We’re on a mission to reinvent travel
Platforms like Airbnb have created a culture of transactional, profit-first stays. Baandy is different. We’re not just providing a way to never pay for accommodation when you travel again - we’re building a trusted community that cares about each other and the places they live in.
Swapping homes saves you money, turning your rent into your gateway to free travel.
Like Airbnb… but free and ethical
Protect every swap for complete peace of mind.
From just £4 per night. Find out more about Baand-Aid here
Baandy vs. The World
The comfort, privacy, and security of an Airbnb but with the community and low cost of Couchsurfing.
Based on the average cost of a one night stay in Europe
More than just cheap travel
Our mission
Right now, everything costs more; Housing, Rent, Food, Bills, Travel, Living.
Our money doesn't cover the things it did for the generations before us and the reasons for this can feel out of our control. But, what we can do, is find ways to regain economic power by changing how we spend our money.
By sharing our homes we can continue to travel & grow and - instead of paying even more of our hard earned cash to property owners - we can use this money to change things. We can stop paying into the pockets of billionaires that don't care about us, without sacrificing the experiences that make us who we are.
With new-found spending power, we’ll finally be able to buy our own homes, pursue the dreams we’ve always had, and support the people and communities that we care about.
Our mission is to help give some economic power back to our generation, one adventure at a time, with the hope that it can create a fairer future for everyone.
Ultimately, we believe that financial freedom shouldn’t come at the cost of giving up your freedom to roam.
Get real, unique and personalised recommendations on what to do and where to go
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YES! We want everyone to be able to Baandy! Signing up for the app is totally free and you’ll be able to complete your swaps without paying a penny for the app or your accommodation. Unlike other home swapping apps you won’t need to buy tokens to swap or pay a fee for each swap. We will be introducing a premium version of the app for our most avid swappers but we promise to keep the free version so you’ll always be able to Baandy for free.
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There genuinely isn’t one. We want to ensure people can take advantage of increased work flexibility to live and work from anywhere. We want people to travel more - but with care, really immersing themselves in the place they visit.
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Yes. Home swapping as a concept has been around since 1952 and has been growing in popularity ever since. Millions of home swaps took place last year and home swapping has been surging in popularity since 2019. Our co-founders house swapped when they were kids - their parents swapped their home in a London suburb for a seaside flat in the South of France.
To ensure everyone’s apartment is protected during a swap, we’re also partnering with an insurance provider that will offer protection against:
Damage to the building and content.
Damage to adjacent properties.
Theft by guest.
Fire, and subsequent re-build.
Damage or theft of your possession.
This will protect you against theft and damages of up to £50,000.
We’re currently (July 2023) in the process of finalising this partnership but our aim is to ensure that:
The insurance offers the best possible protection for your home and possessions.
The cost of insurance is less than £4 per night.
The insurance is optional.
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If you want to make the most of your work/life flexibility and travel more, without using up all your annual leave or using up all your travel budget, baandy is for you. You’ll get your own personal guide to your new destination so you can experience the real essence of a place - where to go for pizza, the best bar to go to on a Tuesday night, and where to find those vintage pieces you love without paying tourist prices.
We are bringing together a community who care about travel consciously and carefully, about understanding the places and people you are visiting. People who don’t want to live small lives.
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Yes absolutely. We’re creating a guide to baandying if you rent your place so that all the legal stuff is in place, including insurance etc.
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100%. Your housemates or partner will obviously need to agree but assuming they’re cool with it, there’s nothing stopping you from leveraging your own place in return for someone else’s somewhere new and refreshing!
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Yup. As long as you, your travel companion, and the person you match with are all happy, that’s all that matters. Just make sure everyone knows exactly what’s involved in the swap when you chat online and make sure everyone has consented to what’s involved.
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Much like Couch-surfing, Baandy is based on two people - or two groups of people - meeting online to discuss and arrange a potential swap. Even though you won’t be staying with the people you swap with, we hope that you’ll get to know each other by spending time in one another’s neighbourhoods, checking in on each other, making accidentally terrible recommendations, introducing them to your friends when they need a hand, or simply just because you’re like minded people.
Similar to Couch-surfing, we also want Baandy to have an online community where people can meet, share their experiences, make recommendations, organise get-togethers, and support one another. Baandy is ultimately a social experience that relies on open-minded strangers doing nice things for one another so that we can all live in a better world. Doesn’t that already sound like someone you’d want to be friends with?
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Yep. Just like an Airbnb, you’ll be staying in someone else’s home. In fact, because you’ll have a face to face chat first, you’ll even be able to see the apartment and ask any questions before you confirm your swap. Also like Airbnb, you’ll be able to check out reviews and the verification-level Baandy users so you know that they’re reliable. Plus, we’ll also be partnering with Insurance companies to provide you with affordable ways to cover your possessions and your home during your swap.