Dear Steemians,
Today I would like to tell you more in detail how Couchsurfing function and how to create the account on the platform.
We envision a world made better by travel and travel made richer by connection. Couchsurfers share their lives with the people they encounter, fostering cultural exchange and mutual respect.
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Let’s start from the beginning. Couchsurfing is a social network that gathers people who:
- offer lodging (“hosts”) or
- are seeking a place to stay for a night or a short time (“guests”).
- Because the community become popular, and both internet site and mobile application work well, nowadays Couchsurfing is also a way to connect with locals in order to meet for a coffee/drink, to visit a city or simply hang out. There are also official meetings organised frequently for the whole community in a particular city.
It is based on a money-free exchange. It means that the host cannot ask you for a payment. On the other hand, it is advised that the guest offer a gift – something from his home country or invite him/her for a dinner.
For who?
Guests.
Let’s imagine that you arrive to a foreign country and you want to spend more time with locals. You want to have an authentic experience, better understand the country and its people. Couchsurfing is a perfect solution because you homestay so you have a direct contact with locals.
There is a second group of travellers that sadly do not really care about their hosts or the mutual unwritten custom. They choose Couchsurfing as a mean for free accommodation. Sure, the community offers free stay and it is one of its main and most recognisable features which makes it unique and attractive. But it is much more and if you won’t act respectfully, you risk ending up with bad comments on your profile.
Hosts.
It really doesn’t matter if you offer an entire room or just a bed (a couch, a mattress). The most important is that you are willing to interact, share your time and positive attitude. After all, this is what most travellers value the most.
The account
In order to be a member of Couchsurfing community, you must first create an account. You can connect to the platform via its internet site - www.couchsurfing.com and its mobile application (that you can find on both the App Store for iOS devices and on the Google Play).
After registration, you suppose to work on your profile. It shouldn’t be empty if you want others to trust you and offer you homestay/use your lodging. What you need to be ready to answer is:
“About” section:
- basic information: your age, home country, occupation, education, languages you are fluent In and that you are learning;
- “What is your Hosting Availability” – you can choose from: “Accepting guests” – “Maybe accepting guests” – “Not accepting guests” – “Wants to meet up”
- “About me” – an overview, you simply write whatever you feel is relevant about yourself
- “Why I’m on Couchsurfing?”
- What are your interests?
- “Music, Movies, and Books” that you enjoy
- “One Amazing Thing I’ve Done”;
- “Countries I’ve Visited”;
- “Countries I’ve Lived In”.
There is a huge and detailed section concerning the accommodation that you are willing to offer:
- What is the maximum number of guests that you would accept?
- Would you accept “last-minute requests and/ or “multiple groups”?
- Do you have a gender preference?
- is your place pet/kids/smoking friendly?
- What are you able to offer to the guest: shared room – public room (eg. living room) – private room?
- Any additional information that may be important, like public transportation access.
“Photo” section, where you are asked to attach a real and updated photo (photos) of yourself.
“Reference” section, that at the beginning will remain empty; this is the most important part of the profile, where other guests and hosts leave their comments about you; and based on the comments you develop a reputation. If they are neutral or negative chances are pretty small that you will be able to interact and profit from the community.
This is how it works:
Use the Reference System to let other Couchsurfers know about your experiences with the people you meet. Be honest and clear. The other member won’t see your reference until they leave theirs, or until 14 days have passed. After 14 days, members are not able to leave a Host or Surf reference.
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Sending joy! :)
Enjoy the travel &
Pura Vida!
Kasia
- More about me here :)
and here: You can travel without being wealthy aka a girl from a "struggling" family chasing her dreams!
Some of my latest recommendations:
This is so good to come across loads of excellent information about "couchsurfing.com", it is becoming more and more trendy on either side fo the equation.
Thanks a lot for another excellent post, namaste :)
wao, good content is still out here and you have proved that to use with this excellent post @k-a-s-i-a , just checked "couchsurfing.com" and boy! was it lovely'
Thumbs Up Dear!
great to hear that!thank you!
thank you so much :) btw. have you ever used CS? :)
No, never, but had quite a few friends using it, mostly with great success and the rare few with the exact opposite experience...
Namaste :)
Now that you mention that guests are highly encouraged to bring a little gift to their hosts, that remind me of that little figurine, from a HongKong guy i hosted in 2015 in Granada :-)
I wish I could also show you the bottles of Soplica that two Polish Couchsurfers brought me as gift... But I drank them :P
haha, i would feel offended if you still have those soplica's bottles ;) the HK gift is very charming :)
Good post
@k-a-s-i-a
thanks!
Although this seeks to encourage cooperation and foster new relationships. I think it has a lot of risk to go with it but a program of this nature cannot be dispelled, everybody just has to play his part to make this work
everything can be risky i guess...;)
Thanks for educating me on that platform #k-a-s-i-a, people like you will improve and transform the steemit community to the next level so please keep it up
thank you! good luck on Steemit to you!!
Good post thank you :)
you are welcome!
Hello, @k-a-s-i-a, my name is Ian Edwards, I'm a freelance journalist doing an article about the experiences of content creators on Steemit. Would you be willing to discuss your experience using Steemit with me? Any insights you have would be appreciated. You can see my work here on Steemit at @enedws and I'm on Twitter at @ianedws. Thank you!
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PLAN
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2.create room for young investors of steemit
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Budget
We have an average of 35,000 Student in school and all them could be potential steemit members if they could be reached. I am seeking 1000 steem dollars to be able to achieve my plans With the amount above am sure I will be able reach more than an average student
Every upvote will be used directly for this project and every feedback, progress and success story will be shared on steemit @budget
Proud steemian
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Steemit: https://steemit.com/@marvinjunior/
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Please upvote and resteem thanks
Awesome . Are you Kasiu traveling in such a way? you must be extremely brave :) full respect for you. I would not even have an idea that there is such a thing.
there is and it's great! and yes, i have been using it myself:)
Hey@k-a-s-i-a
;)
Upvoted ☝ Have a great day!
thank you! have a great day as well!
I hope more people get serious about Couchsurfing. It's a wonderful service. I just used it last week to surf in Florida.
:) i think the community is getting bigger, great to hear that you have good experiences with it!