ToToVR (Travel Owner to Owner Vacation Rental) is very new, tiny (only 3 listings) but a clever, useful concept that just might catch on. It was created by Caroline and Darrell Smith, a couple who simply love to travel and initiated their own vacation swap. They marketed the idea with a Condo.com blog post, where we found it. The site is free for now (for the first year), after which membership will be $40 a year. Membership offers online setup, six photos, free Featured Property listing rotation, and link to member’s Web site.   It is even e-commerce enabled for rental payments.

“In May of 2009 we were offered a friend’s condo for a week in Bradenton, Fla.,” the Smiths explained on their site. “Excited to go, all the preparations had been made. As it turns out, the week was not available after all.. so we started brainstorming. If we were going to use someone’s condo for the week, maybe we could trade a week at our condo for a week in Florida. We started emailing other owners of rental properties of similar size and cost. After about six or seven attempts with with no success we found a delightful two bedroom house in St. Petersburg. Their ad on a vacation rental site read “would consider swapping”, so we emailed the owner. Two days later we had an agreement: We would go to St. Petersburg in June and the other owner would stay a week at our place in Blowing Rock in November. Our condo is not usually booked much in November so it was a win-win for both of us.”

The idea of trading vacation spots might well be a good focus for any rental or real estate vertical or site. In today’s economy, the idea of budget-conscious travel has allure.