Introduction to Hospitality Exchanges
In this series:
Perhaps you’ve heard of the newly popular couchsurfing.com or hospitalityclub.org? These are two increasingly popular services on the internet known more generally as hospitality exchanges or hospitality networks. The general idea behind these networks is that they connect users from all around the world, and provide them with an interface to host travelers in their homes, stay for free in other users’ spare bedrooms, couches, etc., or both!
It’s a very clever idea that promotes exchange among people from all corners of the globe, while also helping travelers to minimize costs on one of the biggest expenses of any trip: accommodations.
I should also note that these networks are no longer small potatoes! I remember the first time I heard about a hospitality exchange I was pretty skeptical about the actual reach of the network. I assumed that you could find a few users in major metropolitan areas like New York, London, and Paris, but not much else. However, after doing some more research, I found out that I was VERY wrong. The bigger networks now boast over 200,000 users, and are literally all over the map. On couchsurfing alone I found members in Beijing (473), Budapest (1012), and even on the Galapagos Islands (1)!
For more information on the different hospitality exchanges available today, check out the next article in this series: Comparison of Online Hospitality Exchanges
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