There are plenty of profit-minded insiders already (haven't you ever seen Coupon Connection?), why worry about outsiders?

FewMiles..

I too like the idea of the community helping each other but fear for mixed commercial interests.

Great idea. I�d trust a fellow FT-er to feed the dog and leave the good silver. And, since it will be �in the family� nobody would have to hide their inflatable sheep before the tenants arrived.

Wow--lots of interest here. I'll weigh in as well.

I like the idea a lot, and have a guest house available in central PHX all year. (Maybe a whole house swap for that harbour view in OZ next August?) I've been registered with SERVAS all year, but no bites yet.

I would advise looking into the policies of organizations that do this, and have at least a suggested protocol, i.e. exchange passport number as part of swap, have a registration such as we have for OMNI, a boilerplate agreement, etc. More work for TalkBoard folk...

My hesitation would be commercial interests that would exploit the forum.

JP

doppy. While I agree with Few Miles apparent point that some of the penny-ante stuff on Coupon Connection has at times a "commercial" whiff to it (and that is largely related to one or two Flyertalkers IMO) I guess many FT'ers can point to a remarkably successful use of that Forum resource.

I have had been involved in many successful exchanges on there. Quite a few of them having a "theoretical value" of $1000+.

It works 100% on trust of course, (from both sides) but after 3+ years - so far so good. And so I feel sure it would work on any house-swap type arena. Before agreeing to anything one would have the opportunity to run a few discreet checks. Certainly I'd personally be extremely cautious of a week old, 8 post newbie, but kempis for example would be most welcome.

Unlike Hertz upgrades or '15% off' coupons, if it were noticed any one person had seemingly several "houses" to let on a regular basis I am sure many sets of vigilant eyes will soon rectify matters.

I feel sure the wording of the Forum could include terminology that specifically forbade any commercial operators using it?

I think this is a great idea! Most of us, I believe, would at least deflate the sheep so it didn't get in the way...

Bump to see if there is more positive feedback out there.
Rita