CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — With hotel prices climbing and vacation budgets feeling tighter, one Northeast Ohio family found a creative solution to see the world without spending a fortune: home exchange.
Lexie Cassidy and her family love exploring new places. But as their travel dreams grew, so did the cost.
“Our desire to travel was outpacing our budget,” Cassidy said.
Lodging is often one of the most expensive parts of a trip, with hotel prices continuing to rise. And while short-term rentals, such as Airbnb, were once seen as a cheaper option, they’re no longer always a budget-friendly choice.
That’s when Cassidy discovered People Like Us, a global home exchange platform where families swap homes for a set amount of time. One post caught her eye. A family offering their home near Chesapeake Bay in exchange for a stay in Cleveland Heights.
“She was like, ‘Hey, my family of four… we have these two weeks available in June… does anyone want to exchange with us?’ So I messaged her,” Cassidy said.
Though the Chesapeake Bay wasn’t on her travel bucket list, Cassidy saw the potential. “We could stay for two weeks and go to all these places that were,” she said.
In exchange, the hosts stayed in their house in Cleveland Heights and explored the area too.
With no nightly hotel bill, the family spent more on experiences and less on accommodations.
“When we travel and we’re paying for our accommodations, I’m scheduling every minute of every day because I want to get the most time because I want the value,” she said. “Because we weren’t paying $500 a night to stay in a hotel… we could do everything super slow and super relaxed.”
Membership to People Like Us costs $159 per year. A similar platform, HomeExchange, runs at $235 annually. Cassidy says the fee pays for itself quickly.
“For us… that’s like one night in a hotel,” she said.
Since that first trip, the family has exchanged homes for a visit to Texas and even hosted a family from Hawaii, earning credits toward a future trip to the Big Island.
For Cassidy, it’s not just about saving money. It’s about reimagining what travel can look like: slower, more meaningful, and more accessible.
