---
title: Wanna travel cheap? Borrow someone’s house
description: Home-swapping platform Kindred just raised $15m to expand. It lets members vacation in each other’s houses.
---

[Hustle News ](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news)

# [Wanna travel cheap? Borrow someone’s house](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/wanna-travel-cheap-borrow-someone-s-house)

 Written by [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) | Apr 21, 2023 9:33:47 PM

Instead of scouring travel sites for the best hotel deals, what if you just switched houses for a few days?

That’s the idea behind Kindred, a members-only home-swapping platform co-founded by Justine Palefsky and Tasneem Amina in 2021.

It’s currently available in North America with 2k+ homes in 50+ cities, but just raised $15m to expand, [per](https://media.hubspot.com/e3t/Ctc/UB+113/d2q-Vf04/VWGkPJ1Pdsf7N5S8r_8BvSyyW4PtzZh4ZDMH3N5n2LQV2-MKJV1-WJV7CgR5PM6f5ptt4khpW3p9dg682w-qTW1F6rgz5zBmTMW5YXntD676ZSFW6TPTcN7MD2qSW78wK6V1fHRpnMmqhhhsPCs0W33Jx284sp1FzW4MZQmh1F0PBPW2sJBSy42T4s8W3vD8ps3NNyBlW3TV0J671-_JsW2h6N-H1sHN_TW70NKfP12Wrh1W4bCxJw90DQRRW2tGzRv8r5s3vW3nB3Mz3RXVlkW5d5Ztk1lLFY_N7flfsnFX_dyN4T8t9K5R4ymW29TkjK8NG4PqN3vKCTT3Gcr6W5dL0Q31yknwHW3NjfNQ35S0f631KB1) *TechCrunch.*

#### **How it works**

Members — who may be homeowners or renters — are both hosts and guests in a “give and get” model. For every night they host, they earn a night in another member’s home.

They just pay a service fee (up to $30/night) and a cleaning fee per stay, saving potentially hundreds in hotel costs; frequent users can pay a $600 annual fee for unlimited stays and no service fees.

In addition to vetting members, Kindred adds a lot of personal touches, including complimentary hosting kits, professional photography, and cleaning.

#### **It’s not a brand new model**

HomeExchange, which charges a $175 annual fee, has been around since the ‘90s and boasts a massive network of 450k+ homes worldwide.

Others have a niche.

- Thirdhome is for luxury stays; it claims the average home value is [$2.4m](https://media.hubspot.com/e3t/Ctc/UB+113/d2q-Vf04/VWGkPJ1Pdsf7N5S8r_8BvSyyW4PtzZh4ZDMH3N5n2LP_2-MJQV1-WJV7Cg-N7W1GQzm74CyC2cW88KMmR8Ky2rPW77-hyy58Tg7hW7Hmd4X5rxT0cW2jV55v4ym-rBW4-jFtG66CRZGVgRXN27VnZDkVhcstn6MWD9jW7LG2BF1zZWDQW1L-hwG787p8hW1HvGbx1HL37PW4__1387WSTBnW1h-h8R96q-6HVVHn4k6m0TNCW3Yd23g8Z05RDW8D3vzG10QTn-W7TLT5R9lQ2hMVKJLW482qqz72fW1).
- [TrustedHousesitters](https://media.hubspot.com/e3t/Ctc/UB+113/d2q-Vf04/VWGkPJ1Pdsf7N5S8r_8BvSyyW4PtzZh4ZDMH3N5n2LPJ2-MJwV1-WJV7CgHHwW7NTSLx1ZHT6yW6xMVx73VHzfVW10CG5p8ZwX7YW8mh-Z41Rc-WNW9knxlR8xbRDrW38bN5j3vyZ78V694hj1YlPRfW1YmYfg4k1XVHW2s3sw-6thbF3W6lRkcg6hbwrCW1-z1WD4qrXNTW8FqMzL7p6kMvW6scnpx1Z49JmN4LtMnVpVXw8W30Ny6T4srgNdW63NdyB70g-cj37mS1) matches animal lovers who care for each other’s pets in exchange for a free stay.

They all differ greatly from Airbnb and Vrbo because those really *aren’t* home-sharing platforms — they’re for making money, which could be why they’re now saturated with property management companies.

**Fun fact:** One Kindred member once composed a song using sounds of the house — cupboard doors, microwave buttons — for their host. It’s called “[Chilling on Goss Lake](https://media.hubspot.com/e3t/Ctc/UB+113/d2q-Vf04/VWGkPJ1Pdsf7N5S8r_8BvSyyW4PtzZh4ZDMH3N5n2LQB2-MKpV1-WJV7CgJ9GW4q3QHJ74b9GVW6W0kD15v17y0W623pSS7BFG1mW3k10sR54J3VbW7k3ZFn1rr0GwW4bSpm077Z-5FW4H6SL942TnxVN4FF6x5V-Z-BW5XcRX311HYJTW4K7WNX2B9CTgVd23MY7PXL_wW6_Lt7K3_7PfdW25X5Mr43GcxYW2CFT-d93jKxvW7wL5_l1vswnjW9bJKJ869gBZXW8LjPSQ181F-lVZ9--d2JYWSXW3v2Tf03MH2-JW47JbgW8BG9CcV41F2m2vrMSWW3P99sJ1vf1Lc3mJG1).”

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