what is couchsurfing? Is it safe?

• first thing you keep in your mind is that couchsurfing is free.But you have to maintain a good reputation

what is couchsurfing? Is it safe?

Couchsurfing is a service that connects members to a global community of travelers. Use Couchsurfing to find a place to stay or share your home and hometown with travelers. Couchsurfers organize regular events in 200,000 cities around the world. There's always something to do and new friends to meet.

Is Couchsurfing Safe?

Although staying with complete strangers seem inherently dangerous, particularly if you watch the nightly news, the social-network system on Couchsurfing.com is designed to weed out bad hosts and guests. A lot of emphasis (tips, suggestions, etc) is placed on safety—for obvious reasons.

• First, you can choose what type of host with whom you wish to stay (e.g., male, female, family, etc). You can get a feel for their personalities and interests based on their public profiles. The more time and information put into your own profile, the better. Couchsurfing.com recommends having conversation (through the Couchsurfing website) and asking relevant questions before agreeing to stay with a host.

• Before choosing a host, you can see reviews left by other travelers who stayed before you. If the public reviews don't provide enough confidence, you can even contact those travelers privately to see if they had a good experience and would stay with a particular host again.

• Couchsurfing.com once made use of a vouching system to increase safety. Vouching was retired in 2014, but you can still clearly see how much experience someone has with hosting travelers. A multi-level account verification system prevents people from dumping old profiles and starting new ones if they get a bad review. Sticking to verified, experienced hosts is one way to increase safety. The app allows people to photograph their government IDs to gain verification.

• Hosts know misbehaving with guests will result in negative ratings and reviews, effectively eliminating their chances of hosting travelers in the future. This is usually enough to keep members of the Couchsurfing.com community in check.

As with any social network with millions of members, you are ultimately responsible for your own personal safety when making contact with strangers.

what are the Benefits of Couchsurfing ?

Along with the obvious benefit of finding a free place to stay, couchsurfing can also enhance your trip in other ways:

• You get a peek behind the tourist scene and can  go a little deeper to connect with a destination. A good host will provide a better understanding of the place you are visiting.

• Your local friend will know the hidden hotspots and can offer money-saving advice for insider sights and activities. You'll learn about scams to avoid and where to find the best food in town away from the tourist traps.

• You may have access to a kitchen. Grocery shopping and cooking meals at home are cheaper and healthier than eating out in restaurants every meal as travelers often do.

• Even if you already have accommodation, you can use the Couchsurfing website to find traveler meetups and hangouts.

• Lasting friendships are often formed through couchsurfing.

• Couchsurfing isn't just for solo backpackers! Couples and families with children regularly find hosts who share the same interests.

what are the disadvantages of couchsurfing?

• sometimes your host has some different interests which creates hesitation and u cant open with them….and the worst part is that people are ready to host a person but at the end moment they didn’t reply or text which create problem for a surfer.

• sometimes couchsurfing hasn't turned out good for females. sometimes females have to face sexual assault

what is help of CouchSurfing.com Website ?

https://www.couchsurfing.com/

Before doing couchsurfing always use this website it may also guides you.Couchsurfing.com first became a public website in 2004 as a way to match travelers with willing hosts. The site operates much in the way as other social websites; people add friends, build profiles, upload photos, and send messages.

Signing up for an account on Couchsurfing.com is free, however, members can optionally pay a one-time fee to become "verified" for additional credibility.

Of course, most people visit the website when looking for a place to stay, but it also serves as an online community for travelers. Need to buy a motorbike in Vietnam? You can probably connect with a traveler who is leaving Vietnam and wants to sell hers. The Couchsurfing app also features a way for travelers to meet up.

Couchsurfing.com is good for meeting real-life friends, even at home! The community pages are handy for getting real-time information from other budget travelers about upcoming destinations.

The groups on Couchsurfing.com are operated by local volunteers known as ambassadors. Local groups often have informal meetings and gatherings. Even when not traveling, you can use the groups and ambassadors to meet fellow travelers and fun people at home.

 How you be a Good Couchsurfer ?

Although couchsurfing is completely free, remember your host isn't compensated for offering up their home and time—they are doing so to meet people and form new friendships.Be a good couchsurfer by getting to know your host; plan to spend a little time with them rather than just turning up when it's time to sleep. Don't treat their home as a free hotel. Bringing a small gift is optional, but always plan to interact a bit. After departing, leave a nice referral on the website for them if the experience was positive.Benjamin Franklin once said, "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days." No matter how positive the interaction, heed that sage advice and never overstay your welcome!

How does Couchsurfing work?

If you have never heard of Couchsurfing before, let me break it down real quick! As a solo traveler, it is one of my favorite ways to meet people around the world. Couchsurfing connects locals with people visiting their respective city. 

A Host offers a free place, usually a couch, to stay.

A Surfer is a traveler who will sleep for free in someone’s house.

But why would a host offer their place for free? There has to be a catch!

There are several reasons why hosts offer their place to stay:

• It is a way to meet new people from around the world.

• The host wants to be a surfer when they travel, so they host to build more reviews so that they can get accepted when they send out Couchsurfing requests

• They love the Couchsurfing community and want to give back, by hosting other travelers.

5 Reasons Why You Should Still Couchsurfing

Although Couchsurfing has changed over the years, I still highly recommend it, especially for a solo long-term traveler. Here are the top 5 reasons to still Couchsurf:

1. Save money – Couchsurfing is free, which is great for your wallet! As a courtesy, offer to pay for a drink or meal for your Couchsurfing host. Or bring something small from your home country.

2. Travel like a local – This is the real benefit of Couchsurfing. Take advantage of the local knowledge your host has. The ideology is that CS facilitates cultural exchange. Having access to someone local is valuable since you have an insiders guide to different things to see, types of restaurants to try, and fun activities to do.

3. Instant friend – I Couchsurf in places where I don’t know anyone because I immediately have someone to hang out with. Couchsurfing is ideal for solo travelers, but it’s also possible to surf with one or two other people.

4. Improved review systems – Couchsurfing has enhanced their rating systems, so people aren’t afraid to leave bad reviews. In the past, hosts and surfers could write reviews whenever they wanted – if a surfer wrote a bad review than the host could retaliate and also leave a bad review, which led to everyone only writing good reviews. Now, after a stay, the host and surfer have 2 weeks to write a review. Once both have written a review, it becomes public. If only the host or surfer writes a review, it will still be public in 2 weeks, but the opposite party can’t change or do a new review after reading their evaluation.

5. Keep the community going – Yes, Couchsurfing is free, which is an excellent way to save money, but the actual benefit is the community. In the current age of Airbnb, the people who still host on Couchsurfing are more interested in making connections and sharing their culture than trying to make extra money. Let’s keep this “pay it forward” community together because connecting people is one of the most important things about traveling.