Digsville.com web site promotes home exchange

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Home and hospitality exchange — or travel whereby two homeowners anywhere in the world swap homes or hospitality for an agreed amount of time — is one of the world’s fastest growing forms of vacation travel. And to make it easier for home and hospitality exchangers to find one another, digsville.com, a subscription-based online home exchange and hospitality service, helps first-time exchangers and old pros alike find the digs of their dreams.

In 1998, Helen Bergstein, founder and president of digsville.com, was invited to become a participating company in the Technology Ventures Incubator at Stevens Institute of Technology. Cultivated and primed by the incubator, the home and hospitality exchange web site launched Jan. 1 of this year and has acquired more than 700 new members on six continents. Registration is free and in the near future, listing a home on the site will require a fee of $35 annually. This fee will be implemented after the database of home listings has reached a significant number; for now it is still free to list a home.

Bergstein grew up in the 1960s when this form of travel was first popularized among academia. Educators of the time recognized the tremendous benefits of traveling the world in a unique way. With a thirst for culture and summers free, they learned (and taught their children) the history of the world, first hand. Since that time, the concept of home and hospitality exchange has gained global acceptance within many professions and grows at an annual rate of 20 percent, reaching more than 2 million people worldwide by the year 2010.

Bergstein and her family continue to travel and exchange homes with families all over the world. More recently though, she has opted for swapping homes more close to home.

"We’ve exchanged our apartment in Hoboken for a seaside cottage in Avon-By-The-Sea," Bergstein says. "We’ve gone skiing in upstate New York, and, come July, we’re heading for the Montreal JazzFest while the family from Canada will be staying in Hoboken."

Bergstein’s exposure to the benefits of home and hospitality exchange, as well as her graphic arts and advertising expertise, have brought about a web site that unites academia and other travel-hungry surfers for home and hospitality exchange.

Comparing digsville.com to other sites offering similar services on the Web, in April, the Sunday Times of London said of the site, "Digsville.com is also heavily America-oriented, but it’s a more attractive site, with a retro-hippy feel and a good attitude."

Featuring such items as listings, message boards, a virtual lounge and a place to write about hometowns, digsville.com is a user-friendly atmosphere awaiting travelers from all walks of life who are ready to swap a home or a lifestyle and share a dream.

"We at digsville.com believe that everyone lives somewhere of interest to someone else," Bergstein says. "Whether it’s a minor league baseball field or a major landmark, someone is interested in living where you live and seeing what you see."

Bergstein also says first-time swappers often exchange their secondary homes as well as their primary homes.

Digsville.com and totalwoman.com recently signed a strategic alliance, with an anticipated 20 million page-view-per-month activity. Visit the web site at digsville.com,  or contact Helen Bergstein at helen@digsville.com or at (201) 795-5002.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870 and celebrating 140 Years of Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University TM , lives at the intersection of industry, academics and research.  The University's students, faculty and partners leverage their collective real-world experience and culture of innovation, research and entrepreneurship to confront global challenges in engineering, science, systems and technology management.

Based in Hoboken, N.J. and with a location in Washington, D.C., Stevens offers baccalaureate, master’s, certificates and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences and management, in addition to baccalaureate degrees in business and liberal arts.  Stevens has been recognized by both the US Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security as a National Center of Excellence in the areas of systems engineering and port security research. The University has a total enrollment of more than 2,200 undergraduate and 3,700 graduate students with almost 450 faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as strategic partnerships with industry leaders, governments and other universities around the world.  Additional information may be obtained at www.stevens.edu and www.stevens.edu/press.