Review:

Diverse is the word for HomeLink International. Having been in business since 1953, this alliance of 25 separate home exchange agencies in as many countries has a very large shared database of over 13,500 members. Each country sets its own price, photo limit and has its own unique features. In this review, we will address only those features which are common to the shared database.

HomeLink is the last agency to still offer a printed catalogue, for an additional price. It has some outstanding features. The member response rate for exchange requests is unique in the industry. We think it's a great idea to know which members respond to offers (even to say no). The interactive agreement form is also a plus that not too many agencies have. With the expiration date clearly listed, there's no risk of finding outdated listings. We know listings are removed when they expire, because ours was removed.

All of the features are outstanding. However, there are three problem areas (although one may be country specific)as far as we are concerned. There is an excellent map based search and an equally excellent advanced search, but we're not sure if the two can be used together. When one hits the search button, location is only to the country level, while with the map it is more specific among the more populated countries. Are we doing something wrong? There is an excellent communication system with all mail left on the server, but we don't like the visible phone number and address on the email (albeit just for members).

From the U.S. based site, there is navigation confusion. Clicking the Browse button, brings one to a different HomeLink home page. Clicking the Search button brings up an unsortable regional list of the country. Very confusing. The only way out seemed to be to go back to the U.S. site. We're not sure if this is true of all countries.

95% of their online listings have images. Take a look! Updated 2/10