Home Exchange vs. Hotels: an affordably cool way to get away this summer without breaking the travel budget

This is the time of year, right after the holidays, when my mind starts to think about summer vacation. I am a native new englander and as much as I miss the changing of the seasons and beautiful white winters, I love tropical beach destinations for my summer vacations with my kids. This year we are thinking of tackling Disneyworld. As I began my research for properties and other hotel options, I came across this video link on the dirtiest hotels in America. I was horrified! http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/the-dirtiest-hotels-in-america-23948731.

 This lead me to wonder about house swapping. I found a few websites, specifically, www.homeexchange.com, that looked promising. Has anyone out there looked into this as an alternative to high priced hotels, timeshares and vacation home rental? I am anxious to hear if anyone has had success with this as I think it is a cool and affordable way to get away and explore another state or even country!