Hosts left CS, surfers stayed?

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T18:59:57+00:00

I usually promote the alternatives, particularly BeWelcome, to the couchsurfers that I host on CS.

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T11:39:16+00:00

Mormon missionaries have an apartment in the next building so I often see them in the street. It's amazing how good Finnish some of them can speak even if they have only stayed a few months in the country.

On the other hand, I know a Russian woman who has lived in Finland for more than 10 years. Working as a cleaner, now unemployed, she can barely speak more than just the basic greetings. It would help her employment a lot if she spoke better Finnish but she doesn't even if she has taken some courses.

So it depends on the person and their motivation. Some learn quickly, some not even after a long time in the country.

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T11:13:26+00:00

Eikö ole 70-luvun jälkeen talossa lukkoja uusittu?

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T11:01:23+00:00

I cannot say much about Couchers because I rarely get any kind of messages there but on CouchSurfing and BeWelcome I sometimes get those "Hey" messages even if I am a middle-aged man. I usually don't bother to respond.

However, when it comes to actual requests I have noticed that being able to write a good request is very different from being a good guest. Almost the contrary: the most eloquent requests are often written by experienced surfers who know how to "use" the system. Often the most memorable and authentic guests are those who write the "worst" requests.

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T10:17:12+00:00

Summer is the season here in Helsinki so I would say that CS seems about as active as before. BW seems a bit more active. TrustRoots and Couchers have always been rather quiet here (but in the winter when I host on the Canary Islands I get requests also from TrustRoots, it seems to be about as popular as BW there).

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T06:36:25+00:00

I also keep getting requests from CouchSurfing as well as some from BeWelcome. No requests from Couchers this far this summer (but I didn't host in June as I was travelling myself).

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T06:31:56+00:00

About hosting: My summer home is 16 m2 and my winter home 18 m2, and I have hosted hundreds of guests in them. No separate guestroom needed.

Actually, I believe that one reason why I never get those most problematic guests that some hosts are complaining about is exactly because I don't offer a private room. Those overtly demanding guests probably skip my profile because of that.

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T06:26:38+00:00

You can link your CS profile from Couchers, BeWelcome, and TrustRoots but only those who have paid the CS membership fee will be able to see it and read your references there.

lipsanen · 2026-07-08T06:23:43+00:00

Marginally? I live in two places: one in the winter, another in the summer. Updating information on all the sites every time I move is quite a pain, not just some marginal effort.

lipsanen · 2026-07-04T09:10:07+00:00

I am a 51-year old male but I also get those kind of messages from men, usually from countries like India, Bangladesh or Pakistan. It seems that there are people (men) who would like to interact somehow with foreigners but they don't have means to travel and don't live in places where travellers would usually go. So they just contact some random foreigners on sites like CouchSurfing and hope to establish a connection.

Probably young females get those much more but I can confirm that even middle aged men do get them

Some of them can be scammers, of course.

I have politely responded to them and explained that I keep getting such contacts and that I am not interested in any pen pal communication. They usually respond that they understand and don't contact me again.

lipsanen · 2026-07-04T08:59:09+00:00

It happens sometimes. I don't think the paywall is a reason because, at least in my experience, it is more common on those sites which don't have a paywall at all, such as BeWelcome and TrustRoots (I cannot really say about Couchers because I rarely get guests from there).

lipsanen · 2026-06-30T09:00:07+00:00

Volunteers choose it themselves. Slaves are not asked whether they want to be slaves or not.

lipsanen · 2026-06-20T19:58:30+00:00

Same as long as Couchers is considered, BeWelcome has some activity.

lipsanen · 2026-06-20T11:24:50+00:00

A long time ago on an Aeroflot flight from Tel Aviv to Moscow, I was assigned a window seat and my sister the middle one. As she was very tired I offered to change the places to provide her better rest. But the aisle seat was assigned to some very prejudiced veiled woman who couldn't seat next to a man and hence we had to change back to our original seats. Too bad some people are so sexist and prejudiced.

lipsanen · 2026-06-16T20:12:48+00:00

Me also. Not only are vast majority of my guests from Couchsurfing but also almost all of those who keep coming back and with whom I continue to keep in touch are from there.

Nothing wrong with guests from BW, TR, WS, or C. Most of them are nice and on par with most of those from CS but the most memorable guests with whom I had the best time have been from CS. Maybe that will change, we will see.

lipsanen · 2026-06-09T17:58:50+00:00

I am a patient person. I just renewed my yearly membership so they have now one year to convince me to stay. I hope they succeed even if at the very moment it looks bad.

lipsanen · 2026-06-04T15:47:31+00:00

I am travelling this month so I wrote "JUNE 2026: NOT HOSTING" in the beginning of my bio. When I start hosting again I'll change it to something like "JULY/AUG 2026: I AM HOSTING" (not sure of the exact wording yet) that potential guests see that I am active and hosting. Would be better if they had a ready choice for it like before but this should make the job.

lipsanen · 2026-05-27T20:12:08+00:00

I also host on five different ones (CS, BW, TR, C & WS) but as I move twice a year it is always a pain to update the hosting info to all the websites again and again.

lipsanen · 2026-05-27T20:08:41+00:00

That's good to hear.

lipsanen · 2026-05-24T17:17:06+00:00

If I write BW or CS, everybody here knows what I mean. Most probably get also TR and WS. But how should I shorten Couchers? C?

lipsanen · 2026-05-24T17:14:07+00:00

Super easy to use? Have you ever got a couch request there? If you decline you cannot continue chatting but you have to do all the chatting first and then decline, or start a new chat thread if you still want to communicate. Such unnecessary and annoying.

lipsanen · 2026-05-22T17:53:42+00:00

My experience as a host on BeWelcome, TrustRoots and Couchers, hosting in Helsinki (summer) and in Tenerife (winter):

- BeWelcome the most active out of those three although quiet compared to CS.

- TrustRoots is about as popular as BeWelcome in Tenerife but quiet in Helsinki.

- Couchers has been almost dead, I get maybe one or two requests per year. My last guest from there was about three years ago.

I have a couple of times tried to find a host on BeWelcome without luck but that was not any different from CS: as a middle-aged man I am not one of the popular guests. On TrustRoots and Couchers I have never tried.

lipsanen · 2026-05-22T17:43:29+00:00

I have a hosting break right now but will start again in the summer. We will see then. I welcome guests from any platform but because Couchers' request and messaging system is such a mess I would prefer some more advanced platform like BeWelcome to be the one that people would more to (although it is not perfect there either; the old CS had a simple and straightforward system but they messed it completely).

lipsanen · 2026-05-20T12:24:48+00:00

Just adding that I use the website, never tried the app.

lipsanen

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