Visitors to Italy can stay for free by sharing skills and goods

 

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This article titled "Visitors to Italy can stay for free by sharing skills and goods" was written by Will Coldwell, for theguardian.com on Wednesday 19th October 2016 05.30 UTC

Travellers who are short of cash (and don’t mind a spot of dishwashing) could bag themselves a free holiday in Italy this winter thanks to an initiative that facilitates bartering between bed and breakfast hosts and their guests.

Running from 14-20 November, La Settimana del Baratto – or Barter Week – encourages travellers to exchange goods and services for a free stay in thousands of Italian B&Bs.

To take part, prospective guests can list what they have to offer on the Barter Week site. Alternatively, guests can browse the wishlist of B&Bs and contact them to negotiate their stay.

The wishlist currently includes a huge range of requests. Some hosts, for example, will let you stay in exchange for quality local produce from your home region or country.

B&B San Marco Venezia. Photograph: bbday.it

Others will give you a room in exchange for a live musical performance, while many are bartering for some help with the business – from translating the website or conducting a photo shoot to painting the shutters or doing some gardening.

Barter Week was launched in 2009 by Italian B&B bookings site bed-and-breakfast.it after the team discovered that one of the B&Bs listed on the site used to practise barter instead of normal payments for its business.

In the first year, around 1,000 B&Bs signed up to offer a barter service for one week during low season. Now the number taking part has doubled.

Last year’s Barter Week saw over 10,000 requests and proposals listed on the site. According to data it has collected, the most commonly requested barter from B&B hosts was travel itself – with 25% of owners offering their home in exchange for a stay elsewhere.

After that, B&B owners most commonly asked for home improvement help (19%) or assistance with communication and marketing (15%).

On the traveller side, the most commonly offered barter (37%) was help with communication projects – photo and video, translations or social media. After that, 14% offered to help with housework or repairs and 12% offered lessons in specialist skills, from knitting to belly dancing.

B&B Nonna Rana, Cannara. Photograph: bbday.it

This year has already seen some unusual barters take place. Rome B&B A Casa di Lia bartered two nights for a mosaic representing the helmet of Achilles made by an artist from Naples. On its wishlist it also asked also for a trained hawk, whereupon a falconer got in contact with information on falconry lessons.

In Naples, B&B DormidaMè, exchanged hospitality for natural soaps made from waste oil, while the Masseria San Martino in Puglia is hosting a Russian woman who is helping harvest olives.

Although Barter Week fosters a large number of exchanges, some B&Bs accept barters all year round. These can be found on the barattobb.it site, which lists about 1,000 places to stay.

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