couchers.org Reviews 5

I've been on CS for literally 20y now, and like many, I got disenchanted with all the changes it went through over the years. I tried all alternatives. Couchers is a new take, trying to get back some of what CS used to be. Yes it's still small, and some of the usefulness of this type of communities comes of the scale, but that's really not their fault, you need to be small before being big, and to be honest, I believe that "big" is partly to blame on CS downfall. I also find some of the reviews over here quite unfair. I mean, how can it be "just a scam" when nobody is promising you anything, it's just a tool and a community? it's also free.. anyway. I don't think CS and Couchers are even comparable right now, but for the relatively small size of Couchers, what I can tell you is that they are coming with way way more features and upgrades all the time than the "massive" CS.

I have hosted multiple times and been hosted a few times. I had only one meh experience, all the rest were great experiences. One of those travellers is my friend today.

Although they claim to be community based and lead, it is really an ego project with little regards to community. Public forums were closed despite severe backlash against that, and decision making is quite obscure, I know people whose profiles were suspended without any given reason and support was literally ignoring their emails. As a long time user of hosting platforms, go use BeWelcome and not this sham of a wannabe. Btw, the reason they aren´t clear with the number of users is because most are innactive profiles, not even worth trying.

I have generally been happy with Couchsurfing.com, even if initially regretting the yearly cost. Couchers.org took months to respond to my single query. On Couchers, you need a separate login to address the Forum, and there appears to be no admin, just volunteers responding. I do wish Couchers good luck.. but if I know how things work in the world, it won't be long before they start moaning about the pressure and start charging too. Is it sometimes, better the devil.......? Call me cynical.. but think I will stay with the devil!

I have had a fantastic guest via couchers.org. Although I mostly host people on Couchsurfing, this was one of the best hosting experiences I have had. My guest was boycotting couchsurfing.com because of the way the company had turned aggressively for-profit.

The platform might need a bit of maturing, but given that it's only a 3-year-old community and entirely run by volunteers at the moment, I would consider it commendable.

I hope this community does what it set out to do.