The rise and fall story of how couch surfing was going to take over the world, but crumbled instead... Let me know what you think in the comment section below and dont forget to like and subscribe for more content just like this!
Thanks for taking the time brother. I started using CS back in '06 and I'm grateful for all the beautiful connections and great experiences that were facilitated by the use of the site. I hope something better comes along.
Couchsurfing lost me when it wanted to charge me for hosting. I was never a guest. I could see an argument for charging guests, but for hosting?! I wonder what kind of hosts Couchsurfing has.
This is a very misleading video. Couchsurfing is still going strong. The expectation that users would never get charged was a little ridiculous. There are significant costs associated with running a service like this, so users need to be willing to pay. The subscriptions are very reasonable
@pcabraham2580 As a prolific CS host as well as guest I agree with you. It could be improved, of course, but for the price of a few cups of coffee a month what the hell are people complaining about? I'm happy to pay to host as well given the great people I have met that way.
@@billbradley5296 You are confusing two separate issues, Bill. The reasonable subscriptions charges, without which you cannot use CS, are not the same as a "verification fee". You can participate fully without the need to get verified. Like the overwhelming majority of members, I'm not verified. It's never held me back as a host or a guest. If members are uber-cautious they can easily arrange their own ID checks. FWIW hosts can 'earn' verified status with confirmed stays/references. However, I agree that $1500 is extortionate so my advice? Simply don't fall for it!
I think the essential problem of this travel and hospitality platform is lack of hospitality. Travelers just want to USE IT when they travel. I just got a couch request sent by and adult working man from Paris, he asks me 5 nights and travel tips (!!!), he is on the platform two years and he hosted exactly zero travelers. He is not an exception, this is the reality of couchsurfing (2024). I read a discussion on Reddit: is cs still alive or already dead? The person USED it in the past and wants to travel again, so he wants to know if cs is still alive. My friend, what did you do between your travels? You could be a host and keep cs alive!! I understand that you can live on a place unattractive for travelers (0 or very few couch requests) but this is not the case of f.e. Paris! The second essential problem is lack of educational videos (or non-existence?) made by CS to explain things about hosting and being a guest.
Couch surfing wont work if the guests are people who are inconsiderate and selfish,and contribute nothing. Which host would be so stupid as to want to spend their own hard earned money so that guests can stay for free,and to provide for the guests free lodging +free food+free cleaning service+free cooking +free tourist guide +free transport +inconveniences to hosts +loss of privacy for hosts +risk of host having all his/her money and valuables get stolen +risk of host getting falsely accused of sexual attacks+host being paid ZERO after doing so much for the guests ???? Couch surfing also wont work if the hosts are sexual predators waiting for preys to arrive. For guests, the risk to them is having all their money +valuables get stolen by a bad host or getting raped by host .
Hence, why you review a person's profile before accepting. Read their references, and their description. Don't like what you read? Don't host. Simple... so don't whine about it. As for the risks involved... yes they're are risks in everything. I've hosted hundreds of people from all walks of life. Individuals, lgbtq, couples, families since 2014. Ten years, and I have friends in places all over the world. I've been invited to couchsurfer weddings of couples that I hosted, and have built true friends for whom I don't talk to everyday. But we connect when we can. If you're only going to paint a negative bitch picture... You're missing the true value and the beauty of this incredible community.
I wish something like couch surfing would make a comeback because hotels and Airbnb are way too expensive. I don't know how so many people can afford to go to overcrowded conventions when all hotels motels & Airbnb are so overpriced compared to 10 years ago.
Great explainer for someone (me) thinking about registering on the platform. TBH I was quite surprised at how unrefined their site looks - not particularly well presented or written (it claims to have hosts in 200, 000 cities!). Your explainer is kind of like a synopsis of free communities everywhere (I was part of one for 4 years). We also got to join up free of charge, and the rift between the freeloaders and the doers soon became apparent. Before it moved to a monetised, rental model the community imploded. Just as an aside, the founder, Casey Fenton's story of his trip to Iceland and hacking the university database, is an absolute classic. That could be a whole episode on its own 😂
I used to use this around 2002 to 2011. I think I contributed once to them. BUT I just checked my email and apparently they have been taking $15/year out of my bank for a decade or longer. I just switched my bank account and got an email saying they couldn't charge the annual fee. geeze.
I never surfed, was just a host, top host in my city Peshawar Pakistan for 10 years 2012--2022 with 113 references and 12 vouches. During all those years I was ganged up on by a certain group of Western users just because I was different. And finally the gang succeeded in kicking me out of CS. The current CS administration appoints these gangsters as group admins to weed out users like me who are different to European or Western school of thought. The CS administration listens to those gangster group admins to keep Europe and the west happy in order to squeeze out money from the west. What is painful for me is that they are holding back my profile and all those memories I managed to gather in those 10 years.
@@Dominic1394 Most of them were ambassadors and their goal was to silence me on Advice to surfers and hosts groups. They would report me to CSHQ now and then.
The closest thing to Couchsurfing would be www.bewelcome.org/ Other alternatives: www.hostelworld.com/ - Cheap hostels www.warmshowers.org/ - 180k members more geared toward bikers www.nomador.com/ - For house sitting
Terrific idea but poorly implemented. If you want to keep it free, you need to find a source of revenues and therefore it most become a selected club of respected people, with compulsory review for every travel, ID check and safety rules, like airbnb or even better. The management just wanted a cash cow, leaving the host as stupid dreamers about the fearness of this world.
Just to correct the facts given here regarding the origins of Couchsurfing. Couchsurfing did not arise 'sui generis' with some guy's light-bulb moment. It is a carbon copy of Hospitality Club its less glossy European predecessor now sadly defunct .It was squeezed out by CS. In turn HC was modelled on SERVAS set up to improve international relations among civil servants in the aftermath of WWII. That was a pen and ink operation! I understand folks' reservations about its transition to corporate status. I ditched it for 10 years as a result. However I am back with it now. Why? In travelling in over 100 countries, many of them through CS and HC, I can honestly say that my best most authentic experiences have been through these organisations. I call it three-dimensional travel! Is Couchsurfing perfect? It ain't! Are there alternatives? Yes, BeWelcome to name but one. I intend to continue travelling this way until the Grim Reaper calls.....Happy trails all! 😀😀😀
