Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing.com

CouchSurfing is an international non-profit network that has taken the world by storm.
Since 2004, they have helped their members to experience traditions from the other side of the world and have built friendships between different races whilst nurturing respect and understanding of different cultures. CouchSurfing triggered excitement amongst many travellers. Their ideologies have sparked hospitality from people all over the world. CouchSurfing has truly become a phenomenon with over 2,332, 686 members,
spread over 230 countries and territories, 2,624, 755 successful host experiences and 2,705, 844 friendships created.

The CouchSurfing Project started in the year 1999 by Casey Fenton. He launched the website with the assistance of Dan Hoffer, Sebastien Le Tuan and Leonardo Seveira in 2004. In 2006, the project was almost terminated because of technical problems with the database, but CouchSurfing 2.0 was relaunched in July 2006.Today it is considered to be the largest hospitality exchange network in the world.

The website, Couchsurfing.com is also the internet’s most visited hospitality service website with an average of 60 million page hits and views daily in the months of July to September this year.

CouchSurfing enables different races, different beliefs, different traditions and different cultures to be connected as one.

What is couchsurfing?

While CouchSurfing may be operating in 230 countries, the wonder of the practice is yet to be unveiled to the rest of the world. So what exactly is couch surfing and how does it work? Couchsurfing is a neologism (a newly coined word or phrase) that comes in many forms, but the organization’s initial focus was “hosting”, where a member can volunteer his or her home for travellers around the world to stay in and also “surfing” where backpackers and travellers can stay at a host’s home for the duration of his or her stay in the particular country or territory (compensation depends on the individuals’ agreed terms). This practice then promotes hospitality and can help those who want to travel but are low in budget.

The Vision-Mission

CouchSurfing’s vision statement is “A world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter.”

The organization believes that if everyone can respond to the diversity of cultures and traditions with respect, people from around the world will be able to make meaningful connections with each other and possibly create a united, people-oriented and peaceful global community.

On the other hand, the organization’s mission statement is “Create Inspiring Experiences”.

According to the organization when explaining their mission statement:

“CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational
exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural
understanding. As a community we strive to do our individual and collective parts
to create a better world, and we believe that the surfing of couches is a means to
accomplish this goal. CouchSurfing is not about the furniture, not just about finding free
accommodations around the world; it’s about making connections worldwide. We make
the world a better place by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open
our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We
create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures.
CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the
world!”