Couchsurfing was originally thought of by Casey Fenton in 1999. After finding a cheap flight to Iceland, Fenton did not want to stay at a typical hotel. He received more than 100 offers of a room to stay in after emailing more than 1500 University of Iceland students.
Today, Couchsurfing is a for profit corporation offering a social networking site, as well as being a hospitality website. The platform can be used by members to stay as a guest at someone’s home (called homestay), host travelers, meet other members, or join an event. Unlike many hospitality services, Couchsurfing is an example of what has come to be known as “gift economy”; there is no monetary exchange between members and there is no expectation by hosts for future rewards or homestays.
Currently, the company boasts more than 15 million users in approximately 200,000 cities. Serious crimes have been committed against people using this service, although the company states that they are insignificant when you consider the vast number of people using the site. Headquarters are located in San Francisco, California.
CouchsurfingCouchsurfing was originally thought of by Casey Fenton in 1999. After finding a cheap flight to Iceland, Fenton did not want to stay at a typical hotel. He received more than 100 offers of a room to stay in after emailing more than 1500 University of Iceland students.
Today, Couchsurfing is a for profit corporation offering a social networking site, as well as being a hospitality website. The platform can be used by members to stay as a guest at someone’s home (called homestay), host travelers, meet other members, or join an event. Unlike many hospitality services, Couchsurfing is an example of what has come to be known as “gift economy”; there is no monetary exchange between members and there is no expectation by hosts for future rewards or homestays.
Currently, the company boasts more than 15 million users in approximately 200,000 cities. Serious crimes have been committed against people using this service, although the company states that they are insignificant when you consider the vast number of people using the site. Headquarters are located in San Francisco, California.