ThirdHome works as a members-only exchange club for owners of luxury second homes: you deposit weeks at your property to earn an internal currency called Keys, then spend those Keys plus a per-stay exchange fee to book time at other members’ homes around the world. There is no direct swap with a single counterpart, so the week you host and the week you travel don’t have to line up. Exchange fees run from $495 to $1,995 per stay, and joining is free of any initiation charge if you contribute two in-season weeks at signup.1THIRDHOME. FAQ – Fast Facts
Who Can Join
The club is for owners of vacation or second homes. Primary residences don’t qualify, and neither do properties used only as full-time rentals. The home has to be worth at least $500,000, sit in a desirable location, and offer high-end furnishings and modern amenities.2THIRDHOME. Luxury House Swaps Worldwide With ThirdHome Many listed properties are valued well into the millions; that half-million figure is the floor.
You must be at least 25, prove ownership, and pass a background check.3THIRDHOME. Membership Terms and Conditions Professional-quality photos and a full property description go to club staff, who review them to confirm the home meets what existing members expect.
Fractional owners can join with a lighter hosting requirement. Full owners have to contribute at least one Key-earning week each year; fractional owners contribute one Key-earning week every 24 months.4THIRDHOME. FAQ Eligible “Residences” are defined broadly and include houses, condominiums, apartments, watercraft, and aircraft.3THIRDHOME. Membership Terms and Conditions
How Keys Are Earned and Spent
Keys are the internal currency. Depositing an available week from your property earns Keys; booking a stay somewhere else spends them. Because the club holds the ledger, you don’t need to find a specific owner willing to swap the same dates with you.
How Your Home’s Key Value Is Set
At signup, ThirdHome assigns your home a base Key value from 1 to 5, based on the property’s value, the desirability of the location, and its amenities and furnishings.5THIRDHOME Help Center. How Many Keys Will I Earn The base value then scales with seasonal demand:
- An off-season or non-peak week earns the base Key amount.
- A peak week earns double the base value.
- A Super Peak week earns triple the base value.
So a beachfront home rated at 4 base Keys earns 4 Keys for an off-season week, 8 for a peak week, and 12 for a Super Peak week.5THIRDHOME Help Center. How Many Keys Will I Earn The tiers push members to offer their best dates, which is when other members most want to travel.
Keys Expire
Each batch of Keys expires 24 months after the start date of the stay you contributed. Deposit a week that starts July 1, 2025, and those Keys expire on July 1, 2027. You only need to book a reservation before the expiration date; the trip itself can happen later.6THIRDHOME Help Center. Do Keys Expire Watch the timing on cancellations: if you cancel a reservation after the Keys you used to book it have already expired, they don’t come back to your account.
What It Actually Costs
The initiation fee is currently waived if you make two in-season weeks available when you join. Annual membership dues are $295, and the first year is free. In later years, dues only apply if you actually travel through the club, and you can cancel at any time with no penalty.1THIRDHOME. FAQ – Fast Facts
The largest recurring cost is the exchange fee, charged each time you book a stay. It runs from $495 to $1,995 per stay, not per night, and the exact figure depends on the property and how many Keys the reservation requires.7THIRDHOME Help Center. How Much Does It Cost to Reserve a Property Cleaning fees and local occupancy taxes at the host’s property are separate.
On cleaning, the host is responsible for a clean home at arrival and for arranging the post-departure cleaning.8THIRDHOME Help Center. Am I Responsible for Cleaning the Property Before I Leave You should leave the home reasonably tidy, but you aren’t hiring a crew or washing linens. Some hosts do charge a separate cleaning fee, and on larger luxury properties it can run several hundred dollars.
Booking and Cancellation
If you cancel a confirmed reservation, you generally forfeit both the exchange fee and the Keys you used. There is a partial-credit safety net: if ThirdHome reposts the canceled week and another member books it, you get your Keys back plus half of the exchange fee.3THIRDHOME. Membership Terms and Conditions Whether the week rebooks is out of your hands, so treat a confirmed reservation as a real commitment.
One exception covers government restrictions or force majeure that make travel impossible or impractical. You can notify the host and ThirdHome no earlier than 90 days before the reservation start date, and the standard forfeiture rules don’t apply.3THIRDHOME. Membership Terms and Conditions
Hosts, meanwhile, generally can’t cancel confirmed reservations outside of force majeure events. A host who fails to honor a booking has to refund the guest’s Keys and exchange fee or pay for comparable alternative accommodations at the destination, and refusing to do either can end the membership.3THIRDHOME. Membership Terms and Conditions
Damage Coverage, and Where It Stops
Hosts get property damage coverage through ThirdHome’s partnership with Truvi, described in the club’s materials as extending up to $5 million per incident. If damage occurs during a guest’s stay, the host has to contact their Member Experience Associate within 10 days of checkout or before the next guest checks in, whichever comes first, or risk losing the ability to file a claim.3THIRDHOME. Membership Terms and Conditions
This coverage is not a substitute for your own homeowner’s policy. Standard homeowner’s insurance wasn’t written for situations where strangers occupy the home, even in a non-commercial exchange. Some policies extend to exchange guests; some exclude short-term occupancy by non-family members. Review the policy with your agent before you list, ask specifically about home exchange scenarios, and if there’s a gap, look at a rider or a separate vacation rental policy.
Taxes, HOA Rules, and Local Regulations
The IRS defines bartering as the exchange of goods or services, and the general rule is that the fair market value of what you receive goes into your gross income for the year.9Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 420, Bartering Income A “barter exchange” is an organization whose members contract to exchange property or services with each other, and barter exchanges with 100 or more transactions per year are generally required to report the fair market value of credits issued on Form 1099-B.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-B There is a carve-out: arrangements that provide solely for the informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis aren’t treated as barter exchanges. Whether ThirdHome falls inside that exception is a question for a tax professional familiar with your situation.
Separately, federal tax law counts any day your home is used under a reciprocal exchange arrangement as a personal use day by you, whether or not rent is charged.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 280A – Disallowance of Certain Expenses in Connection With Business Use of Home, Rental of Vacation Homes, Etc If you also rent the property commercially during other parts of the year, the ratio of personal use days to rental days drives which expenses you can deduct. Exchange days land on the personal side of that ledger and can shrink your allowable deductions.
Before you list, read your HOA’s CC&Rs. Many declarations restrict or prohibit short-term rentals, and whether a non-commercial exchange falls under those restrictions isn’t always clear. Covenants that ban “business or commercial” activity may not reach an exchange where no money changes hands between host and guest, but covenants that limit occupancy to “owners and their guests” or prohibit “transient” use can create problems either way.
Local rules vary too. Many short-term rental ordinances key off “compensation,” which could exclude a non-cash exchange, while others define compensation broadly enough to sweep in in-kind benefits like exchange credits. If the language in your city or county is ambiguous, ask the permitting office directly before you list.
How You Can Lose the Membership
ThirdHome can terminate a membership for violating its terms, and termination means forfeiture of all benefits: unused Keys, exchange fees already paid, membership dues, and any future reservations in the account.3THIRDHOME. Membership Terms and Conditions Specific triggers include collecting rental income from guests outside the platform and transferring Keys or reservations in ways that circumvent the club’s rules. The terms don’t spell out a process for recovering any portion of fees already paid on a general cancellation, though the club advertises that members can cancel at any time with no ongoing obligation.