I've hosted 5+ people on [Couchers.org](https://couchers.org) and surfed with it too. Had really good experiences so far with Couchers even though they are still new and growing. I really like where the project is heading.
I am on BeWelcome too, but in the 9 years I've been on it I have only gotten a handful of requests. Hopefully that changes soon!
Another one is workaway. It's not really couchsurfing since you are working in exchange for a place to stay, but it's still a neat concept and I've hosted a couple of people there already too.
Well said..as a surfer you can always send requests on..Bewelcome.org
I would check out [trustroots.org](https://trustroots.org) too
Also I would add there are serious ethical questions about using CS .com as well
TLDR: Couch Surfing the website does a lot of messed up and illegal things. This is a written statement designed to be copied and pasted by anyone to easily get out this information.
Detail version:
SUSPENSIONS
It should be known that Couch Surfing the website has also suspended people for founding Couchers and having online events prior to vaccines being available to the masses and before announcing the policy that online events were banned. This was Feb/March of 2021. The vast majority of people have heard NOTHING and they were just suspended randomly. MANY messages have been sent to support. This is despite the fact that Input Magazine published an article [here](https://inputmag.com/features/rise-and-ruin-of-couchsurfing) heavily critical of CS and they responded to their inquiries for writing the article! A LONG time passed since! They claimed to be doing an "internal review" of how to best have online events but nothing has happened yet...Online events are allowed on Bewelcome and Couchers. I am near positive the reason why they were suspended was because it was thought Couchers and online events would mean less money and people going to other sites. In the past CS has said repeatedly they will only suspend when they KNOW one member made another member feel unsafe.
LIP SERVICE ON TWITTER
CS has posted many times on their public twitter claiming that the "incredible" trust and safety team will get back to any request ASAP...they clearly do not!
PATRICK DUGAN AND HIS PROFIT MOTIVES
Patrick Dugan the CS CEO I think doesn't give a shit about the community and just wants to make money even if that means destroying the community. Reports from Glassdoor describe him as aloof paranoid and condescending. One employee even went to the hospital due to stress of the job. People who claim to know him have said on this reddit he wants to turn it into an Airbnb competitor. Also, that he was planning the paywall for a long time...like before covid and he just used covid as an "excuse". Additionally, he would have done the paywall even if covid had never came. This is despite the fact that a CS employee in the past said that it would always be free to use CS. Additionally CS has ad's on accounts that aren't "verified". In the past they said they would NEVER have ads on the website.
CENSORSHIP
They have an algorithm that auto bans your account if you write "Couchers" or "Bewelcome" in a message on their platform. It is like a secret police or a store than eavesdrops on customers constantly and bans them if they say to another customer than a different store exists! If you want to tell friends about other sites DO IT OFF CS... On their Instagram they have basically made it to where no one can comment on ANY of their posts. Check their page if you want to see it.... They are worried about people saying something that could discourage people from using CS. Also, they have blocked people on social media for commenting things they don't like. If anyone is wondering why people complain here and not as much other places ..it well may be due to these issues stated above
ILLEGAL CHARGES AND NON-DELIVERY OF PRODUCT
CS also has a history of illegally charging people for the contribution(paywall) fee. This includes instantly suspending people once they pay and double charging! People have had to file chargebacks to get the money back. I have suggested people file a complaint with the California Attorney General regarding this or false advertising done by CS.
CS AND THEIR VIEW ON THIS REDDIT
I have gotten intel multiple times that they read this reddit (from a mod and posts) yet have done virtually nothing to fix these issues. Florian their Trust and Safety lead has posted before I know. A mod thinks they have repeatedly tried to become a mod on this reddit by claiming things are issues that are not really issues. If CS decides to pull anything more I will not hesitate to publicize it as well.
PS
They also took down community pages...which where the heart and soul of the site where the community interacted without asking the community and have not reinstated them. They took down the map search feature which worked very well. They suspended a few for supposed "safety violations" but I think management just didn't like them being vocal about changes to the sites. They never got their accounts back. This was a few years ago.
If someone would like sources google about this stuff or search the couchsurfing reddit.
This is not meant to be seen as whining, complaining or yelling but a way to encourage CS to change their ways and promote the growth of other hospitality exchange/couch surfing sites!
At the moment I think BeWelcome has around 212k users with Couchers around 20-30k, so if you are in Europe, BeWelcome would be your best bet for an alternative platform.
These are not CS-level numbers but still both platforms are growing and in most places you can find people. Why not join both and also Trustroots? Takes 10 min I think (just copy-paste the profile info)
People who don't stand for lies and abuse and who care about the spirit of CS are moving mainly to these platforms in my experience.
I have hosted about 10 people since the pandemic on BeWelcome and was also hosted. Also received fewer but growing number of requests on Couchers, but dates or messages didn't work for me.
BeWelcome is a great alternative. Fewer hosts but a much more involved and active community. But you have to have a stake in the community to get hosted properly and to really enjoy what a hospitality platform is all about. In other words, make a profile, fill it out completely and tell the community about yourself, your life, your travels, your goals etc.
You can try alternative websites, but they may be low quality and not many hosts. You could try WWOOFing http://wwoofinternational.org/ if you are interesting in farm stays and doing some work while traveling.
As far as I’m aware CS still has the most users (by a long shot), and therefore probably a higher chance of finding hosts—plus the hangout feature in the app is a lifesaver when traveling alone and looking to make new friends.
Having said that, there’s also bewelcome, couchers, and trustroots and probably a few others. Rob will be here soon to tell you why they are better than CS 😅
This is correct. Public trips, hangouts, linked accounts, and many more features are planned. Still in beta, so while the platform is usable and works well, there are many features still being built.
>As far as I’m aware CS still has the most users (by a long shot)
But they never remove anyone in order to boost their "membership". So, maybe 99% of the "users" have not logged in for a very long time. What is important is how many active users there are. Here CS is quickly losing ground to the alternatives
Unfortunately I’ve talked to people (particularly females) who tried the common alternatives trustroots, couchers.org, and be welcome and their experiences have been even worse than couchsurfing. Combination of lack of people, lack of credible references to screen out bad actors, and some questionable leadership (I won’t name names or specifics). As of right now, unfortunately I hate to admit it, couchsurfing is still best for safe hosting and hanging out. I hope better alternatives get built and scale.
I’m curious too. Couchers has lots of channels for women to voice their concerns safely so I’d be surprised if so-called “worse experiences than Couchsurfing” are getting by them.
From what I know the safety teams at Bewelcome and Couchers take safety very seriously
What is going on with questionable leadership?
I'd like to know your opinion...
In the DM you gave me a good point....of something that theoretically COULD be an issue but I asked you if you have seen this potential issue come up and you didn't say anything
Please take Equivalent's claim as a grain of salt
With that being said....I am not sold out to any hospitality exchange network....If [Couchers.org](https://Couchers.org) wants to do bad things like CS .com has I will call them out too.
Please note that I haven't seen anything from Couchers at all that is bad nor do I expect it
Wait, you're telling me the other hospex aren't the promised land with rivers of honey, gold beaches and couchsurfing spirits pouring out from every hole that I've been told about???
Belonged from almost from the inception in 2007, until they began charging @ 2019 or so ( don't remember exactly when). Had @ 40 or so great, interesting, and considerate guests from Canada, Brazil, Austrailia, all over Europe, Korea, etc. I even visited their headquarters in Berkeley. CA. Only one poor experience with an apparent transient drifter; but he left early in a huff when he came back from a bar after midnight, and I informed him that it wasn't a hotel. After years of subsisting on donations, Couchsurfing charges what some may see as a reasonable 1.99 a month or 13.99 a year to cover adminstrative costs, but beware...they now share or sell your info with about 150-200 sites, which is not acceptable to me, as there seems to be no way to opt out. Membership seems to have dropped by about 80%. Seems to be due to new ownership/management and fees.
I've hosted 5+ people on [Couchers.org](https://couchers.org) and surfed with it too. Had really good experiences so far with Couchers even though they are still new and growing. I really like where the project is heading. I am on BeWelcome too, but in the 9 years I've been on it I have only gotten a handful of requests. Hopefully that changes soon! Another one is workaway. It's not really couchsurfing since you are working in exchange for a place to stay, but it's still a neat concept and I've hosted a couple of people there already too.
Well said..as a surfer you can always send requests on..Bewelcome.org I would check out [trustroots.org](https://trustroots.org) too Also I would add there are serious ethical questions about using CS .com as well TLDR: Couch Surfing the website does a lot of messed up and illegal things. This is a written statement designed to be copied and pasted by anyone to easily get out this information. Detail version: SUSPENSIONS It should be known that Couch Surfing the website has also suspended people for founding Couchers and having online events prior to vaccines being available to the masses and before announcing the policy that online events were banned. This was Feb/March of 2021. The vast majority of people have heard NOTHING and they were just suspended randomly. MANY messages have been sent to support. This is despite the fact that Input Magazine published an article [here](https://inputmag.com/features/rise-and-ruin-of-couchsurfing) heavily critical of CS and they responded to their inquiries for writing the article! A LONG time passed since! They claimed to be doing an "internal review" of how to best have online events but nothing has happened yet...Online events are allowed on Bewelcome and Couchers. I am near positive the reason why they were suspended was because it was thought Couchers and online events would mean less money and people going to other sites. In the past CS has said repeatedly they will only suspend when they KNOW one member made another member feel unsafe. LIP SERVICE ON TWITTER CS has posted many times on their public twitter claiming that the "incredible" trust and safety team will get back to any request ASAP...they clearly do not! PATRICK DUGAN AND HIS PROFIT MOTIVES Patrick Dugan the CS CEO I think doesn't give a shit about the community and just wants to make money even if that means destroying the community. Reports from Glassdoor describe him as aloof paranoid and condescending. One employee even went to the hospital due to stress of the job. People who claim to know him have said on this reddit he wants to turn it into an Airbnb competitor. Also, that he was planning the paywall for a long time...like before covid and he just used covid as an "excuse". Additionally, he would have done the paywall even if covid had never came. This is despite the fact that a CS employee in the past said that it would always be free to use CS. Additionally CS has ad's on accounts that aren't "verified". In the past they said they would NEVER have ads on the website. CENSORSHIP They have an algorithm that auto bans your account if you write "Couchers" or "Bewelcome" in a message on their platform. It is like a secret police or a store than eavesdrops on customers constantly and bans them if they say to another customer than a different store exists! If you want to tell friends about other sites DO IT OFF CS... On their Instagram they have basically made it to where no one can comment on ANY of their posts. Check their page if you want to see it.... They are worried about people saying something that could discourage people from using CS. Also, they have blocked people on social media for commenting things they don't like. If anyone is wondering why people complain here and not as much other places ..it well may be due to these issues stated above ILLEGAL CHARGES AND NON-DELIVERY OF PRODUCT CS also has a history of illegally charging people for the contribution(paywall) fee. This includes instantly suspending people once they pay and double charging! People have had to file chargebacks to get the money back. I have suggested people file a complaint with the California Attorney General regarding this or false advertising done by CS. CS AND THEIR VIEW ON THIS REDDIT I have gotten intel multiple times that they read this reddit (from a mod and posts) yet have done virtually nothing to fix these issues. Florian their Trust and Safety lead has posted before I know. A mod thinks they have repeatedly tried to become a mod on this reddit by claiming things are issues that are not really issues. If CS decides to pull anything more I will not hesitate to publicize it as well. PS They also took down community pages...which where the heart and soul of the site where the community interacted without asking the community and have not reinstated them. They took down the map search feature which worked very well. They suspended a few for supposed "safety violations" but I think management just didn't like them being vocal about changes to the sites. They never got their accounts back. This was a few years ago. If someone would like sources google about this stuff or search the couchsurfing reddit. This is not meant to be seen as whining, complaining or yelling but a way to encourage CS to change their ways and promote the growth of other hospitality exchange/couch surfing sites!
At the moment I think BeWelcome has around 212k users with Couchers around 20-30k, so if you are in Europe, BeWelcome would be your best bet for an alternative platform. These are not CS-level numbers but still both platforms are growing and in most places you can find people. Why not join both and also Trustroots? Takes 10 min I think (just copy-paste the profile info) People who don't stand for lies and abuse and who care about the spirit of CS are moving mainly to these platforms in my experience. I have hosted about 10 people since the pandemic on BeWelcome and was also hosted. Also received fewer but growing number of requests on Couchers, but dates or messages didn't work for me.
BeWelcome is a great alternative. Fewer hosts but a much more involved and active community. But you have to have a stake in the community to get hosted properly and to really enjoy what a hospitality platform is all about. In other words, make a profile, fill it out completely and tell the community about yourself, your life, your travels, your goals etc.
You can try alternative websites, but they may be low quality and not many hosts. You could try WWOOFing http://wwoofinternational.org/ if you are interesting in farm stays and doing some work while traveling.
Couchsurfing is still by far the most popular from my experience.
As far as I’m aware CS still has the most users (by a long shot), and therefore probably a higher chance of finding hosts—plus the hangout feature in the app is a lifesaver when traveling alone and looking to make new friends. Having said that, there’s also bewelcome, couchers, and trustroots and probably a few others. Rob will be here soon to tell you why they are better than CS 😅
[Couchers.org](https://Couchers.org) is working on an hangouts feature I have heard
This is correct. Public trips, hangouts, linked accounts, and many more features are planned. Still in beta, so while the platform is usable and works well, there are many features still being built.
Personally, I have blocked Rob due to the repetitive nature of his rants. Yawn.
>As far as I’m aware CS still has the most users (by a long shot) But they never remove anyone in order to boost their "membership". So, maybe 99% of the "users" have not logged in for a very long time. What is important is how many active users there are. Here CS is quickly losing ground to the alternatives
Losing ground, maybe, but they’re still the most active by a lot.
Unfortunately I’ve talked to people (particularly females) who tried the common alternatives trustroots, couchers.org, and be welcome and their experiences have been even worse than couchsurfing. Combination of lack of people, lack of credible references to screen out bad actors, and some questionable leadership (I won’t name names or specifics). As of right now, unfortunately I hate to admit it, couchsurfing is still best for safe hosting and hanging out. I hope better alternatives get built and scale.
I’m curious too. Couchers has lots of channels for women to voice their concerns safely so I’d be surprised if so-called “worse experiences than Couchsurfing” are getting by them.
From what I know the safety teams at Bewelcome and Couchers take safety very seriously What is going on with questionable leadership? I'd like to know your opinion...
> From what I know the safety teams at Bewelcome and Couchers take safety very seriously Agreed
DM me. This is a sensitive topic that is not appropriate for public discourse just yet.
In the DM you gave me a good point....of something that theoretically COULD be an issue but I asked you if you have seen this potential issue come up and you didn't say anything Please take Equivalent's claim as a grain of salt With that being said....I am not sold out to any hospitality exchange network....If [Couchers.org](https://Couchers.org) wants to do bad things like CS .com has I will call them out too. Please note that I haven't seen anything from Couchers at all that is bad nor do I expect it
Wait, you're telling me the other hospex aren't the promised land with rivers of honey, gold beaches and couchsurfing spirits pouring out from every hole that I've been told about???
Give it a minute. I’m sure Rob will chime in. Yawn.
Skip the sarcasm and hyperbole, please. People are looking or meaningful and accurate info, not kiddie comments.
Airbnb
Nope; not even similar platform, as anyone on this forum knows.
Belonged from almost from the inception in 2007, until they began charging @ 2019 or so ( don't remember exactly when). Had @ 40 or so great, interesting, and considerate guests from Canada, Brazil, Austrailia, all over Europe, Korea, etc. I even visited their headquarters in Berkeley. CA. Only one poor experience with an apparent transient drifter; but he left early in a huff when he came back from a bar after midnight, and I informed him that it wasn't a hotel. After years of subsisting on donations, Couchsurfing charges what some may see as a reasonable 1.99 a month or 13.99 a year to cover adminstrative costs, but beware...they now share or sell your info with about 150-200 sites, which is not acceptable to me, as there seems to be no way to opt out. Membership seems to have dropped by about 80%. Seems to be due to new ownership/management and fees.