The Couch Surfing wave keeps getting bigger.

August 25th, 2008

When I did the trip for my upcoming book ‘Sleeping Around (a couch surfing tour of the globe)’ there were 150,000 members from 20,000 cities on CouchSurfing.com with around 1000 new members joining a week. This week the ‘Couch Surfing Project’ hit 700,000 members who hail from 47,000 cities with over 10,000 new members joining every week. By the end of the year the overall membership will be close to hitting the million mark. 

For those of you not familiar with couchsurfing, the concept came about in 2004 when 22-year-old Casey Fenton, a software programmer in New Hampshire, decided he wanted a weekend away. He found a cheap last-minute flight to Iceland, but when he discovered how expensive accommodation was in Reykjavík, he did what any reasonably able, ethically-flexible programmer might do: he hacked into the University of Iceland student directory and spammed over a thousand students asking them if they had a spare couch. In his email he said: ‘I’m coming on Friday. I want to see the real Iceland. Will you show me your country?’ The overwhelming response—more than a hundred replies from potential hosts all eager to show him ‘their Reykjavik’—not only secured Casey a couch for the weekend, it also sparked the CouchSurfing concept and website. 

The CouchSurfing website (their mission statement is: ‘Participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time’) makes it easy and safe to find a couch anywhere in the world. The profiles are built on a MySpace/Facebook type model with users including their photos, interests, what types of people they enjoy, list of friends, languages spoken, places travelled and even a comprehensive couch description. Perhaps the most redeeming feature, however, is that the hosts and guests vouch for each other much like eBay—but instead of rating the couch delivery, you rate the couch owner. To secure a couch all you need to do is search for the city you plan to visit and you will be presented with a list of hosts. Contact any from the list that interest you and the hosts will (hopefully) get back to you if they have a couch available on the dates you need. And after you decide which couch suits you best—voila—you’ve got a free place to stay and a new friend who most likely knows the city better than any hotel concierge.

So grab a couch and get on board!

POSTSCRIPT: Just discovered an article on couch surfing in yesterday’s Melbourne Age

3 Responses to “The Couch Surfing wave keeps getting bigger.”

  • On February 4th, 2010 Brian Thacker said:

    Hi

    When folk do a search for ‘couch surfing’ (and me) they often end up here. Yes, it does tell the story how couch surfing started, but since this blog couchsurfing.org now has 1,660,956 members with over 15,000 joining every week. You can find other riveting facts in my later blog here: http://www.brianthacker.tv/blog/the-couch-surfing-tidal-wave/

  • On February 19th, 2010 Ron Grant said:

    Just read couch surfing book, VERY good Brian, though of course some of us have been doing this for 22 years via SERVAS.

    SERVAS though now is mostly for older settled type folks quiet wine and chat with dinner types, not the drinkers pub crawl on your trip.

    At 63 I suspect I am too old for C Srfer homes, but lovely to read your blow by blows….

    Ron in Brisbane

  • On February 22nd, 2010 Brian Thacker said:

    Hi Ron

    You’re never too old to couch surf! There are over 14,000 members over 60 on the couchsurfing website (and 323 over 80!).

    Thanks and cheers
    Brian

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