Why I’ve Stopped Hosting CouchSurfers
For almost 7 years, CouchSurfing has played a very active part in my life. I couchsurfed, hosted, volunteered, organized and participated in activities. I’ve hosted over 100 people in 6 countries I’ve lived in and I’ve couchsurfed in 16 countries. I’ve lost count how many countries I’ve attended CouchSurfing events in.
But I’ve now decided that I will finally stop hosting CouchSurfers. Why? Because, it’s now a different thing.
When I first joined CouchSurfing in 2005, there were only 30,000 members. People heard about it through word-of-mouth. You weren’t supposed to tell all your friends about CouchSurfing, only people you thought who would be a good fit for the community. I heard about it from an American backpacker I met on the streets of Pamplona. The main point of the site was to experience local hospitality and to travel through the eyes of a local, with the intention of creating deep and meaningful shared connections. It was almost like a secret community for travelers who cared for each other.
You weren’t obliged to host everyone who contacted you, but it was weird not to host anyone.
As of writing, CouchSurfing has over 5.5 million members and is a mainstream social network. As Tony Espinoza says “we reached a tipping point when the network grew 50% in one year to 5 million members”. At face value, this may sound wonderful but I suspect the real tipping point now is there are many more members who never have and never will actually host a person on their couch. For better or worse, CouchSurfing is now Facebook for travelers.
Sure, they’ve always been members who have only used the network while traveling and then never log in again or others who are active in social events but do not have the space to host. But the true backbone of the community are members who are engaged in both aspects of couchsurfing AND hosting. There is never a shortage of travelers but when there is a shortage of couches, all you are left with are backpackers who like to get drunk with locals and each other.
To be fair, social media and technology has changed how we behave over the last 7 years. Maybe the CouchSurfing of 2005 would not work today, just as Servas felt antiquated back then.
Or maybe I’m now too old for CouchSurfing, based on this quote by Tony Espinoza: “This service is thriving in the college community and there were about 187 million travellers between 18-24 alone, in 2011. So there is a lot of head room for us to continue building out this network.”
I never knew there was a target age demographic for CouchSurfers.
CouchSurfing is no longer a radically inclusive community sharing hospitality. It’s now feels like a crowd-sourced knowledge base and event management service, connecting travellers with each other. I’ll still use it for that, just as I would use Wikitravel and Meetup. It’s not bad, it’s just now a different thing.
Perhaps this has been the natural evolution of CouchSurfing, after all how does a trust-based community double in size each year, yet still maintain the same values? Whenever I’m at a CouchSurfing event and I hear people say that they “don’t feel it’s safe to stay in a stranger’s house” or that they “don’t feel comfortable having a stranger stay in their house”, a part of me dies. I now feel like the weird one for having both hosted and surfed with strangers. And I don’t blame the number of CouchSurfers who now prefer to “host” via AirBnB or Wimdu.
Unconditional hospitality has always been the critical feature for me. I’ve invited strangers into my house and stayed at strangers’ houses long before I ever heard of CouchSurfing, Hospitality Club or even Servas. Hospitality cannot be contained within a website, it’s a culture and philosophy. Therefore, I will continue to host people organically and through the community-run, non-profit hospitality network: BeWelcome.
My most memorable times in Colombia were with Couchsurfers and even though I’m going on a press trip to Finland I actually just reached out to the forums on CS to see if I could meet up with people so that I can meet locals.
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That’s great! Hopefully you get to meet some :)
Couldn´t have said it better Roy. Let´s hope BeWelcome will become our new home…
Great post. Thank you for writing it. I agree with your decision to stop hosting due to it being a different thing and you know what you are talking about due to your experience with CS. You said it right on point: Hospitality can’t be contained in a website, its a culture and philosophy.
As the site grew rapidly, I bet the ceo was inundated with calls and ideas from VCs trying to capitalize on it. When will they realize that it culture and this philosophy shouldn’t be monetized. Authenticity reigns supreme!
Hey Roy, track me down on BeWelcome as well. Same nickname ;)
I read the article with a bit of a critical eye. Because you, the pioneer of hospitality, the early adapter of Couch Surfing so it seems, has chosen to BeWelcome.
It will be equally hard in the future for this online travel community to stay small as people move from one social network to the other. That is how the online market works.
I think it doesn’t matter how the network is run, it will always come to a tipping point unless it has a very strict membership policy and makes it an elite community where people HAVE to know someone who is already a member and how fair is that in this world? We have come to a period in time, where there are billions of people on this earth who have set their priorities, of which one happens to be travelling. Yes there are many people who take advantage of the goodness of people. But even though the website has gotten more professional and commercial I still use my common sense in hosting and surfing and it remains an adventure to stay at poeple’s places and take people on tours through my city. Whether that is through Couch Surfing or another network.
Be privileged you have experienced the joy you got through CS the past few years and move on without criticizing. The world changes, the market changes. Things just don’t stay the same.
Happy surfing!
Oh yes, I definitely feel privileged. And yes, maybe it’s inevitable that many networks such as will eventually “tip” and grow unsustainable.
Having said that, there are numerous communities which have succeeded in staying true to their original values. Getting bigger doesn’t always mean having to sell out.
The problem with CS was never because it had too many members but because of the CS managment (the original ones and the latter ones). There are good people everywhere and at some point these Californian idiots (I am from there so I know) thought they would change the world and this allowed them to be careless, first with donation money, then later with their core members.
It seems you have become a travel wanker. I have been hosting and surfing for for 7 years now and still feel it is the same as ever. People just love to decide that “things have changed” and “it isnt the same as the good ol’ days” because it makes them feel superior and in the know. CS is still a great resource and opportunity for everyone to travel, meet and mingle.
Doug, I may be a “travel wanker” but I feel far from superior. I feel genuine loss and sadness. The Couchsurfing community was a huge part of my life for many years. Many members are now are scattered/divided/disillusioned.
However, I’m happy you feel everything is still the same. I guess we may need to agree to disagree.
I’ve already had great experiences both hosting and been hosted through CouchSurfing, but now that I´ve started receiving people through Airbnb I kind of prefer it. My last experiences in CS were a bit frustrating, maybe because people weren´t familiar enough with the project and were only using it for free accommodation. When I host someone, I want to get to know that person and to share something with them. What happens with Airbnb is that because people are paying, my expectations are zero. And then, every little thing they give me back, is so gratifying that makes the whole experience better. I guess even charging, the original CS spirit can still be present and friendships can be constructed.
Seriously? You don’t want to host any more because Couchsurfing is too INCLUSIVE?! Because there’s a bigger variety? You’re like that douchey guy who won’t listen to a band because they got popular.
Whatever, more for me.
Evidently you didn’t actually read what I wrote. I don’t host anymore because the new Couchsurfing is run by people who aren’t Couchsurfers and employs people who mostly have never hosted/surfed – and caters to people who probably will never host/surf. Everything except the name has changed.
I suspect that you are too afraid to post your real name because the reality is, you’ve never hosted anyone before. I’m not nearly the first person to lament the death of Couchsurfing.
You definitely need to read the article before commenting.
I’ve been a member of Couchsurfing since 2004, and I’m still a member.
I’ve read lots of the recent laments about the death of Couchsurfing, and there’s certainly a lot that’s valid about those claims (including yours). Just yesterday, I left the two Couchsurfing-related groups I was part of on Facebook. I noticed that in recent months they’d mostly become a place for people to complain about what CS isn’t anymore, and as I went to leave one of the groups yesterday, I saw that one of the most recent posts (about someone’s decision to delete their CS profile) had garnered this simple response: “F*** you, xx.”
Granted, that was on a different website, but it’s the same community, supposedly. When I first joined CS, there was a common sense of camaraderie and respect that I fear may already be lost if people are talking to each other like that. (And to be clear, I have no problem with a well-placed F-bomb, but what the hell kind of response is that??)
I’ve been much less active in recent years, but I’ve had positive experiences staying with CS hosts as recently as six months ago. As it’s becoming so huge and mainstream and that sense of community is getting distorted, I find I have to weed through the riff-raff to find the wonderful people who make Couchsurfing what it is/was. They’re still there, but they’re not the only ones there, unfortunately.
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Thanks for the comment Amy. It is really disappointing when people respond to any of this with personal attacks. From a hospitality-exchange community no less!
It reminds me of religious zealots who contradict their own values to blindly support their “team”.
Roy, I think you’ve written an excellent article that accurately describes what’s happened to CS over the years and perhaps most importantly, that it wasn’t some kind of utopia before it went for-profit. There have always been problems and some of those problems are still around. There’s also new ones now, like the examples of censorship and oppressive sections of CS’s Terms of Use. Those new ones are pushing a lot of CSers away from CS. When people are worried about getting censored by CS for talking about problems that CS is having and voicing support for one of its competitors (Be Welcome), that means that the community and culture of the site has really changed.
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I have to agree with Roy’s reply – the real issue with CS which I saw Roy was nice enough and professional not to dig into is that CS has lost it’s way because of so many internal decisions or lack thereof… while BeWelcome may make those same mistakes [or others], there are some fundamental differences between the 2 – CS is a corporation with investors now and driven by a group of people who have little experience with what CS was initially (or even CSing – hosting/surfing /etc] – which can have it’s plusses and minuses sure – so far my evaluation is that it has been mostly [sadly] negative – beyond that the new organization never really dealt with the historical issues that CS had grown up with [lack of transparency, horrendous CS organization to member communication and more recently a lot of censorship and other interesting member curtailing]
As has been said above, change is inevitable and just as MySpace was mostly replaced by Facebook and Hospitality Club mostly by CS, let’s see where things go… personally I hope for a slow growth to BeWelcome not because I want it to be exclusive but because I want the members to be engaged and seeking the same kinds of things that I am…
The best of luck to all networks and even if CS has lost it’s way – it still [for the most part] does inherent good in the world by allowing people to communicate – if we all communicated more, we would probably understand each other better and that’s a recipe for a better world…
Cheers,
Emmanuel.
Love the last paragraph Emmanuel. BeWelcome and Couchsurfing can definitely co-exist. I believe that in the near future, most members won’t even use CS for hosting/surfing but for the other services (if that’s not already happening now).
Great article Roy,
The problem with CS is that it has always been a different thing, with strategic long-term plans deeply rooted in marketing rather than a community spirit. The flashy website, the photoshopped corporate pictures of Casey and the gang were all there since 2005.
The community existed because the members made it possible and for a time because you could actually put your personal time and volunteer for what you felt was a cause, not because it was intended inside the grand scheme of things. Though eventually it was creating its own demise as you can’t mingle the volunteer/community’s intention with the long-term corporate approach.
By creating its own marketing spoof ‘server crash’ back in 2006 and eventually helping get rid of HC made that CS was simply the only ‘community’ option available. So yeah we all just went along… and the long status quo made things fairly easy: you could meet people, share interests, expand your horizons, learn from people with different interests, link with local communities at various events, build a network of contacts, travel, host and help others! Mainly because the members (the community) intended to do that! As it finally vanishes under the blanket of corporate, I personally struggle more and more finding why I’m even bothering anymore and like Roy, it’s just plain sad. And, I don’t believe that a decade later I am getting ‘too old’ for it as some people mention… I have met great members that were well into retirement!
Then you got people that are either totally oblivious to what’s boiling behind the curtains or in total denial of it. Like Amy pointed out, they get very defensive and insults flow… a bit like Doug just did.
As for the airbnb, wimdu type of site… my professional self really dislikes them, for the reason that as a planning officer (compliance) I am well aware that in some regions the people using them are in breach of planning ordinances, by-laws, building code or public health regulations for the use of the land and operating unlicensed businesses (indeed not everywhere but New York State and most of Canada comes to mind). Governments and Councils will be slow to respond, so yes those sites will thrive for a few years but at some point there will be a crackdown when complaints are officially registered. I can imagine that someday I will register but it will rather be for the purpose of catching illegal hosting businesses operating without licensing or a planning permit… and not paying taxes. (I already warned airbnb 2 years ago about the risky situation they’re putting their member in without any warning on their website, there was no response).
But who knows Roy, our paths might cross again at some point, be it on BW through mutual contacts or just any other platform. And just like you, I will continue to offer my hospitality despite it being through a website or not.
Interesting perspective. Marketing definitely helped CS gain a wider following than Hospitality Club, Globalfreeloaders or SERVAS ever could. It was just cool to be a Couchsurfer.
RE: AirBnb, Wimdu etc. I was wondering about taxation issues myself. But I guess that a different topic.
I changed my blog’s URL and would like to know if it would be okay for me to post a link to your blog in my “Recommended Reading List” section. Thanks!
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Sure :)