CouchSurfing captures $7.6M funding, ends not-for-profit status
http://www.tnooz.com/2011/08/25/news/couchsurfing-captures-7-6m-funding-ends-not-for-profit-status/
CouchSurfing Raises $7.6 M; Will Users Cry “Sell Out”?
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/24/couchsurfing-raises-7-6-m-will-users-cry-sell-out/
There is a new design too:
http://www.couchsurfing.org/
Do you think couchsurfing competes with hostels, or benefits them (by helping more people travel)?
13 years
Personally I'd only ever see something like couchsurfing as a real niche market. Perhaps it might take a small amount of business away from some hostels, but I wouldn't see it being significant. A bit like whether hitch-hiking and ride-sharing noticeboards would put the bus and train companies out of business. Especially as hostels are forced more and more upmarket by customer expectations, I think the number of people wanting to share in a strangers house will be quite small.
13 years
I've been a member since 2007. During this time I've hosted around 20+ people and I have been guest twice when in India. It was all love until the day I found out some nasty little details about it. For instance Couchsurfing will never allow you to delete what you post on their forums. That alone made me leave it. There are some nice alternatives, none of them as big (CS has like 3 million members, Hospitalityclub has 300.000).
I love the experience of hospitality exchange networks and though I'm likely to restrict my access to couchsurfing I will probably continue to experience the hospitality exchange networks.
Yes, it's a niche, No it will not affect hostels. Hospex attracts a different set of people.
13 years
And Josh, I love how you're always so ahead of the news curve, and keep us upto date with interesting new development as relates to the hospitality industry. Thx :)
13 years
I've been a member for yrs, & think CS is awesome: I lost track of how many strangers have slept on my couch, and how many couches/floors/beds I've slept on, I traveled the world w/ CS back when I couldn't afford hostels, I met my bestfriend and current business partner by sleeping on his couch via CS in Boston. May sound cliche, but in this and so many other ways CS changed my life. I was an early member, back when no one knew of CS, & all my friends thought I was nutty for sleeping strangers in my house.... for free. Casey (the founder of CS) came to one of my CS parties many yrs ago in NYC. Nothing but praise for CS and Casey. There is no reason why you can't do a good thing and make a profit at the same time. Afterall, isn't that what we hostel operators do on a daily basis?
13 years
From my experience people using cs are usually staying in hostels when not finding hosts, I have sent myself few of them to hostels when they could not find a host and I was not able to help them either, thus we can see it as a competitor but there is no point and way trying to "compete" with it.
On te same subject, I actually runned into that website http://www.airbnb.com/info/how_it_works, they use the same concept than Cs but "real" profit, it offers the possibility for anyone to sell his place as a guesthouse, I think that this website is definitively a competitor for hostels or at least small guesthouses.
12 years
I think the CS concept is brilliant, and I have enjoyed all of my couchsurfing experiences. I think that travelers who use CS also use hostels. CS puts backpackers in touch with the locals in a way that hostels can’t always provide, which is great. It can get exhausting being a good houseguest though. That’s when the backpackers switch over to a hostel where they can relax and do their own thing independently. CS hosts are a supplement to hostels, not a replacement.
But changes may be coming! Couchsurfing got another round of big investment in August 2012.
CouchSurfing Raises $15 Million Series B From General Catalyst Partners, Menlo Ventures, Others
CouchSurfing announced today that it has raised a $15 million Series B Round from General Catalyst Partners, Menlo Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network.
The new funding brings the social travel network’s total funds raised in the past year to $22.6 million. CEO Tony Espinoza tells me the company now has nearly 5 million users in more than 93,000 cities after a very successful summer.
From another article:
Couchsurfing: a viable form of sustainable tourism?
In August 2012 CS raised a new round of funding of $15M led by General Catalyst Partners. This set off further alarms given that the investors portfolio includes companies like Kayak, AirBnB and Sabre - entirely profit oriented ventures. What this boils down to is, with $22.6M invested, who is going to pay?
Over a year after the first round of funding, nothing has changed other than a vastly improved user experience, but there has been no move so far to monetize the 4M strong CS network. When posed with the question of monetization, Ms. Fishman [CS Director of Marketing] answered that they have been exploring revenue models which do not impact the user experience.
Obviously CS is going to have to make some money somewhere. No venture capital company gives money without expecting to see it returned with interest.
In its current form, the comments in this thread have suggested that CS is not a threat to hostels. If CS has to start driving revenue and behaving more commercially, do you think it’s likely that they would become a threat to our industry?
12 years
For our hostel the downside of CS has been that the true vagabonders (i.e. 1-2 year trips) tend to use CS more than the general backpacker demographic. For me, vagabonders are the most interesting of all backpackers, and they positively influence the community when they stay in hostels. For this reason, in the past two years we have begun hosting select couchsurfers at the hostel during the off season. They tend to help out more than the average guest and always make for interesting conversation in the common room.
I agree that CS is a very niche market and most travelers would prefer to avoid the possibility of the one-on-one awkward conversation with the CS host going on and on about their cat (for example). In a hostel, you can easily politely excuse yourself from uncomfortable conversations because there's always someone else to fill the conversation void.
12 years
Do you have a CS profile for your hostel? How do you screen the couchsurfers to decide which ones are the true vagabonders? Do they request to stay with you, or do you look through the itineraries for San Francisco and contact them?
12 years
Thanks for asking Brian. Yes, we have a profile. However, Couchsurfing is more personalized so it's my personal profile. We screen CSers by the way they contact us. If they say "I'd like to make a reservation for December 15th" we don't accept them. If they personalize their message specifically for me, tell me something about themselves and their trip, they are much more likely to get a free place. Basically we are looking for something in their email that indicates they recognize this is a unique and generous offer for a hostel to provide. IMO, it's pretty clear from our profile what we are looking for but you would be amazed at how few people read this and shotgun the same request to every host in San Francisco.
Couch Available: Yes
Preferred Gender: Any
No smoking allowed
Has children: No
Can host children: Yes
Has pets: No
Can host pets: No
Max Surfers Per Night: 1Shared Sleeping Surface: No
Shared Room: Yes
We are a hostel. If you are unfamiliar with hostels, please visit http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostel .IMPORTANT: I operate a full fledged hostel so at some times of the year I get far more FAR MORE surf requests than I can possibly host or even respond to. If you don't get a response from me, I'm sorry. If you want to increase your chances of getting a response and getting a bed, please read below CAREFULLY.
ON TO THE FREE COUCH INFORMATION.......
Before there was couchsurfing, there were hostels... So why is our hostel listed on couchsurfing???? Because couchsurfers tend to be the most interesting of all travelers. They are adventurous, social, and are looking to participate in community. They are open to meeting other people during their travels and usually want to give rather than take from the places they visit. Our hostel is an extremely small and friendly international travelers community. We host travelers from all over the world. We seek worldly couchsurfers that can add to our warm and friendly atmosphere.
Our hostel is very popular so it's not possible to host couchsurfers all the time. However, if you would like to surf one of our beds for free, please read the following guidelines carefully to insure your best chance of success.
TRAVEL SOLO - We almost always only accept solo couchsurfers. We find these travelers are most interested in meeting our other guests. So if you will be visiting us on your own, let us know.
BE INDEPENDENT - As a hostel, we get A LOT of couchsurfing requests. So when you write us, try to set yourself apart from the crowd. We're human here so feel free to get personal with us. Please tell us something about yourself, where your from, what brings you to San Francisco and what you'd like to contribute to the world. Couchsurfing is all about relationships and a good introductory email starts the process. Just stating the date you want to come rarely works.
BE KIND - We ask that you be kind to our paying guests. This also means not advertising the fact that you are staying with us for free. This might make them feel bad. Our motto in the hostel is: "Be kind and considerate whenever possible, and ... it's always possible."
BE SOCIAL - The best couchsurfers are those that are not just looking for a free place to stay but are eager to contribute in our travelers community. When a couchsurfer just crashes here and doesn't interact with us or our guests, it feels like a hitchhiker that falls asleep and doesn't provide the conversation the driver was looking for....not a good feeling. So plan to interact with our guests, play a game, go out to the pub with them, etc.
BE HELPFUL - If you have the ability and inclination to volunteer around the hostel, tell us about it. If you would like to cook a community meal while you are here, let us know (we'll provide the pasta). If you are an artist and want to paint on our walls, we'd like to see what you can do. If you would like to do a few chores, we'd appreciate that. If you like washing dishes, hallelujah! If you have the flexibility to stick around for a while and become part of our community for a while, we'd love to meet you.
MAKE US FEEL SPECIAL - If your message looks like it was cut and pasted to 499 other hosts in addition to us, we won't feel special. If your message looks like it was written especially for us, we feel special and will be much more likely to make you feel special too.
START SMALL - When you make your request, just start with a couple of nights. This is usually the most we can offer. If we get along and find you have something positive to offer our community, we can extend your stay.
TRAVEL OFF SEASON - We are usually packed with paying guests May - October and busting our butts to make them happy. So it's likely that we will be unable to host couchsurfers then, UNLESS you write us and let know how you intend to help.
BE SPONTANEOUS - In our minds, couchsurfing is not about booking accommodation the way you would a hotel (or hostel for that matter). As mentioned, above we prefer travelers that are adventurous. So it's unlikely we will approve your couch request much more than a week in advance. So if you are trying to get a guaranteed booking months in advance, please visit our website and make a paid reservation.
MORE ABOUT US - We are located in downtown San Francisco, near Chinatown, North Beach, and the Financial District. Public transportation is all around us and the cable cars are one block away. We don't allow pets or smoking in our house. Yes, we have blankets, kitchen and all that stuff. Message me if you have additional questions.
Thanks. We look forward to meeting you.
12 years
If you can't beat them join them, right? Rather than looking at CS as competition you have embraced them and profited from the company of the travelers who use the site. That's a good way to go. I really like the idea of offering hostel beds to cool couchsurfers. It's good for the hostel atmosphere, for the couchsurfing community, and especially for the backpacker!
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