Help / Frequently asked questions

BnBreathe is a network of nights exchange strictly reserved to hosting professionals: B & B, guest houses, lodgings, family hotels, tourist accommodations, AirBnB who want to be part of the network making it in some ways a 'club'. BnBreathe allows you to travel at reduced costs for a shorter or longer stay at each other's lodgings, through a virtual money and this without any restriction nor geographical or regarding the category of the property. Please note that these are non-reciprocal exchanges: you do not necessarily have to host the member you went for a stay at, each member is free to book at whichever other member of the BnBreathe network, during the times and on the dates this other member of the club decides him/herself to make one or more rooms available for the exchange system.

Each person who can prove the s/he manages a tourist accommodation and justify that it is a professional activity. The accommodation must be operated by this same person. Large hotel structures or people who can't demonstrate some level of professionalism on the internet will not be accepted on BnBreathe.

Any new registration is manually validated by the BnBreathe team using a short online survey the goal of which is to verify the criteria mentioned here above. If needed, additional evidence or information will be requested by email.

It should be one of your main paid work. You should in any case be able to provide a service on site most of the time when guests stay at your place.

Your lodging is listed on professional websites and/or has its own promotional website. Customers comments on those websites prove it is a serious and well managed business.

To be able to enjoy a couple of days off away from home more often and at a cheaper price! Thanks to BnBreathe, you are guaranteed to go to a professionally-run place.

Once your registration has been validated, you will receive twice the amount for a night's stay in your own business in virtual money. You can thus book two nights at the business of another member offering a quality equivalent to that of yours. You can of course also use this virtual money to select a place more or less expensive than yours. This is an offer to boost the network and allow the newcomers to feel part of the group quickly. Please note that the value of these two nights offered by the system is worth more than the value of the annual subscription package that will be requested to cover the development and maintenance costs of the platform!

The platform works with virtual money based on real currencies. This isn't a vague points system said to be fair and unbiased.
On BnBreathe, the virtual price of properties matches their real price and you are thus sure that members' properties are at the right virtual price sice you can check it out yourselves on the public online booking websites. We're not trying to reinvent anything, and we're thus avoiding creating a scale of values that wouldn't be putting everybody on the same level.

You host BnBreathe members in your lodging and make virtual money that allows you to go yourself to the lodging of another member.
You can also make a gift voucher for a loved one so s/he can enjoy in your stead. What an elegant way to give presents at low cost!

Although the booking is made as a BnBreathe member, during your stay, you will be treated as a fully fledged customer in terms of service. BnBreathe is equipped with a rating and comments system to rate the exchange. This allows members of the network to verify the quality of the service. However, these notes and comments are accessible to BnBreathe members only, in the members section. You won't have to cope with yet another stressful public rating system.

You can easily look up your competitors or future partners and also find out how things are done elsewhere, which can be useful in many respects.

BnBreathe uses virtual money the value of which is based on public rates which are actually charged for non-members. You specify the price per night for each accommodation you offer in the exchange system. When a member stays at your lodging, you get the amount for the nights in virtual money in your BnBreathe wallet. You can then also use your virtual money to stay at an other member's lodging, and it does not necessarily have to be that of the one that stayed at yours. During a stay abroad in a country which isn't using the same currency, the exchange rates of real money are used to calculate amounts between virtual currencies, as for a regular trip.

BnBreathe owns a stock exchange which allows members to purchase virtual money. You can thus add virtual money to your wallet so you can go wherever you want if you miss a small amount.

Please note that the price of the night only (and breakfast in most cases) is included in the BnBreathe exchange system. On-site extras for services, food, beverage and tourist taxes are to be paid on-site with real money.

No not at all. BnBreathe gives you access to a system allowing you to select the periods of time during which your lodging won't be accessible to BnBreathe members. A calendar is accessible from your user profile and can be used to reserve high seasons for your paying customers. You would thus not get any BnBreathe booking request on these times. The system allows you to decline access to your entire lodging or to rooms individually. You get and email when you get a new booking request. You must then long into BnBreathe to check and answer it.

You're always free to prioritise your paying customers and refuse a BnBreathe request, however, in order for the network to operate properly, please play the game as much as possible and accept booking requests whenever you marked in your calendar that you had the availability to do so.

You can go on vacation or take short breaks away from home almost for free, since you don't have to pay real money for your nights, and this in exchange of what it costs you to host other members of the BnBreathe network at your place.
Would you really go on a trip if you had to pay using real money instead of the BnBreathe way? We have been managing B&B guest rooms for over 20 years and we have thought it through, we believe in the potential of BnBreathe! :-)

So long as you host BnBreathe members once a year, you can also travel for short stays a couple of times a year yourself. You can even choose to accumulate more virtual money and treat yourself to a longer vacation, even in a distant foreign country as it is BnBreathe's ambition to grow all over the world.

You can use your virtual money to buy your loved ones a stay.

You may now purchase additional virtual money at an attractive price through the BnBreathe stock exchange if you don't make enough with the nights other members spend in your lodging. You will in any case be able to take time off at a lower cost.

You control your bookings and can naturally give priority to your paying customers. You are always free to accept or refuse a BnBreathe booking request according to your criteria. However, once the booking accepted, you are bound to respect your commitment as you would for paying customers. Your guests may be coming at a cheaper price through BnBreathe, but there are still spending money to come! Put yourself into a guest's shoes and picture how you would like to be hosted, others will do just the same thing!

The price system using virtual currencies based on real currencies, which guarantees that your lodging is listed at a fair value compared to other lodgings. Furthermore, the system self regulates itself as virtual prices must be the same as real prices. Before a holiday, members can thus check real prices on the internet to make sure that the virtual price asked is right. If this is not the case, they can easily warn the platform which will act if necessary. Please rest assured that each member is treated with the same conditions as you are and no one will benefit to the system to your disadvantage.

BnBreathe has a full rating and comments system regarding their members and their stay at other members'. Those rates and comments are visible by all other members. This means that any member not following the rules will be automatically set aside by the other members. Pleas rest assures that these rates and comments will not be made public on the internet and are only visible by the BnBreathe members. You can also notify us in case of abuse. In case of serious misconduct, the responsible member may be expelled from the platform.

The price system using virtual currencies based on that of real money ensuring that your lodging is listed at its fair value compared to other lodgings. Moreover, the system regulates itself since virtual prices must be identical to actual prices. Before a stay, members can therefore check prices on the Internet to know that the virtual price asked is fair. If it isn't the case, they can easily mention it to us and we will act accordingly. This is to ensure that every member is subject to the same conditions as you and that none of them will benefit of the system to your disadvantage.

Each registration is subject to a manual analysis by us to check that the new BnBreathe candidate member meets the registration conditions to the platform and that the data entered is correct.
For professional activities only, you can check yourself the consistency of the information available on BnBreathe with those you might find on other website to confirm your choice of place for your next stay.

Once the registration validated, each member gets 2 free nights and free access to the BnBreathe platform. A subscription must be payed for in order to make exchanges. Pay a preferential price once a year to access all of the features of BnBreathe. You can unsubscribe at any time if you wish to stop your participation to the system. Nevertheless, the announcement of your bed and breakfast will be visible by the other members only if you have a valid and active subscription. NO complicated system with a long term commitment, or registered letters to cancel under conditions we never remember. If your subscription has expired, the virtual money you have accumulated remains valid on your BnBreathe account, all you have to do is reactivate your account to spend it on the platform.

Our subscriptions

Once your registration has been validated, you will receive twice the amount for a night's stay in your own business in virtual money. You can thus book two nights at the business of another member offering a quality equivalent to that of yours. You can of course also use this virtual money to select a place more or less expensive than yours. This is an offer to boost the network and allow the newcomers to feel part of the group quickly. Please note that the value of these two nights offered by the system is worth more than the value of the annual subscription package that will be requested to cover the development and maintenance costs of the platform!

You host BnBreathe members in your lodging that pay for their stay with the virtual money of the platform. The money builds up in your e-wallet.

Purchase virtual money using real money in the BnBreathe stock exchange at a preferential rate set by the platform which is identical for all members. The link between virtual and real money is high enough to avoid that members only purchase virtual money without ever hosting members in their lodging.

Treat your loved ones to presents by booking a stay for them with another member. You will have to inform the BnBreathe member of the identity of thee people. This is a way to make nice presents without going bankrupt.

In this case, purchase virtual money from the BnBreathe stock exchange,against real money at a favourable rate set by the platform and identical for all members. The ratio between virtual and real money is high enough to avoid having members only purchasing virtual money without ever hosting members in their place.

No, the money purchased this way is always injected in the BnBreathe network and allows members that will receive it to then leave themselves, making this a dynamic network. Moreover, the ratio between virtual and real money isn't cheap enough to encourage members to not host other members and only take advantage of the system by purchasing virtual money.

The BnBreathe virtual money system guaranteed a fair value compared to the others. In this way, you are never at a disadvantage. The conditions are the same for each member.

We check the suitability of new registrations with respect to the access rules of the platform. Moreover, each member can report a fraud by comparing the data available on BnBreathe with those found on other websites.

Each stay is graded and commented upon by both parties and each BnBreathe member can look up the history of these grades and comments at any time. A difficult member will thus automatically be set aside. These data won't be publicly available on the internet, they will only be available for other BnBreathe members.

At your lodging, you will host other BnBreathe members ( or their loved ones if with a gift voucher) who play the same game as you do on BnBreathe, under the same rules and same conditions for access to the network. BnBreathe is sort of a private club, it is not an open network open to the public and to whoever offers a couch in his/her living room. You are able to predict where you will go and how you will be welcomed when you travel, and the type of people you will host when accepting a booking in your lodging.

Once the booking request has been approved by the host, only the guest can cancel the booking. He can cancel at any time until the start date of the booking but according to the conditions that you have set yourself and configured into BnBreathe. In case of no show of your guest or late cancellation, you are thus guaranteed to get part or all of the money owed.
The virtual money for the entire booking is blocked by BnBreathe once the booking request was accepted. In case of cancellation, BnBreathe gives the host a percentage of the virtual money as per the conditions the latter has set and gives the rest back to the guest so it is available in its BnBreathe wallet again.

The purchase of the annual subscription and virtual money straight from the BnBreathe stock exchange is done exclusively by credit card using Paypal's secure platform. The management of the subscription is delegated to Paypal, who then informs BnBreathe of its status and the date of payment. Your bank details are under no circumstances shared with BnBreathe.

Your virtual money remains on your account even if your subscription has expired. However, in order to use it in whichever way, you will need a valid subscription.

When booking a stay, once the booking request was accepted by the host, the full amount of virtual money needed to pay for the booking is taken from the e-wallet of the guest and blocked by BnBreathe. Once the start date of the stay had been reached, the host must report in the system the arrival or no show of the guest. The virtual money is then immediately released and credited in the e-wallet of the host.

Only the guest can cancel the booking. He can do so at all times, until the start date of the booking, but at the conditions that you have set yourself and configured of BnBreathe. In case of no-show or late cancellation, you are thus guaranteed to get part or all of the virtual money owed. Depending on the situation, BnBreathe gives the host the full amount or a percentage of the virtual money reserved for the stay, and gives the rest of the amount back to the guest so it is available again in his/her BnBreathe wallet.

Go through the BnBreathe network looking for the lodging that suits you. Click on 'make a booking request' when on the description of the lodging. Complete the process and you will then receive an email with the decision and comments of the other member.

Once the booking is accepted by your host, the virtual money needed to settle the stay will be blocked by Bnbreathe on your account to guarantee the payment of the stay when it ends, or to guarantee a compensation for your host in case of a late cancellation.

The only things that are covered with the virtual money are the nights and breakfast if it is included in the price per night. The local taxes and other charges are payable the traditional way.

After the stay, BnBreathe will ask both parties to publish a comment about the exchange that will be visible to all other members.

To make a booking request, you must have a valid subscription.

You have access to the full contact details of the other member and can thus contact him/her directly without going through BnBreathe.

Everytime new booking request is made, you are notified by email. You must then log into BnBreathe to check the request and answer it. You are always entitled to prioritise you paying customers and refuse a BnBreathe booking, however, in order for the network to work properly, please go along with the system and accept bookings whenever you have any availability to do so. BnBreathe gives you access to a system allowing you to mark the times during which your entire lodging or the rooms you list separately are not free for BnBreathe members. A calendar is available in your user profile and can be used to block peak seasons for your paying customers. You would thus not get any booking request at these times.

BnBreathe came to life thanks to the idea of people in the Bed & Breakfast industry and which materialised bit by bit. It is not a commercial platform with major financial goals. We respect the privacy of your data which will never be sold to third parties. However, the high IT development and management costs must be covered, along with the wages of the people validating the registrations and answering your questions. This is why the financial operation of BnBreathe is based on a mandatory subscription fee for each member, and in some cases, on the sale of virtual money via the stock exchange. Moreover, we believe that the subscription is a guarantee of the willingness of the members to work with the system with integrity.

BnBreathe originates from ideas of professionals in the Bed and Breakfast industry who have owned a Bed and Breakfast or guest houses in the South West of France and then in the Swiss Alps. They have witnessed the evolution of the market and professions in the tourism industry an also the digital world. On top of having lived in different countries and having met thousands of people through their B&B, they have also traveled quite a bit. Thought their interactions and travel experiences, they realised it would be of great value to have an exchange solution with a friendly atmosphere among professionals. After a lot of investment and energy poured into the project, BnBreathe came to life end of 2018 and offers a number of subscription offers at preferential prices to the first members of each country. The rest has yet to be written...

Please share your questions, requests, suggestions or any issues encountered using the contact form available on the website. We will answer as soon as possible. We are open to adapting BnBreathe so it can ever more meet your expectations!