Couchsurfing.org or hospitality clubs

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    A year ago I traveled to Europe by hitchhiking. Once, having settled down near the autobahn, I pitched a tent, when I suddenly discovered that two policemen were coming towards me with a brave step.
    Scolding me for neglecting private property, and driving me to the nearest hostel, the policemen took my word that the next time I would first find someone to stay through couchsurfing. So the first time I learned about this unusual site.

    Idea:
    So, Couchsurfing gives you the opportunity to stay for free with local residents, hence the name of the project, which can be translated into Russian as “surfing on sofas”.
    From my own experience, I can say that it’s always great when you can meet a person in an unfamiliar city who is ready to show the surroundings, truthfully tell you where to shop and what to fear.

    On the other hand, if you cannot travel, why not “let travel into your home”? Thanks to CouchSurfing, you can gain invaluable cultural exchange experience and just practice in foreign languages.

    “Identity Verification” system and business model:
    Security is always above all. That is why various “confidence levels” are introduced on CS. The higher the status of your account, the more likely it is to agree to accept you as a guest.
    The first level is enough to confirm your contact details by clicking on the link that will be sent to you by letter.
    The second level - you make a donation to the project address, and during the transaction, the name and surname are verified in the account on the site and in the electronic payment data.
    Third level - an envelope with a code is sent to your physical address. Enter the code on the site, and voila, you have the highest level of trust. The main disadvantage is that you will also be asked donation for sending a letter. But to the credit of CS employees, it is worth noting that they annually report on project expenditures .

    Project Audience:
    Today, the community audience is more than 1,300,000 people worldwide.
    The vast majority of CS users are young people and girls. Despite all the “crookedness” of the interface, the community audience has fantastic loyalty - it’s enough to note that CS has never been advertised anywhere and is developing exclusively thanks to the offline recommendations of active users.
    Detailed statistics can be found here .

    In fairness, it is worth noting that CouchSurfing is not the only and not the oldest site of its kind:
    hospitalityclub.org is a site similar in concept, but significantly losing in interface. One of the interesting but controversial options is the ability to request the user with his passport number.

    Who knows, maybe thanks to these sites, all people's travel ideas will really change.

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