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Per wikipedia: Couchsurfing International Inc. is a hospitality exchange and social networking website. The website provides a platform for members to "surf" on couches by staying as a guest at a host's home, host travelers, or join an event. Couchsurfing is a neologism referring to the practice of moving from one friend's house to another, sleeping in whatever spare space is available, floor or couch, generally staying a few days before moving on to the next house. The term pre-existed the website in vernacular usage; for example, "Couch Surfer" was the title of a song by Bran Van 3000 written in the 90s. The company, its website, and the general culture of hospitality exchange it is meant to support are all commonly referred to as "couchsurfing". The "c" and "s" are sometimes capitalized, giving "CouchSurfing". Participants frequently refer to themselves as "couchsurfers" or "surfers". "CS" and "CSer" are used as abbreviations. Basically, couchsurfing is a very cheap alternative to hotels/hostels (you're not expected/supposed to pay the host anything) with the added benefit that you get to meet local people. Most hosts will give tips or even guide you around their town if you want them to and they have time, which is honestly pretty awesome. So, who has hosted couchsurfers and who would like to go couchsurfing? Share your experiences!
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Nov 8, 2014 12:21
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I have never used it but I am interested to hear from others who have. My friend told me about it awhile back so I created a profile and occasionally look up people who are willing to host in places I would like to visit. I don't have much experience traveling internationally but I would like to go on a trip sometime next year and was considering using it. My friend who told me about it used it to meet up with some people who showed him around and took him out for drinks in NYC. You can use the website/app to find meetups in your local city for other couchsurfers. There is a group of them who meet up every Wednesday at a local coffee shop in my town. From what I gather the people that attend are couchsurfers from out of town and those who have couchsurfed abroad.
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Nov 11, 2014 00:59
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(side note: can somebody change the icon to a less lovely one?) To be honest, I made my account not that long ago either so I don't have thqt much experience with it, but I did host some people already in my apartment and am planning to go on a couchsurfing trip in april. I signed up after two friends of mine told me about their long trip from Paris to Kopenhagen done only by hitchhiking and couchsurfing. I had the impression they had a very easy time finding good couchsurfers (they were both girls though) and they had some great stories to tell, so it seems great. Hosting people has been pretty awesome and easy as well.
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Nov 11, 2014 11:13
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There used to be a goon couch surfing thread and a dormant goon group. It's waaaay easier to find cs hosts if you are a girl, or have lots and lots of cs cred like being an ambassador. Not to scare you away, but it's hard to find hosts in major cities like Paris London New York. And if you do find a place, it's probably not too convenient for sight seeing and need time to commute. Some people are super lazy and just spam requests, so don't do that. Write personalized messages and don't expect anything from your host. Some people want a personal tour guide, some people need just need a place to stay. Regardless be a good guest. Clean up your sleeping space, take out the trash and offer to do some chores when you leave, it's a sure fire way to leave a good impression.
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Nov 13, 2014 02:37
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Cool, a thread about Couchsurfing, I'll add my biased anecdotal experience: I'm actually in the middle of traveling right now, and I have Couchsurfed in almost every city since I left Edinburgh (during Fringe, it was next to impossible to find accommodations anywhere in that city, stupid planning on my part) in mid-August, so for about 3 months now. So far I have Couchsurfed in England, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco (I'm posting from my host's flat in Morocco at the moment). When I first started my trip, I was really skeptical about the entire thing, both about how hard I had heard it is to find hosts as a guy with no previous experience, and also of course about safety and all of those things that go with trusting strangers, but honestly after so many amazing experiences I have found the community to be really inspiring and just generally awesome. So far I have met people from all over the world staying in each place, and it has given me a look under the hood, so to speak, in each city, something that I don't think I could have had staying in hostels or hotels. To me now, it is the best way to travel, assuming that you find good hosts to stay with of course (but really the recommendation system and just reading profiles works well I think, I've stayed with over 20 hosts thus far and have had only great experiences, maybe I am just really lucky but I think it's not too hard to be smart about it). Not only have I been able to find places and learn about things that I never would have seen in the cities I visited, like cool local places to eat or visit, or for example an abandoned old resort on a beach that I explored with my host in Tangier, but also meeting all sorts of different people with really varied interests (I've learned about all sorts of crazy poo poo so far from my hosts). As far as exchange of services and things goes, for me it has been really informal, the main point is sharing in experiences with people and the communal aspect of it, but generally everywhere I go I personally bring tea and coffee with me to share (brewed from my little moka pot and teapot that I keep with me because I'm insane), and I offer to help cook and share the cost of groceries. All really small things, but it's the intent I guess that goes farther than just monetary exchange. I know that reads like sort of a lame advertisement, but I seriously have come to love my experience with the Couchsurfing community, and I think despite some seriously questionable moves on the part of the company that owns it, the heart of the community is really in the right place still, at least for the time being. And from experience, I think that if you are willing to really fill out a detailed profile and take the time to personalize all of your requests and show people that you care about sharing your time with them and not about just finding a place to stay for free, then you can always find good people to stay with. I've been able to do that even in harder cities like London, Amsterdam, and Paris, so it's definitely doable. Just know what you are getting into with the service, it is not a hotel by any means, I've slept on whatever was available, from small couches to inflatable mattresses in a shared room with my host, to full beds in a private room, it's pretty random and you are not guaranteed any sort of comfort, though everyone I've met so far have gone out of their way to make me comfortable. Of course as with anything, YMMV. Anyway, hopefully all this rambling helps some people!
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Nov 14, 2014 23:31
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Tannin posted:Just know what you are getting into with the service, it is not a hotel by any means, I've slept on whatever was available, from small couches to inflatable mattresses in a shared room with my host, to full beds in a private room, it's pretty random and you are not guaranteed any sort of comfort, though everyone I've met so far have gone out of their way to make me comfortable. Of course as with anything, YMMV. Don't carry any expectations for your host is the best advice I can think of. I agree. Im in Hong Kong and get a million requests by people who cookie cutter copy and paste requests. I even have a enter a secret code in my profile page and people tend to miss that. As a host, I do try to go out of my way to make people comfortable and it's pretty fun to show people the cooler parts of what I like in my host city. Don't be one of those free hotel guests but on the otherhand it's understandable when people just want to be low commitment and crash for the night because their host bailed on them or something. Sometimes a host is really busy and don't want to be the tour guide taking people to the Eiffel tower or something, so you guys have to play by ear caberham fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Nov 15, 2014 |
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Nov 15, 2014 02:54
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I've been using CouchSurfing for a little over four years now. It's pretty great.
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Nov 19, 2014 18:33
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I've hosted people in Amsterdam sometimes, but usually turn it off since you get absolutely spammed with request there. Even editing my profile to that of a serial killer didn't change that situation much. Still, when I do accept requests they've almost always been cool people that I got along well with. If I have the time and the surfer(s) is/are cool, I'll join them in their touristy ways. It's pretty interesting because normally I never do the touristy things in my own city, so it's a good way to see another side of it. And, now I probably have a place to crash in the cities where they live in the future. The least interesting hosting experiences have generally been the ones where people didn't speak any languages I know very well. I haven't used CS as a surfer yet though, I always seem to end up in cities where I know people already. Entropist fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Nov 22, 2014 |
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Nov 22, 2014 16:23
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Still not too late to join the goon group, even though it is kind of dormant https://www.couchsurfing.com/groups/10914 As for CS in Europe, the easiest place to find couches are the less known cities in northern Europe, as you move further south it gets harder (unless you are a girl, of course), but usually with a bit of work I do get a couch. I don't mind staying in hostels though, and usually opt for that if it gets too exhausting.
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Nov 22, 2014 22:41
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I've been on there for about 5 years, and living in NYC and DC I've hosted about a hundred people, as well as done a few trips staying with CS hosts. I would say that for the most part, you get out of it what you put in. I generally don't accept people who do copy/paste requests, or who clearly didn't pay any attention to my profile. But when people picked me for a reason and there's some compatibility, I generally accept unless I'm not able. (As noted above, putting effort into your requests goes a long way!) As long as I have time, I'll usually take people out in the evenings to go hang out, or to events if I happen to be going to something. I typically won't go to the tourist stuff over and over, although I do help plan routes and explain what's close to what, etc. Ultimately, it's like most socialization: even though sometimes it's kind of annoying or just mediocre, it's really worth it when you find the people you click with. I hosted an Australian girl and we really hit it off; over the course of a couple visits I showed her around DC and Baltimore, took her on side trips down to Richmond and up to NYC, and then later on she returned the favor and accompanied me on a month and a half long tour around the whole of Australia. I hosted an architect who taught me to appreciate a lot more the buildings around the city. And I've had great hosts in some really remote locations: on Christmas Island I stayed with a park ranger who took me caving, and in Greenland I stayed with a UNESCO employee who taught me a ton about the local culture and language. Anyway, there's not really a question to answer in the OP, so that's just my top-of-the-head thoughts. If the thread attracts people who are curious, I'm happy to answer questions. (Also, the new version of the site sucks so far. All of a sudden spam is a problem, and also they took the delete button out of the mail system.)
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Nov 27, 2014 14:58
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Yeah I do hate the new version as well.. So out of curiosity have you guys ever hooked up with your hosts/guests? It just kind of happened once when I hosted a guest and it was kind of weird/awkward. I heard horror stories of some hosts who try to get their guests drunk and all 
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Nov 27, 2014 15:30
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Female friends report lots of creepy guys and requests on there... Usually the dudes who accept only female guests. They still manage to get people especially if they are in places where there are lots of tourists coming that desperately need a place at the last minute. There's some strange old dude in Amsterdam who runs a nudist CS house. Some people treat it as a dating website, but they usually get set straight by more experienced CSers. One time I had one guest who was new to CS, and had had some sort of romance with all of her 2 CS hosts so far which she thought was weird but she went with it (I didn't continue the tradition). I haven't hooked up through CS, I usually host multiple people at the same time so when there were girls I liked there wouldn't be much of a chance  Or they just didn't seem into me.
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Nov 27, 2014 17:22
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Entropist posted:Female friends report lots of creepy guys and requests on there... Usually the dudes who accept only female guests. They still manage to get people especially if they are in places where there are lots of tourists coming that desperately need a place at the last minute. Yeah I live in Hong Kong and the South Asian dudes get a really really bad rep when most of the profiles "I ONLY HOST FEMALES ONLY"  quote:There's some strange old dude in Amsterdam who runs a nudist CS house. Yeah I remember bumping into his profile. He's this older dude with a pedo smile and he only accepts men, and he needs to have other men sleep naked in his house. Oh and he's not gay but everyone must share the same bed  quote:Some people treat it as a dating website, but they usually get set straight by more experienced CSers. Yeah it's awkward, you get some PUA creeps that love fishing for "party girl" profiles for sex. The other side of the argument is that travelers get lonely too and if everyone is ok, casual flings are OK, or that something something true love blossom. I don't even want to bring it up in the CS forums at all. Hey Amstel Goon, did we meet in Goon meet with Jeoh? quote:One time I had one guest who was new to CS, and had had some sort of romance with all of her 2 CS hosts so far which she thought was weird but she went with it (I didn't continue the tradition). I haven't hooked up through CS, I usually host multiple people at the same time so when there were girls I liked there wouldn't be much of a chance Yeah multiple people is the way. I do politely tell people not to have sex though, ugh other goon friend of mine let a couple stayed in his house and they sprayed semen all over the sheets. The couple have the audacity to tell me friend that they are happy to conceive a child in his bed. Fuckers didn't even pay for dry cleaning.
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Nov 27, 2014 17:32
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caberham posted:Hey Amstel Goon, did we meet in Goon meet with Jeoh? Probably not, I've only been to Goon Eurovision caberham posted:
One time I had a CS request by a band of like 6 people, but I figured that was a bit too much...
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Nov 27, 2014 17:36
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I've been on Couchsurfing since...er, 2008 I guess. It's good. I've done it in the States and across Europe in 2011. I would highly recommend it. However, the best thing that has been said is what caberham said, in that you really should have no expectations. I have had some people surf with me that expected me to show them around every second of the day, others just want a place to crash at night, others want to go out and get wasted at a club, etc. I'm pretty flexible so I'm down for whatever, and I can't even really host people now that I'm married with the apartment we live in, but you'll need that flexibility if you're hosting people. A few other things: - I don't recommend hosting people that don't have any references, even if it is a SUPER CUTE GIRL~~~ - I don't recommend trying to surf at a place with no references. - I agree again with caberham that it will be very difficult to get a host in a major city. I lucked out in getting a dude in Paris, he was awesome. - I don't recommend trying to hook up with anyone and obviously keep your guard up around people you don't know. Sure it says they have four references but you don't know them, so try to be careful, goons! - If you want to stay with someone, write a detailed request why. I don't accept people who just send me nonsense, I like that they took the time to read what I wrote and think we'd have fun together if we met up/surfed. You can obviously make good friends doing it, I hosted a girl back in 2011 and then after she left we kept in touch, and she was from the same city as me and when she came back from holiday we started dating  and then went to Europe together for a while It's a good tool to use and I recommend it. Enjoy if you use it!
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Nov 28, 2014 08:59
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I have hosted people with no reference a few times, and it was either indifferent or good. They were all experienced travelers anyway, even if they never used the CS system. And it was nice to talk to them about it and explain it and tell stories. But yeah, with no references you have to make extra sure that their story checks out and that their profile is good (and not too good).
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Nov 28, 2014 19:52
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Quick tip being a good surfer: take out the trash, make the loving bed/couch, and offer to do chores. On your own. You are staying at stranger's homes, so for this one time, listen to your mom yelling at you about personal space. I have barely any references because I always hang out with goons and host goons. And if I do go visit goons, I feel bad staying with another CS host when I excuse myself to meet up with my OTHER INTERNET FRIENDS who loves goatse  I'm the kind of person who loves delighting my host with gifts/hangout time/chores etc.Plus I'm kind of picky with my mattresses/internet/ so nowadays I just stay in hotels or hostels. I guess I'm more of a giver than taker and feel bad staying at other hosts. caberham fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Nov 28, 2014 |
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Nov 28, 2014 20:01
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Entropist posted:Female friends report lots of creepy guys and requests on there... Usually the dudes who accept only female guests. It's just as bad for female hosts TBH. We had our place listed on CS but the vast majority of people who contacted us were creepy North Africans who seemed too interested in my (North African) girlfriend whose name the account was under and who had a picture of herself. Also about 2/3rds of people contacting us wanted to stay for like 2+ weeks. Is CS mostly used by like single travellers working as volunteers at festivals or something? Anyway we shut down the account, though we did host maybe 10 people. No creeps or bad experiences, but except for a local-ish dude, we didn't accept any single male travellers. We probably would have if any who weren't creeps had messaged us though.
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Nov 29, 2014 09:01
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I've been on CS for about five years. Mostly I've used it socially, for CS gatherings and the like. Occasionally I've stayed with CS hosts, but always in second- or lower-tier cities. As a single male traveler, I've learned not to bother in New York or San Francisco or London. Living in DC again, I've switched off the "Will Host" option, as I was absolutely inundated by requests until I turned it off. It's a great resource, but you do need to be careful of your and your hosts' and guests' reputations on there.
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Nov 30, 2014 20:22
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Saladman posted:...Is CS mostly used by like single travellers working as volunteers at festivals or something? .... It REALLY depends on the region, like everything else. I moved to Albuquerque and found the number of just-one-night-no-references-want-free-place-to-stay-cancel-last-minute surfers was overwhelming. Just throwing it out there that I was able as a single male traveler to stay in London for the better part of a week. It was even sunny 90% of the time I was there! The personalized, genuine message thing is key. I may have sent out only 3 requests for that week. I have also used it to make friends (I was living abroad and my roommates wouldn't let me host), and, honestly, hook up with people. If you're willing to also be a normal human being and hang out and go on hikes and whatever, using it as a dating site is not the end of the world. Travelers are slutty; let's be proud of that. edit: unsolicited? Christ, are you talking about rape? I wasn't Mortley fucked around with this message at 07:35 on Dec 17, 2014 |
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Dec 10, 2014 02:41
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Mortley posted:I have also used it to make friends (I was living abroad and my roommates wouldn't let me host), and, honestly, hook up with people. If you're willing to also be a normal human being and hang out and go on hikes and whatever, using it as a dating site is not the end of the world. Travelers are slutty; let's be proud of that. loving is fine, but I don't think anyone will support unsolicited sex. I actually would love to have lots of anonymous no strings attached safe sex with people but under the pretense of of "hosting/cultural/language exchange" feels predatory. This is me meeting my girlfriend in a language meetup group. I swear to God I never thought of dating someone there. It just happened
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Dec 17, 2014 06:31
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Tannin posted:When I first started my trip, I was really skeptical about the entire thing...an abandoned old resort on a beach that I explored with my host in Tangier... You seem to have warmed up to the idea pretty quickly. Jesus. Eugene V. Dubstep fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Feb 11, 2015 |
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Jan 6, 2015 23:48
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My cousin's done a lot of couchsurfing with friends and has recommended it to me, but she's also warned me that it's probably not so good to do it as a young woman alone. Is this about right? Have people got any experiences related to that? I would like to give it a go some day, but convincing friends to join me travelling seems like an impossible task.
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Feb 10, 2015 23:24
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Based on people I've met or stayed with which is probably 8 or 9 girls (obviously some sampling bias here because I probably wouldn't be able to stay with a girl who's had bad experiences on CS): Most haven't had any problems surfing with guys or girls, or have had maybe one or two bad experiences. 2 of the girls I know are really experienced CSers with 100+ references and who use CS almost every time they travel. I think it's a personality thing - I don't think these guys would travel any other way. Others that I've met while traveling and through hosts have had worse experiences, like guys hitting on them in an annoying way or trying to get them drunk. Never heard of anything worse than that, but maybe those stories aren't the ones that people share. Most likely you will be fine. Girls can get hosted much easier than guys, but don't use the public trip button to find a host, message people yourself. Always check references, they say a lot. If staying with a man, check that he has references from both guys and girls (if he's only hosting girls that probably means he's using it as a hookup site). Search their phone number on facebook before meeting them. Oh and the people I've met are for the most part quite experienced travelers so maybe they're better at dealing with situations than you might be.
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Feb 10, 2015 23:49
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I ran into quite a few solo female travellers on CS in Europe, but you do have to use common sense to avoid using hosts with creepy profiles, and I guess be able to handle basic issues like the ones described above.
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Feb 11, 2015 00:11
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I've become willing to host lately and I've noticed a huge uptick of absolutely lovely requests ranging from having a completely empty profile from the requester, or obviously not reading my profile by way of a one liner or the easy to spot copy/paste bombs. Trying to stay positive about it and pay it forward since my only experience has been surfing, but I haven't seen a single personalized request in the last month.
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Feb 11, 2015 02:32
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I just have a standard reply that I paste in in those cases, and that's already more effort than most other hosts make! Though sometimes people who have boring messages (but good profiles) can still be cool, they just got tired of writing something nice to the 20 people they have to message before someone doesn't ignore them.
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Feb 11, 2015 02:51
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I used CS quite a bit about five years ago when I was in college and studying abroad, and had some of the most unique and fun experiences travelling. It's all about common sense and courtesy really, like most have said. I moved to Vegas for work after college and used the city forum to find a place to live, and went to a lot of meet ups which were a great way to meet people in a new city. I don't use it a whole lot anymore since I am getting older and more picky about where I sleep. Also, living in Vegas got a bit annoying hosting, since people tend to want to go crazy and go clubbing and I didn't have the time and money to do it that often. I guess my biggest complaint is when people tend to be non critical and overly nice in reviews. I understand not wanting to hurt people's feelings, but if someone is not a good guest or host it's your responsibility to let others know and maintain the reciprocal spirit that keeps CS alive. Also, I think it's important to believe in the mission of CS, which to me is about cultural exchange and interaction. We had these two German girls once, while very nice, spent most of their time in my roommates room alone talking to each other. Obviously not horrible guests, but if that's what you want just get a hotel room.
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Feb 22, 2015 22:42
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