CouchSurfing: Where Travel and Social Network Collide

The Internet and new technologies have revolutionized the way we travel around the planet. Plane tickets and hotels are now easily booked online. Package deals can remove the hassle of sorting through a dizzying number of details while organizing a trip abroad. And online itineraries and interactive maps have made navigating a foreign land much easier.But the Internet has not only eased the logistics of travel. It’s also changed the way we make cultural connections along the way — right down to turning a complete stranger into a potential friend with a couch for you to sleep on.The groundbreaking website CouchSurfing.org is a perfect example of this new way of traveling. Aiming to help travelers “meet and adventure with new friends around the world,” the site links up international “surfers” looking for a place to stay with people who are volunteering their own homes (and couches) as free-of-charge lodging.In many ways, it’s basic hospitality as business. Why stay in a hotel and miss out on experiencing the real culture of your destination when a local — or a new friend — can guide you?The idea has taken off since the site's launch in 2003, and CouchSurfing now has over four million people signed up, with a host in every country — evenNorth Korea. Piggybacking off of CouchSurfing's success, Similar businesses have also popped up on the scene, including Airbnb and Tripping.Here’s how CouchSurfing works: Members of the site create profiles that include personal information about themselves (philosophies, lifestyles, etc.) and “couch information” (whether a member has a couch available, what languages he or she speaks, whether they allow smoking indoors) that help determine a good match between host and surfer. Members can then search the network and connect with others to make arrangements for a stay or even just a day out in town.In addition to the benefit of making personal connections, for many members, CouchSurfing has simply become the cheapest way to travel and see the world. On the face of it, CouchSurfing removes the cost of lodging from traveling. While host and surfer may choose to split food, bills, or another pre-agreed upon expenses, there is no formal or established requirement. In fact, monetary transactions are actively discouraged.The CouchSurfing website explains:Hosts should never charge their CouchSurfers; anyone who does will be removed from the site. Most CouchSurfers do like to thank their host with a small gift or an act of kindness (such as cleaning the house or cooking a meal), but this is not required and should not be requested by a host — the only thing that's expected is an inspiring experience!The CouchSurfing business has only grown in recent years. Although initially set up to be a non-profit, the IRS repeatedly denied its applications for 501(c)3 status. And so CouchSurfing recently became a for-profit company (with B Corporation certification, which indicates it is a socially responsible company, thus staying true to CouchSurfing’s original intent). In 2011, it raised $7.6 million in its first round of venture capital funding.CouchSurfing itself earns a huge portion of its revenue from a “verification fee,”an option available to members that, for $25, provides some measure of assurance of true identity and peace-of-mind for potential visitors.CouchSurfing is now a brand and philosophy in its own right, and the site’s continued growth in membership has attracted more and more attention to this still relatively young business.One such example of the buzz is German filmmaker Eva Stotz’s 2011 documentary, Global Home (shown earlier this year at the SXSW conference). The film followed the director’s journey to five different countries and her stay with five different hosts, all found through the CouchSurfing site. Hosts included a Tuareg man in Mali, a wildlife enthusiast in Tokyo, a Palestinian ecologist, a Turkish dancer, and a “visionary” in the U.S.“My intention was to explore a thrilling new way of traveling and to reveal a longing for more authentic forms of human interaction in the modern world,” Eva Stotz recently said in an interview with SXSW Filmmakers in Focus.However, despite the fanfare, one of the biggest concerns with CouchSurfing remains the issue of safety. As with any meeting of strangers, there are inherent risks and dangers involved. And while CouchSurfing goes to great lengths to provide safety advice and stresses the need to take precautions, incidents have been reported.CouchSurfing remains essentially a facilitator, not a provider of travelers’ experiences, and takes an official stance of neutrality in most disputes. However, the site does take pains to provide measures of safety, primarily through virtual word of mouth. All members have references that are submitted by other surfers or hosts and which vouch for the person’s reputation or trustworthiness. CouchSurfing will also take action against a member if it’s been discovered that he or she has committed a crime, has breached the site’s terms of use, or has violated the site’s safety policies.However, despite such incidents (which appear to be rare), the CouchSurfing website stresses that overall its community is tight-knit and welcoming. And the site is popular in most global cities — including New York. CouchSurfing’sNew York City group now has almost 50,000 members, an impressive number, comparable only to London, Paris, and other major metropolitans. Even a hasty glance at the main website reveals plenty of requests for New York City couches to crash on, both for longer stays and simply for a place to rest up before moving on. It’s also rife with people seeking others to join them for sight-seeing or other adventures in the city.CouchSurfing seems to have a big future. Both the people are the locations are already in place, and its insight has been to bring the two together.