The Rise And Fall Of Couchsurfing

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  • Опубликовано: 31 дек 2022
  • 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!

Комментарии • 48

  • @idonotknowanynames
    @idonotknowanynames 5 месяцев назад +6

    I hosted various girls from abroad and they were all DTF.
    CS will always hold a special place in my heart 😅

  • @salsas69
    @salsas69 Год назад +6

    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.

  • @AlCampo76
    @AlCampo76 5 месяцев назад +11

    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.

    • @intiferino
      @intiferino 3 месяца назад +1

      Same for me!... I guess many hosts where having girls coming and kind of getting laid.... so couchsurfing was I gues charging for that service!

    • @user-rj6ui8bc8p
      @user-rj6ui8bc8p 5 дней назад

      Hi where are you located 😂( I can host you the old way without c's 😂, I also paid but tired of dudes with new memberships

  • @tessgonzalez285
    @tessgonzalez285 Год назад +1

    Great explanation! Im new to traveling and came across the whole couchsurfing ordeal. Very informative

  • @trianglestomache6353
    @trianglestomache6353 Год назад +8

    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 .

  • @hanlens_on_hiatus
    @hanlens_on_hiatus 8 месяцев назад +1

    Was such a great experience being a host

  • @katarinakatarinova1306
    @katarinakatarinova1306 Месяц назад +1

    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.

  • @idonotknowanynames
    @idonotknowanynames 5 месяцев назад +3

    I hosted some one recently. Nothing much has changed

  • @TamunoOpuboCooksCookeyGam
    @TamunoOpuboCooksCookeyGam Год назад +2

    Thanks very much I love the website before.

  • @SlashinatorZ
    @SlashinatorZ 2 месяца назад +1

    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.

  • @rollandelliott
    @rollandelliott 9 месяцев назад +2

    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.

  • @leoanthony79
    @leoanthony79 Год назад +6

    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 😂

    • @cole1
      @cole1 7 месяцев назад +1

      What did you end up registering for?

  • @Vinayak_Nair
    @Vinayak_Nair Год назад

    Well made video - you explained Couchsurfing's history really well.

  • @qaisarmahmood7070
    @qaisarmahmood7070 4 месяца назад +2

    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.

    • @neemo7857
      @neemo7857 День назад

      Fuck man, im so sorry thats fucked up. World is lucky to have You, such a shame a shit like this happened

  • @pcabraham2580
    @pcabraham2580 6 месяцев назад +19

    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

    • @Sx-xy2zi
      @Sx-xy2zi 4 месяца назад +1

      Nah , couchsurfers were willing to do it for free for the joy of connection

    • @iannicholson7205
      @iannicholson7205 4 месяца назад +3

      @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
      @billbradley5296 4 месяца назад

      You are wrong! It now cost a $1500 "verification fee" 2/24

    • @iannicholson7205
      @iannicholson7205 4 месяца назад

      @@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!

    • @notmetagaming
      @notmetagaming 2 месяца назад

      ​@@billbradley5296 what?

  • @morpmorpt4746
    @morpmorpt4746 Год назад +2

    Decline in hosts numbers is a Real problem!!!

  • @podersa241
    @podersa241 8 месяцев назад +2

    Do not I repeat do not do this in New York. This is madness.

    • @iannicholson7205
      @iannicholson7205 6 месяцев назад +1

      Ditto London, Paris etc. It took me 60 messages to find 4 hosts for my wife and I in NYC. BUT they were great hosts and worth all the effort 😀

  • @samiranghosh1546
    @samiranghosh1546 Месяц назад

    Sound recording had broken in many places .

  • @igorgdlt8744
    @igorgdlt8744 Год назад +6

    which website you recommend to use now?

    • @amyrosejax
      @amyrosejax Год назад +4

      THIS.

    • @benseyesvisuals
      @benseyesvisuals Год назад +2

      Also want to know

    • @wisch2460
      @wisch2460 10 месяцев назад

      @@benseyesvisualscouch surfing is still awesome

    • @wisch2460
      @wisch2460 10 месяцев назад +2

      I just traveled the USA using it

    • @hologram7437
      @hologram7437  9 месяцев назад +4

      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

  • @devinovelia7227
    @devinovelia7227 2 месяца назад +1

    Glad to see this video on here. Couchsurfing is absolutely garbage now.

    • @roninr8199
      @roninr8199 25 дней назад

      Why is that? I just installed it

  • @dfolegna
    @dfolegna 9 месяцев назад +2

    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.

  • @korosuke1788
    @korosuke1788 2 месяца назад +1

    It used to be great when it was free. Now? I do not know lol. Why would I have to pay to give my couch for free? BnB pays me.

  • @morpmorpt4746
    @morpmorpt4746 Год назад +1

    Got greedy

  • @iannicholson7205
    @iannicholson7205 6 месяцев назад +1

    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! 😀😀😀

    • @kx7500
      @kx7500 4 месяца назад +1

      Thanks for this comment

    • @iannicholson7205
      @iannicholson7205 4 месяца назад

      @@kx7500 You're welcome!

  • @christoph_borowski
    @christoph_borowski 21 день назад

    Blocking users out of their own profiles was unethical and stupid.

  • @nuezgomez9771
    @nuezgomez9771 9 месяцев назад

    Real dogs as win money from any ass in the world like dogs