Oh, how I disagree with the pitch. Give me transactions, baby! I'll build my own connections. Money talks!
Couchers is officially out of beta
51–60 of 139 posts
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#52I hosted couchsurfers and it was fun, but i stopped when i started getting detailed reviews about random shit about my home after people left. Letting people live in your house in the central business district of a top tier city and then having them comment on your towel designs. It’s not a hotel. I’m so over it.
"He has the ugliest towels I have ever seen! I still have nightmares about them! 1 star!"
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#53Very fond memories of couchsurfing met very nice people both as a traveler and a host. But this was long ago. Not sure this will ever work again though
Hosted loads for a while, a brilliant time. We were living somewhere unusual at the time, everyone that came through was interesting, intelligent and fun. Zero bad experiences. Made some friends for life. My flatmate at the time ended up marrying a couchsurfer we'd hosted, after reconnecting many years later. We all got sulky and huffy when they started charging and stopped engaging, but the sad thing is we just got…
Never hosted or surfed, but joined the meetups in a couple of different cities when traveling, and it was great every time. (This was 2013) Seems like it just had a nice group of people.
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#54Note to all founders: Tell the reader what your product is - first. And you can't manage to do that, then your logo link should go to your product, not back to the blog. I gave this TWO attempts to find out =what the product is - that's the biggest opportunity most startups will get - and this company failed twice to tell me conveniently what it is and I am not trying a third time.
I don't think the blog post was written for Hacker News.
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#55[flagged]
Calling python and Django trendy in 2025 seems a bit misplaced. Maybe 15 years ago they were.
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#56Very fond memories of couchsurfing met very nice people both as a traveler and a host. But this was long ago. Not sure this will ever work again though
Hosted loads for a while, a brilliant time. We were living somewhere unusual at the time, everyone that came through was interesting, intelligent and fun. Zero bad experiences. Made some friends for life. My flatmate at the time ended up marrying a couchsurfer we'd hosted, after reconnecting many years later. We all got sulky and huffy when they started charging and stopped engaging, but the sad thing is we just got…
Same. I hosted do many people. Super interesting, sometimes weird. I have soo many good memories and I still gave many Of them as my friend.
Unfortunately the whole platform changed a few years ago.
Very low quality requests, hosts had to paid, bad support, and bad filtering.
It’s too bad, bc it left a sour taste at the end. Many people would chat in English, but in reality they can’t speak nor write English. Also, the last few years pale just use it as a cheap hotel. No interaction and sometimes plain rude behavior. I even had to kick someone out.
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's changed? Did you get older?
I wonder how much of it is down to the internet changing - similar to the eternal september, or overtourism. Couchsurfing used to be a relatively niche thing which allowed it to work and thrive. The percentage of freeloaders or bad actors was low enough not to be a problem. But now with more people being aware of it/its alternatives, the percentage of bad actors would increase too (and maybe not even proportionally t…
The Internet changed the nature of tourism quite a bit as well. You have to remember most people used to use services like travel agents or tours to organize things for them. Anyone who went off the beaten path and was interested in experiencing another place by sleeping on a stranger’s couch was probably someone interesting.
Now everyone is used to using the internet to organize their travel and get the best deals on anything they can - and so websites like couchsurfing become a free booking.com alternative for people who have no interest in the human experience side of it.
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#58If anybody is interested in beta app testing, I’m happy to invite you to the BeWelcome.org iOS app!
Currently it’s just a PWA, but we’re trying to keep it simple so it can get onto the App Store.
I was a big fan of CouchSurfing before they started charging a monthly fee, which is a similar gripe I have with Servas. I met my girlfriend at the CS meet up in Kaohsiung, and although I’m no longer able to help, BeWelcome has several ways to volunteer.
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#59I hosted couchsurfers and it was fun, but i stopped when i started getting detailed reviews about random shit about my home after people left. Letting people live in your house in the central business district of a top tier city and then having them comment on your towel designs. It’s not a hotel. I’m so over it.
"He has the ugliest towels I have ever seen! I still have nightmares about them! 1 star!"
But then the next one is like… “The towels ARE ugly but it’s worth it for the location," you can’t make this sh*t up.
Re: Couchers is officially out of beta
#60[deleted]