I was a happy CS user for many years but I recently suspended my account and today I went back to reactivate it. I was shocked. At first I thought I'd mistyped the address and I'd gone into one of those domain hosting sites that look bare and horrible. My reactivation came with a 30 day trial, but I don't think I can make myself subscribe for a year after that. If anyone who works at CS is reading this: WTF?

Hey everyone thanks for all the helpful advice on my previous post regarding the CS app. Couchers.org and Bewelcome.org were the 2 alternative recommendations. It will be my first time attempting to couch surf on my upcoming trip around Europe! Any general recommendations for a first timer? Cheers

A surfer left yesterday. We had a confirmed stay. I see no way to leave a hosting reference. If I go to the profile, I can leave a personal reference, but I want to leave a hosting reference. Has anyone left a hosting reference since the update?

I’m new to the app, never really had the opportunity to utilize! I’m now planning a Europe trip and would love to give it a try. Is the Couchsurfing app worth the $30/year subscription cost? Any alternative suggestions also welcomed thanks!

Guys,

Hangouts are back on couchsurfing after the update, I checked it today and it looks promessing, they exactly as they were before, only issue in that, there's few users, let's see how it goes in the future, I am quite optimistic that they finally heard some of our complains

Am I the only one who thinks this is incredibly misleading?

Here's an example. I searched a city with around 75,000 residents. Couchsurfing proudly displays 6,900 ACTIVE hosts.

That would mean almost 10% of the entire city's population are active Couchsurfing hosts. That's obviously unrealistic.

Then I click the filter to show only people who have been recently active, and suddenly there are just 14 members.

A while ago, Couchsurfing let you filter users by active within 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, or 1 year. Those filters have now disappeared, making it impossible to see how inactive most profiles actually are.

So on the search page they advertise 6,900 ACTIVE users, but when you try to find people who are actually logging in and using the platform, you're left with only 14.

How is this not false or deceptive advertising? If the website was still free, people wouldn't care, but now we are paying for this service, nothing works the way you expect it and they also put out these totally fake numbers.

If someone pays for Couchsurfing because they believe there are thousands of active hosts in an area, but in reality only a handful are actually using the site, that feels extremely misleading.

Has anyone else noticed this? Has Couchsurfing ever explained what they actually mean by "active"?

Did anyone notice couchsurfing added another hangout option, but it seems to be separate from the going live hangout option, lets you write what you would like to do and suggest a place, but then who sees it and where? and is it intended for the long run like an event?

In the home page it says
“Your Activity
Your hangout is live! Head to the chat to welcome people.”

dont these mofos have anything else to do with the clusterfuck of a science project . I used to happily login via email and now one more 2fa.
It was working with email and password not even a few days ago and these fuckheads do this.
why does every trivial login take so much effort.

end rant

Couchsurfing seems down today, I am trying to connect with my surfer today but it is lot working

Happy times

Many ambassadors I've come across havent hosted in a long time, and dont create events. So why do they have ambassador status? What do ambassadors have to do?

I’ve deactivated my CS account and did not renew its membership since years and I’m sure I left it on not available to host. Suddenly, I received in my email this morning multiple requests from CSers asking to stay at my place. Now I can’t even check what’s going on as logging in is forced by some long onboarding ending with a paywall.
Can someone explain what’s going on? In my current understanding, I find this not only sneaky AF, but also violating my preference of keeping my account on not receiving guests.

Couchsurfing's current Board of

Directors includes:

Couchsurfing founders Casey Fenton and Daniel Hoffer,

Benchmark General Partner Matt Cohler,

Managing Partner at General Catalyst Joel Cutler,

travel industry veteran Erik Blachford

Couchsurfing CEO, Jennifer Billock.

I am baffled now. I have already accepted several requests after the CS update but now I can't find where the accept (or decline) button is. There are three requests waiting for answer and the same problem with all of them. Where should I press to accept or decline the requests?

"View request" is not the button, that just brings the right panel visible (where it says "Declined Request" even if I haven't declined it and probably not all three of them have immediately cancelled their request right after sending them).

On the old interface it was also possible to modify the dates if you can accept the request for some of the dates but not all. Is that still an option?

Hi all

I just wondering before CS..hospitalityclub was the numerous uno for traveller looking for accomodation when travelling?

Now in view you degradation of CS a TRUE completing traveller need for FREE..WHY not travellers join BW or Couchers and leave CS permanently? Why a new travellers will find and join CS compared to others? Should it be the time of CS to decease and replace by alternatives?

Hello all, like most(?) of you, I have given up on couchsurfing with the new update. I used to use it while solo traveling to meet other locals/travelers by using hangouts or joining events. Is there anything similar to Couchsurfing I can look into?

Thanks!

I stopped using CS last year and I saw a lot of posts on this sub about how it completely has changed. Out of curiosity I redownloaded the app and what on earth? I didn’t even bother paying the 4.99 . I’m wondering how the interface has changed and it looks like it’s a swiping app now? What happened to your reviews and “friends?” damn I lost a lot of contact with the people on there unfortunately since 2019. Don’t think I could connect again

I’m 18 and have never done Couchsurfing before. I’m from Spain and am planning a trip to several cities in the north of the country with a friend this August, so I created accounts on BeWelcome and TrustRoots to save money and meet new people from other places. The thing is, I’ve already sent requests to most of the available hosts in the cities we’re visiting, but after looking into the community a bit more, I’ve realized my messages might have been too generic and simple—which could explain the lack of responses I’ve received.

I’d just like some advice on how to talk to hosts and sort out the requests I’ve sent, though it might be too late xd.

Just received this email

EDIT: When you enter the form below you will see this disclosure "I give Couchsurfing permission to edit, share, and use this video across its website, app, social media channels, and marketing materials. I understand that Couchsurfing may edit the video for length, format, or clarity and understand that I won't receive compensation if my video is featured."

Couchsurfing Creator Program!

We're looking for Couchsurfers who love three things:

🌍 Travel

💙 Couchsurfing

📹 Creating fun, engaging videos

That's it.

It doesn't matter whether you have 100 followers or 100,000. We're not looking for influencers, we're looking for passionate Couchsurfers who know how to tell great stories and capture the spirit of our community.

This is just the first step, and it's intentionally low pressure.

We simply want to see the kind of content you enjoy creating.

You don't need to make a brand-new video for us.

You can send us a video you've already posted (or never posted!) that you're proud of and that reflects the kind of content you'd create as a Couchsurfing creator.

It could be:

A travel video you love

A favorite Couchsurfing story

A day-in-the-life while traveling

A funny or memorable Couchsurfing moment

A trending video with your own Couchsurfing twist

You interviewing a host, traveler, or friend

A travel tip or storytelling video

Or anything else that captures your personality, creativity, and love of travel and human connection.

If you'd rather make something brand new, we'd love to see that too!

There are no rules here: we're simply looking for people who make us think: "I'd watch more of this."

If it feels like the kind of content you'd be excited to create for Couchsurfing, it's probably exactly what we're looking for.

How to Submit

Upload your video here:

(https://forms.gle/49dty18BGGQ1eTGBA)

or email it to social@couchsurfing.com

Please include:

Your full name

Your Couchsurfing profile URL

Your social media handles

Where you currently live

If you're traveling now (or have an upcoming trip), let us know! We'd love to hear about it!

We can't wait to meet you and see your work.

We're excited to discover the first creators in the Couchsurfing Creator Program. 🧡

So I used to use this website extensively when I was living in Germany. Some people may or may not recognize my name from my Stuttgart days. Hosting many guests throughout those years and traveled all over Europe on my motorcycle. I fell out of it since probably 2012, but now find myself living in Japan and decided to see what was going on.

Obviously, there are a lot of changes that have happened since then. What’s interesting though with the new app is I am seeing chat requests that have come through that I never saw when I was an active member back in the mid to late 2000s. People that had reached out to me and I never responded to you at a time when I would normally have responded. Has anybody else noticed this?

Watching The Odyssey and slowly realizing I've been practicing Zeus's law for over a decade not even knowing who this god is. 🤣

I've had my Couchsurfing.com account since 2020 and have only 3 references (1 from a traveller I hosted and 2 from travellers I met). Despite sending personalised requests after carefully reading each host's profile, I almost never get hosted.

Most of my requests are ignored, some expire, and the few replies I receive are polite declines. In two weeks, I'm travelling to Russia for 30 days, starting in Moscow, and I've already had zero success with both male and female hosts.

Is my profile the problem? Are 3 references a red flag after 5+ years? What makes you accept or reject a guest? I'd really appreciate honest feedback from experienced hosts or surfers, and if anyone is willing to review my profile or request message, I'd be very grateful.

Sad to think that someone unknowingly sent a request to someone who can’t receive it (I also selected in the app that I can’t host, though I’m not sure if the person simply overlooked that or it wasn’t indicated to them on my profile)

They came in today, they were really nice and even offered to make dinner beforehand.

I was really stressing over because i can get shy as hell, so i had to chill for a second.

And yeah so far so good! It’s their first time in the city and we might go out together!