Various bug fixes: errors on reciprocal exchanges for deleted homes, bug on the pop-up contact during periods of availability with different types of exchanges.