Tastemaker & Trailblazer: Justine Palefsky

Co-founder of Kindred, San Francisco

Frustrated by the cost and ethics, Justine set out to radically change the way we travel, building a home-swapping community of some 140,000 households – across the EU, UK, US, Mexico and Canada – rooted in reciprocity and trust

Inever set out to build a travel company – I just wanted to travel differently. Back in 2021, my co-founder Taz and I were both craving a way to live more globally without the huge price tag or the ethical discomfort of traditional short-term rentals. We were informally swapping homes with friends using a Google Sheet and thought: what if this could be something bigger? What if travel could be more human, and more responsible – and radically more affordable?

Trust isn’t part of our model – it is the model. Allowing someone to stay in your real home is an act of vulnerability, so we built Kindred as a community where everyone is both a guest and a host. That shared experience creates empathy – and accountability. Everybody’s got skin in the game. People expect socks in the drawer and family photos on the wall. No anonymous bookings. You’re not renting – you’re exchanging. And that changes everything.

We wanted the experience to feel human, not transactional. There’s no tiering system – a night is a night, whether you live in a studio or a townhouse. You earn nights by hosting and use them to stay elsewhere. We provide a host kit with bed linen and guest toiletries, so if you’re flying across the world, you know the sheets will be clean and the home ready. We also coordinate professional cleaning, which is covered by the member who is staying in the house.

All in, it typically works out at around 10% of the cost of a comparable rental.
In a recent travel survey, 57% of people who used short-term rentals said they were concerned about the impact on local neighbourhoods. There aren’t enough housing units for properties to be treated as revenue-generating assets. With Kindred, there’s no empty house. You step into someone’s real home, and straight into the rhythm of the community.

Last year, I did a home swap with a filmmaker and cinematographer who, it turned out, had been President Obama’s personal videographer for all eight years he was in office. I stayed at her place in Brooklyn, surrounded by White House mementos – framed letters, iconic photographs, even a Camp David sweatshirt hanging casually on a hook. It felt like stepping into a living museum – I was so honoured she trusted me with her space. When I arrived, I noticed a Mary Oliver poem pinned to her fridge – the exact same one I have at home. You start to realise how much you might share with someone who, on paper, seemed very different. Last week, I was back in New York and took her to lunch. It felt like seeing an old friend, even though it was the first time we’d met.

livekindred.com

Inever set out to build a travel company – I just wanted to travel differently. Back in 2021, my co-founder Taz and I were both craving a way to live more globally without the huge price tag or the ethical discomfort of traditional short-term rentals. We were informally swapping homes with friends using a Google Sheet and thought: what if this could be something bigger? What if travel could be more human, and more responsible – and radically more affordable?
Trust isn’t part of our model – it is the model. Allowing someone to stay in your real home is an act of vulnerability, so we built Kindred as a community where everyone is both a guest and a host. That shared experience creates empathy – and accountability. Everybody’s got skin in the game. People expect socks in the drawer and family photos on the wall. No anonymous bookings. You’re not renting – you’re exchanging. And that changes everything.

We wanted the experience to feel human, not transactional. There’s no tiering system – a night is a night, whether you live in a studio or a townhouse. You earn nights by hosting and use them to stay elsewhere. We provide a host kit with bed linen and guest toiletries, so if you’re flying across the world, you know the sheets will be clean and the home ready. We also coordinate professional cleaning, which is covered by the member who is staying in the house.

All in, it typically works out at around 10% of the cost of a comparable rental. In a recent travel survey, 57% of people who used short-term rentals said they were concerned about the impact on local neighbourhoods. There aren’t enough housing units for properties to be treated as revenue-generating assets. With Kindred, there’s no empty house. You step into someone’s real home, and straight into the rhythm of the community.

Last year, I did a home swap with a filmmaker and cinematographer who, it turned out, had been President Obama’s personal videographer for all eight years he was in office. I stayed at her place in Brooklyn, surrounded by White House mementos – framed letters, iconic photographs, even a Camp David sweatshirt hanging casually on a hook. It felt like stepping into a living museum – I was so honoured she trusted me with her space. When I arrived, I noticed a Mary Oliver poem pinned to her fridge – the exact same one I have at home. You start to realise how much you might share with someone who, on paper, seemed very different. Last week, I was back in New York and took her to lunch. It felt like seeing an old friend, even though it was the first time we’d met.

livekindred.com