Yes yes couchers and similar exist I know and I like them and they’re great but they’re SMALL. I’ve gotten very few of anything off them. I do think in the long run it’s better this way too but man I just moved to Chicago and I was so excited to host but… while I’m still on Couchsurfing (for now, barely so) I’ve gotten like, 3 requests and all of them were 0 references and quite honestly boring people at that

What a fucking shame and it’s really disappointing. Someday I hope couchers and similar can bring back Couchsurfing in a bigger way but for now, CS has fucked everyone over and I am and will continue to be mad

I'm sure that the influencer will disclose their financial relationship with Corporate ;)

Hey yall, 24M ive been thinking of couchsurfing as a different way of travelling, Ive never tried it before because i firmly belive that you need to give to the community before getting.

And this week i might be hosting two different groups, a duo and a solo, the thing is that im highly introverted and at the same time kinda overthinking it cuz you know they’re strangers even if they look nice on social media and everything.

But since i also worked in service i know that there is a huge amount of nice people you could talk to especially if you’re in a hub in the world, a city like Paris, you could end up on anyone and just the randomness of it makes me fascinated and pushed by the thrill of it.

So i will keep you guys updated on how it goes, would take any advice!

Since the megathread seems dormant, I compiled a list of the problem the latest update brought.

Note, I didn't include matters of principle (the paywall) or that are totally optionals (options for sexuality, drunk usage, etc).

If you discovered something new or that I didn't include, please tell me and I'll add it.

1. We can no longer block days where we are busy, hosting already or away, so people can request me whether I am busy or not, forcing me to waste time declining. Previously, you could block days one by one and they'd block automatically when confirmed a host, if the options to host multiple people on the same days wasn't checked.
2. We can no longer search travelers coming to specific dates. Previously, I could, say, check who was coming from 4 of July ot 10 of July. Now I have to go through ALL the travelers every time, including those who come without specifying when. "Sometimes in July". Useful.
3. We can no longer filter by number of travelers. I don't host more than one, now I have to go through solo travelers and groups.
4. We can no longer search for keywords when filtering travelers or hosts. It was very useful as we could immediately see if a word that might be a red ("nudism", "shared bed") or a green flag (any shared hobby, a particular passion) was present
5. Photos are senselessely cropped, often one can't see the face of the person if it's not perfectly centered.
6. Folders in galleries have been eliminated. Before I had photos sorted by personal ones, travels, etc. Now it's all together and, guess what, I have to go through all of them. Not the end of the world, but why removing a feature that had no downsides?
7. Hangouts do not really exist anymore. Now it's just messages, which doesn't make sense and encourage harassment of the few women travelers, as nobody is worried of having their messages seen by others. Also, you can't write your personal activity of choice, but your're limited to vew default and predictable ones.
8. If a request is refused, one can no longer followup. I understand that this can save from potentially harassing requestor (those who "and what about these other days?"), but sometimes it's nice to say thank you anyway and some hosts even say things like "Let me know if I can help you with some info on the city", but since we can no longer write, they'll assume we don't need help (or we're to butthurt to ask for it). One can always block, why does CS have to decide for me?
9. The geographical range for travelers and hangouts is too big and surely tailored on American cities. Here, in Milan, I see travelers for a bunch of cities who are not even in the same region and, in case of some in Switzerland, IN THE SAME COUNTRY. Also, when I was searching for hosts in smaller German towns, I got a lot of results from Czech Republic, just because the border isn't far. This is a massive waste of time.
10. A generic "recently active" replaced the "less than 24 hours", "less than a week" and "less then a month" of the previous version, making things more unclear. If I'm looking for an emergency crash I want to know of this person connected today or three days ago or maybe one month ago. We do not know what "recent" means for the person (or AI agent) that coded this.
11. Character limit on requests and answers has been introduced. This is senseless. People often want detailed request, this strips the possibility.
12. Couch request can now only happen within a defined "trip." This is a completely useless feature and it just makes things more complicated without adding any value, especially because now there is an invisible (as in, not mentioned anywhere) limit to destinations. Furthermore, in big cities different districts count as different destination, so my trip to Berlin had several inner destinations ("Mitte", "Tiergarten", "Schoneberg", etc), which count towards the limit. To remove a destination you need either to wait until its dates are gone or delete requests connected to it.

This happened to me today.

I paid for a year. What the fuck is this?

Hi guys, I’m curious about your experiences on CS in Perù, the most recent the better:) I’m flying there next week

I'm a host on Couchsurfing and I used to be able to block out days in my calendar for when I'm not able to host. Since the update, I am unable to find the host calendar feature anymore.

Has the host calendar really disappeared, or is it hidden somewhere where I haven't been able to find it yet?

Any other changes?

I know this is a long shot for the old-school Couchsurfers. But I was chatting about CS yesterday with some friends, and it made me remember this experience.

In late 2010, I stayed with a very famous Couchsurfing host in Venice, Italy. I think his name was Massimo, though I'm not 100% on that. He had around 1,000 references. He regularly hosted multiple guests from different countries at the same time and even had a separate apartment away from his family just for couchsurfers.

When I first sent him a Couchsurfing request, his reply was something like, "What's your height and weight? I need to make sure you're a good fit for wrestling." I was a broke college student backpacking through Europe with my girlfriend, so I just went with it.

The reason I remember him is that he had a crazy rule where before anyone was allowed to go explore Venice, he'd match the guests of similar weight and make them wrestle for a couple of hours. I remember getting matched up with another traveler and thinking, wtf is going on. My girlfriend was there too, but he made her wait in the kitchen because he thought the women would distract us from wrestling. He also took photos and videos of our matches for "feedback".

He said he worked for airport customs (though I never knew whether to believe him), and he was really into national stereotypes. He'd make all sorts of assumptions about people based on where they were from in pretty much every sentence. One thing that did come out of it was that the guy I wrestled became a good friend. It was like some strange baptism by fire. We explored Venice together afterwards, and every few years one of us will randomly message the other, "Have you wrestled lately?" It still makes us laugh.

Does anyone else remember this host or know who I'm talking about? He was def a Couchsurfing legend back then.

I havent logged in a year and when i did, i noticed its completely changed the background looks like a dating site and it has a subscription plan now even though i was still able to use it for sometime after they made it non free. What happened?

Hey all, while planning my South Europe trio (Italy, France and Spain) i got the idea to spare money via couch surfing. Some questions

Is it a good idea as a solo 22 yo blonde?

What is a proper way?
What to expect wile sleeping somewhere else?

Hope to get some reactions!

New to Couch Surfing and could use advice.

Just need to know what kind of gift I should bring? I heard that was a requirement?

This is a first time for me and I am nervous because its a 4 day event.

Any advice for a someone who has no experience and what I can expect to pay while staying there?

I'm expecting it to be kind of a hostel situation where everyone cooks for each other and takes part in chores.

Any kind of advice for what to expect is very helpful.

Cheers all!

I recently unsubscribed from CS, I became an active host (female for female travelers) so I didn’t want to pay (and i use another app for hangouts anyway, rip cs hangouts).

I posted my email instead in bio (big mistake) that’s why I suppose they blocked me completely. support team don’t answer anymore. is there any way to contact them?

I completely understand that not everyone is in a position to host, and that's totally fair.

But where do we draw the line between someone who genuinely can't host and someone who's just using the community? I often see travellers posting in community groups asking for hosts for days or weeks, despite never having hosted anyone themselves or having very few references.

Curious to hear what others think.

I wrote off CS when they put the paywall up. I didn't appreciate my goodwill being monetized.

Suddenly I've begun receiving stay requests again. And it occurred to me, do these people have any idea that I'm not a paid member and will never be allowed to read their messages?

How many travelers are out there thinking they've got access to thousands of hosts, when in fact most of them may never actually receive their message?

I'd appreciate the perspective from someone who has a paid membership and can explain what people see on that side of the paywall.

Hi so I’m just driving up to France from Gibraltar and I’m gonna be doing a stop tonight in Madrid was wondering if there’s anyone that would be kind enough spare couch or anything tonight if you doing anything like credentials verify me et cetera just drop me a text and I can text you my number.

Many thanks, a fellow traveller

Dear subreddit,

I'm leaving to Bolivia tomorrow for 4 weeks. I wanted to know if there even is a Couchsurfing community before I pay for using Couchsurfing? I have been a member years ago, but my account is already deleted.

Any experiences welcome.

Couchsurfing app tells me to get verified when I'm on my profile (I have the badge) even I am already for a long time already, and I got the badge. Have they gone made or is just another ai bug?
Did it happen to someone else too?

If you're searching for hosts in a city, make sure you apply at least one filter (even something simple like References). As soon as you do, the results refresh.

A fellow traveller pointed this out to me, and after testing it myself, it seems the initial search results include a lot of inactive hosts. Once you apply a filter, those inactive profiles disappear and you get a much more accurate list of active hosts.

It made a huge difference for me, so hopefully it helps someone else too.

Hi guys, do you know any free websites or apps for couchsurfing?

Just renewed my Couchsurfing membership. Hosted 4 people this past year, met 6 others while traveling.

Still can't get over that people bitch about paying when it's so cheap!

$15/year.

Worth ten times that....

I ❤️ Couchsurfing

Susan

I’ve been using Couchsurfing for almost a decade. I joined as soon as I was old enough to travel on my own, and thanks to this community I’ve visited more than 100 countries and accumulated hundreds of positive references. Some of the best friendships and travel experiences of my life started here.

That said, I’ve never felt as disconnected from Couchsurfing as I do after the latest app update.
I stayed active through COVID, when the community lost a huge number of active members, and I thought that was the hardest period. But now it honestly feels even emptier. My impression is that many of the longtime members have left. In my experience, many of the best hosts were people in their 30s, 40s, or older, and a lot of them don’t seem happy with the new app.

I recently tried using Couchsurfing to find a host, and the experience was surprisingly frustrating.
A few things that stand out to me:

• The request system feels much more complicated. Accepting requests isn’t as intuitive as it used to be, and when you decline one, it gets archived automatically, making it difficult to continue the conversation.

• References, which have always been one of the platform’s biggest trust and safety features, now feel buried in people’s profiles instead of being front and center.

• Hangouts seem to have been mixed together with Events. I know they’re slowly bringing them back, but just a couple of weeks ago they were basically gone, and it became much harder to connect with people who were actually active nearby.

Maybe it’s just me, but the app feels less community-driven and more difficult to use than before.
What do you think? Have you had the same experience, or do you think things are improving over time?

A few months ago I posted here about a project I was working on. Life happened, the project evolved, and I'm back with something more concrete.

I've been building Terroo (app.terroo.world) for some time now. The premise is simple: connect travelers with locals for real encounters. Not tours, not services. Just a shared meal, a neighborhood walk, a craft session, a language exchange, or a place to sleep for a night. No money changes hands between locals and travelers, ever. The connection itself is the point.

The platform is ready. What it doesn't have yet is a community.

Before we open the doors to travelers, I want to do something that I think matters: recruit founding locals in cities around the world first. People who would list an experience they genuinely want to share, give feedback on what's missing or broken, and help shape how the community works, including its safety culture.

If things go well, some of these early locals might become informal moderators of their city's community on the platform. Not a job. Just people who understand what good hosting feels like and want to help set the tone.

I'm especially interested in people who have hosted before and care about the question of what authentic travel actually means. If that sounds like you, I'd love your thoughts.

What I'm asking for today:

• Feedback or anything that feels off
• If you're a local somewhere and this resonates: create a profile and list something. I'll personally reach out to every early local
• If you're a traveller: you can leave your email and we'll let you know when your city has locals ready to meet you

terroo.world

Happy to answer anything here.