There are no nightly rental fees when you book a trip. Accepted members only cover the cost of cleaning and a small service fee per stay. This service fee varies by length of stay, but is typically $5–45 per night. Members also have the option of purchasing a Kindred Passport for $600, which unlocks $0 service fees for an unlimited number of trips booked that year. The Passport typically makes sense for members who plan to book more than two trips in a year, which is fairly typical usage. You can pay up front or in monthly installments.

Yes, absolutely. Kindred welcomes both owners and renters, as long as their home is used as a primary residence. Kindred is for real homes, not short-term rentals. We find that home swapping can be a fantastic option for renters looking to travel more affordably. Unlike subletting or rentals, home swapping involves no monetary exchange between members. Kindred helps members meet others and coordinate staying as houseguests, not as renters, in one another’s verified primary residences. Home swapping and house sitting in primary residences is generally considered by most jurisdictions to be distinct from renting or subletting, though this can vary. While it’s important to carefully review your lease agreement and any HOA rules that may apply to your rental property before participating, our members who rent typically find that neighbors and landlords are comfortable with them letting a trusted friend housesit when they are gone, as long as they are not turning their home into a rental.

Let’s start with the basics by adding your availability! When you add your availability on Kindred, you’re letting other members know that your home will be vacant and that you’re potentially open to hosting members for credits during that time frame. When a guest is interested in your home, they’ll request to book it in their Kindred App. Please note: Guests can request your home up until 2 days before the start date of the trip – so we recommend preparing your home if the dates are fast approaching and you’re still interested in hosting. Otherwise, you can always update your availability directly from your “Profile” tab in the app. You’ll know that a guest has requested to stay in your home because you’ll receive a text/email with details about the request. Both will include a link to see more details about the guest, their travel plans, and their profile. At that point, you’ll be presented with a number of options, including:

• Approving the stay
• Proposing alternative dates
• Proposing a swap instead
• Chatting over a video call first
• Messaging the member
• Denying the trip

If you have any questions for the guest before approving a stay, we generally recommend choosing the option to message the member and open a chat to ask any clarifying questions. As a host, you will always have the ultimate decision as to whether or not you’d like to approve a stay to your home. Finally, we kindly ask that you respond to any requests within 48 hours of receiving the request. That will give you time to review the request, but also leave enough time for guests to arrange other plans for their trip, if needed.

Yes. You are always in control of whether a member stays at your home – we will never book a trip without your permission, and there are no minimum hosting requirements to be a Kindred member. Additionally, any pets and overnight guests a member brings to your home must be shared in advanced and approved by you. 💡 Please read out Member Code of Conduct for more details on our policies on guests.

Kindred is the first company that makes home swapping both trusted and convenient. Home swapping has been around for a long time in the form of websites or chat groups where unverified users can post their own listings. With platforms like this, users don’t know if the posted homes are real, and it can be very hard to sift through listings to find a good match. If you find a stay, there are a ton of logistics to deal with to set up the trip, and the experience is high risk and unpredictable. Kindred, on the other hand, is a verified community that offers a full service travel experience, including matchmaking and 24/7 trip support, delivered through an elegant mobile app. We seek to make every step of the journey thoughtful, reliable, and simple. That means providing members with sheets, towels, and other essentials to make hosting easy, and taking on the burden of coordinating cleaning before and after each stay so you don’t have to stress.