CouchSurfing provides a couch to crash on

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By Morgan Mitchener

Just think FREE, without the fine print, and you've got CouchSurfing.

In a nutshell, the CouchSurfing Project is a free Internet-based hospitality international exchange service.

If that boggles your mind, to put it simply, it's a Web site that assists its members to find a couch to crash on during trips, free of charge.

CouchSurfing is the largest hospitality network with over a million members from 232 countries and territories.

The idea behind CouchSurfing was created by founder Casey Fenton, who got a cheap ticket to Iceland and had no place to stay, so, by spamming an email to over 1,500 Icelandic students, he found many willing to let him crash. From his experience, the project emerged.

Fenton, along with several others, generated this global connection project officially in January of 2004 and have been couching people ever since.

Members support the Web site through donations, because it's a non-profit organization. The donations help pay for the operating fees and keeps the site running. Once you join, you pay a $25 one-time payment toward the site.

To ease the payment process, there are different options on how to pay in increments; but donations are needed and welcome anytime.

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

The program has a pay it forward aspect by connecting strangers for a common purpose: cheap travel accommodations with a cultural experience.

Basically, you get the best of both worlds, free lodging and a memorable travel time with the help of your host pointing out the best places to go. Who better than a native to point you in the right direction of the best restaurants, parks, attractions, etc?

Members can quickly search their desired location to find a couch to crash on during their stay and browse through profiles to match their specifications.

When asking students around LSU campus, senior Warren Virgets said, "Wait, so you mean I can stay anywhere I want for free? That sounds amazing, where do I sign up!"

Safety is an important issue, and members are secured by a self-monitoring system that acts like a neighborhood watch.

The protocols to ensure safety include extensive profiles, credit card verification system, personal vouching systems and personal references to increase trust. For example:

References (On-going information sharing by members that helps others by informing them of good/bad experiences and comments on who to host or surf with)

Verification (Involves community safety by two processes):

Making sure all members made an initial donation

Making sure all members have a confirmed identity (i.e. location and name)

Vouching (Very serious form of showing trust in another person and a formal statement by a member that they stand behind that person and their actions) If you vouch for someone, it reflects on you, whether good or bad, so this tool should be used with discretion

Also each profile has an indicated level of approval. A profile can also contain friend links (statement of two people knowing and trusting one another) and colored dots (placed by a "friend links" and depending on the brightness of the green, the closer the friendship).

The Web site's safety depends on the judgment of the CouchSurfers and making educated decisions before interacting with certain people. It is based on level of personal comfort, so you can choose whom to stay with or not to invite into your home.

There is also no rule that states you must host everyone that contacts you. Also, you choose who can crash on your couch and for how long. This gives members authority to deny a surfer if he/she does not feel comfortable.

CouchSurfing is a great way to experience a new place because it relieves the burden of finding a place to stay and alleviates the stress of planning an itinerary.

So make sure to surf the couches for your next big trip, because you will save a ton of cash, all while getting a culturally enhanced experience that you will not soon forget!

Go to CouchSurfing.org to find out more and read testimonials by satisfied members and to plan your next trip.

Originally Published: Issue 806 - July 1, 2009

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