CouchSurfing

Couchsurfing

Founded	2003
Founder	Casey Fenton, Sebastien Le Tuan, Dan Hoffer, Leonardo Bassani da Silveira
Focus	Hospitality exchange, international understanding, networking
Location	San Francisco, CA, United States
Area served	Global
Method	Hospitality service
Website	http://www.couchsurfing.org/

CouchSurfing (sofa surfing in the UK) is a neologism referring to the practice of moving from one friend's house to another, sleeping in whatever spare space is available, floor or couch, generally staying a few days before moving on to the next house.

The term couchsurfing was adopted by The CouchSurfing Project in 1999 for what is now the world's largest hospitality exchange network. With over 2.2 million members in 237 countries and territories, CouchSurfing is the most visited hospitality service on the Internet, averaging around 60 million daily page views in July-September 2010.

Membership

After free registration, members have the option of providing very detailed information and pictures of themselves and of the sleeping accommodation they offer, if any. More information provided by a member, and other members, improves the chances that someone will find the member trustworthy enough to be his host or guest. Security is often measured in the reference established by networking. Volunteers may verify names and addresses. Members looking for accommodation can search for hosts using several parameters such as age, location, gender and activity level. Homestays are entirely consensual between the host and guest, and the duration, nature, and terms of the guest's stay are generally worked out in advance to the convenience of both parties. No monetary exchange takes place except for compensation of incurred expenses (e.g. food). After using the service, members can leave a noticeable reference about their host or guest.

Instead of or in addition to accommodation, members may also offer to provide guide services or travel-related advice. CouchSurfing provides editable travel guides and forums where members may seek travel partners or advice. CouchSurfing's main focus is "social networking" and members organise activities such as camping trips, bar crawls, meetings, and sporting events.

Their website features a searchable database of hundreds of upcoming events organised by CouchSurfing members, including the annual "Berlin Beach Camp" which draws over 1,000 attendees, the annual "WinterCamp," and a New Year's Eve party hosted in a different city in Europe every year.

Security verification

There are three methods which are supposed to increase security and trust, which are all visible on member profiles for potential hosts and surfers to see prior to arranging anything with each other:

1. Personal references, which hosts and surfers have the option to leave after having used the service.

CouchSurfing claims that over 99,9 % of all references are positive which probably is due to a flawed assessment system: People who want to give someone a negative reference are afraid of getting a negative reference in return and therefore not writing anything.

1. An optional credit card verification system, allowing members to "lock in" their name and address by making a credit card payment and entering a code that CouchSurfing mails to the billing address. This also allows CouchSurfing to recoup some costs by requiring a fee for verification. For fairness, the verification fee is based on a sliding scale, taking into account the Purchasing Power Parity and Human Development Index of the country of residence.
2. A personal vouching system, whereby a member that had been vouched for three times — originally starting with the founders of the site — might in turn vouch for any number of other members he knew or had met through CouchSurfing, and trusts. The vouching system still inherits the thread that someone who wants to misuse CouchSurfing (e.g. to steal something from the hosts) can make up three profiles and getting vouched for by playing by the rules for a couple of times. Once he got three, two and one vouches on his profiles he is able to create an unlimited number of faked profiles and giving each one an unlimited number of vouches to make them look trustworthy. This thread could be banned if CouchSurfing would only allow verified members to vouch.

Ambassadors

Members who wished to volunteer for various tasks on the site and help spread the word about CouchSurfing in general were able to become ambassadors. Ambassadors must be role-models and actively promote the CouchSurfing spirit among members and to the public. In addition to promoting use of the site, they greet new members, help with questions and perform other administrative tasks, all on a volunteer basis. No new ambassadors are being created at this time.

History

Casey Fenton

The CouchSurfing project was originally conceived by Casey Fenton in 1999. According to Fenton's own account, the idea arose after finding an inexpensive flight from Boston to Iceland. Rather than stay at a hostel, Fenton randomly e-mailed 1,500 students from the University of Iceland asking if he could stay. Fenton ultimately received more than 50 offers of accommodation. On the return flight to Boston, he began to develop the ideas that would underpin the CouchSurfing project.

Site launch

Fenton developed the code intermittently over the next few years. The site was launched with the cooperation of Dan Hoffer, Sebastien Le Tuan, and Leonardo Silveira as a beta in January, 2003. The project became a public website in January 2004.

Initial growth of the site was slow. By the end of 2004 the site had just over 6,000 members. In 2005, growth accelerated and by the end of the year, membership stood at just under 45,000.

2006 database loss and relaunch

In June of 2006, the project experienced a number of computer problems resulting in much of the database being irrevocably lost. Due to the volume of critical data that had been lost, Casey Fenton was of the opinion that the project could not be resurrected. On June 29, 2006, he sent an e-mail to all members: "It is with a heavy heart that I face the truth of this situation. CouchSurfing as we knew it doesn't exist anymore."

Fenton's e-mail was met with vocal opposition to the termination of the project and considerable support for its recreation. A CouchSurfing Collective was underway in Montreal at the time and those in attendance committed to fully recreating the original site, with users to re-enter their profile data. "CouchSurfing 2.0" was announced early in July of 2006, with the intent to be operational within 10 days. The initial implementation of CouchSurfing 2.0 actually launched after only four days with the current CouchSurfing slogan "Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time". Since the site relaunch, the project has received international media coverage.

2009 Leeds Incident

On March 5th 2009 in Leeds, UK, a man named Abdelali Nachet raped a woman from Hong Kong who stayed at his place through the CouchSurfing project. Nachet was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Organization

Mission

The mission statement of CouchSurfing is Create Inspiring Experiences:

"CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural understanding.

As a community we strive to do our individual and collective parts to create a better world, and we believe that the surfing of couches is a means to accomplish this goal.

CouchSurfing is not about the furniture, not just about finding free accommodations around the world; it's about making connections worldwide. We make the world a better place by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!"

CouchSurfing Collectives

Since June 2006, development of the website has been run in large part by CouchSurfing Collectives: events which may last days or weeks, bringing groups of CouchSurfers together in a chosen city, to develop and improve CouchSurfing. Previous Collectives took place in Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand, Thailand, Alaska, Costa Rica with the newest one upcoming in Istanbul from October 2009 to October 2010.

Tax status

CouchSurfing International Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation incorporated in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, where it also is a registered charitable organization. An application for the federal 501(c)(3) non-profit status was filed in November 2007. As of July 1 2009 CouchSurfing is not in the "list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions".

Software base

In contrast to some other non-profit entities, CouchSurfing uses their own closed source software, and closed bug tracker. User input is via the Contact Us help desk.

External links

• Official website
• CouchSurfing Burning Man Theme Camp
• Couch Surfing Ori
• Gilden, James (2004-08-01). "Short of cash and need a free place to flop? Try couch surfing". Los Angeles Times.
• Apton, Deborah (2007-03-29). "Around the World, One Couch at a Time". ABC News.
• Santiago, Manny (2010-04-29). "Couchsurfing Beijing". HESO Magazine.
• Valsecchi, Riccardo (2010-01-21). "Couchsurfing in Gaza". Digital Journal.