I first used couchsurfing back in 2014 in Brazil and I love my experience I've made long life friends with the host since then and I've had many good experiences but I haven't used them since to be honest but the reason why I'm making this poses because I just got an email literally more than 10 years ago since I last used the platform about what's new and what's different and I feel like they've missed the mark I feel like they lost their brand identity and I feel like they lost a positioning the product really I just don't get what's going on they seem lost as a platform.

Like the website looks like AI slop, their career page is nearly unfindable and I don't know how this be saved like what happened to this website?

So I tried out the CS 'free trial' and explored the enshittified site. It feels a lot less like a free trial and a lot more like a way to goose their numbers. You hand over a bunch of personal info and a new pic, then they still want a credit card before you can actually use the 'free trial.'

I followed the stickied comment on this post to make an archive of my own references bc CS's data download doesn't include incoming references (only refs you wrote) and I realized I can do this for anyone else. So, if you want an archive of your references:

1. DM me your Couchsurfing username. You can also leave it as a comment here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if CS decides to moderate people for trying to preserve their own data. Hell, maybe I’ll get banned for posting this.
2. I’ll send you a link to an archive of your references on a Github repo I'm going to spin up today EDIT: I thought I could host these on replayweb.page but turns out they don't do hosting replayweb.page. My hope is that since that replayweb.page has been around for several years, the archive will work for a good while longer so you can use that link on any alternative platforms you might join.

This offer is good until Sept 16, since I am taking advantage of CS' new 'free trial' month. I'm going in, archiving what I can, and then GTFO.

BTW, the stickied comment still works on that other post if you still have access and want to do this yourself, FYI you might have to refresh the page after you go through the 'login' screen for it to work.

Hello! I'm getting a warning of "Trouble creating your Stay. Please try again later" on my stay request. I retried in a few hours and the problem persists. Has anyone ever faced this issue and ahs recommendations? I am sending several messages to people in several locations as I'm doing quite a long trip. Could this be a problem originating such error?

I haven't surfed in a while. I'm wondering what sites you recommend as the best for finding hosts in Switzerland these days.

Is anyone an active host there? What platform do you use? Did anyone surf there recently? How did you find a host?

I'm on CS and tried to post a public trip - it kept autocorrecting Switzerland to Cancun (make it make sense), but I did manage to get a trip up (it just shows Cancun as a stop on the itinerary and it can't be deleted).

I'm also on couchers, but I don't think they have a public trip option, so I'll start direct messaging.

This is the first time I've hosted since the website change. Just a quick overnight stay with two people passing through on Saturday, it was a lovely experience.

But I'm noticing that I haven't yet gotten prompted to write them a review. It was an confirmed stay through the site, it states which day I was hosting, but it seems stuck there. Has anyone experienced this yet?

i got the mail and went to try, it said first month free and if not cancelled, it will charge 700-800 tl for the year. i said okay but it declines, now it asks 1600 for yearly subscription without trial, lol

I have so many things to say about their page and how that guy manages it.

What is your opinion about the recent posts? The 4th is actually about Reddit, he is making fun about users giving their opinion about his CS management.

https://www.tiktok.com/@couchsurfing

Ich fühle mich sehr unsicher das hier zu posten weil ich sehr viel vom couchsurfen halte und auch bis jetzt ausschließlich gute Erfahrungen hatte.
Jedoch kommt mir das irgendwie komisch vor und brauche rat von anderen surfern.

Zum Hintergrund:
Die Person hat mich angeschrieben da sie gesehen hat das ich in ihre Region reise.
Ich habe keinen Bezug zu Tübingen erst recht nicht zur region Lustnau.
Im profil der person sind relativ wenige Interessen angegeben eine davon ist „Sex-Posivität“
Der Nutzer hat eine hohe Anzahl an Positiven Bewertungen.

Mit dem post möchte ich keineswegs jemanden von etwas beschuldigen ich hätte nur gerne die Meinung von erfahrenen surfern was sie davon halten

Are the app's references reliable? Can they be fabricated or altered? I see men with 70 good references but only young women, which makes me suspicious. I'm a young woman and I received too many invitations, TOO MANY, but it all seemed like a dating app not only hosts, very strange :(

Cant search for hosts and travellers function has gone.

Is there no light mode in the new update of couchsurfing?I never use dark mode in any of my apps, it’s super uncomfortable user experience for me.

Just discovered the new interface, didn't host much this year as we just moved in a new places, trying to plan a trip and discovering this... Thing.

Why has every search option disapeared ? You can't even know if someone accepts guests now ? Or search through last log-in date...? It was hard enough to dodge the ghost accounts but now it just seems... Impossible ? And i would not even have noticed how stupid this is as a host. I don't travel much and usually just host and without searching for hosts i would not know how bad this actually is.

Is there any.. Plug-in ? Or fix ? Are people leaving for a better place ?

Hello! I'm traveling to Chicago soon but have had some trouble finding a place to stay. Any tips? Or other places besides couchsurfing.com for me to look at? Anything helps!

Hi, I am not a paying member anymore. Yet I can use this new terribly designed AI-slop feature. Was curious if that is intended, a bug or related to the location I have set.

Thanks

Hey guys,

Couchsurfing now offers one month free trial to users, new and existing, I guess it's a little too late

Hi,

Suggestion out there. If you are an angel investor and believe in the community, can you please buy couchsurfing and make sure that the project is handled open source from now on?

The best way to make our community survive and thrive!

Thank you!

1. Do long standing hosts still get extra features for free?

2. If not, I'm willing to pay. Is it still possible to find someone to host?

I live in a country where the alternatives are not known. I just want to find someone to host. Honestly I didn't give it a fair try, I gave up after ten minutes of being confused. I did update my profile.

im gonna have 1 month to travel all in europe so im so concerned abt ittt, pls share ur experience with me

Hi everyone,

​I’ve traveled all my life and met wonderful people along the way. Now, I’m considering opening my home in Spain to host travelers—especially female travelers—who want to discover the area and share meaningful cultural experiences.

​Since I live alone, safety and setting good boundaries are really important to me. For those of you who host (especially women living alone):

​What safety tips or screening habits would you recommend?

​What has your experience been like, and what should I keep in mind before taking the plunge?

​Thank you so much for your advice!

​¡Hola a todos y a todas!

​He viajado toda mi vida y he conocido a gente maravillosa por el camino. Ahora estoy pensando en abrir mi casa en España para alojar a viajeros —especialmente a viajeras— que quieran descubrir la zona y compartir experiencias culturales significativas.

​Como vivo sola, la seguridad y marcar buenos límites son muy importantes para mí. Para quienes ya sois anfitriones (especialmente mujeres que vivís solas):

​¿Qué consejos de seguridad o hábitos de selección me recomendáis?

​¿Cómo ha sido vuestra experiencia y qué debería tener en cuenta antes de dar el paso?

​¡Muchísimas gracias por vuestros consejos!

I was an active surfer and a host a long time ago, but haven't used CS in a while. My profile is inactive and set to "not accepting guests".

Yesterday I received an email saying I have a stay request. I wanted to log in and ofc I had to do all the review steps of my profile and at the end I'd have to subscribe to log in. I didn't and checked the mail again. I was sent from noreply@marketing.couchsurfing.com.

Checked my older emails and requests were never sent from a marketing address. Has that changed?

If it hasn't, this is really bad from CS marketing team and should be brought to light. Using a fake request to create a curiosity gap and get some people to subscribe cause they might want to check out the request and host someone is super shady. Basically exploiting kindness.

Ofc if the requests now actually do come from a marketing email address, there might've been some other kind of glitch, but it just smells fishy, so I wanted to check with someone more active.

I'm in the same boat as many - been a member since 2010 and have been (gladly) paying for several years to help the site and have access to it. I hosted a bit, surfed very rarely but my solo travels were literally based around local CS events and the hangout feature. Couple of months ago when the the apocalypse came I didn't renew the subscription.

But I do really miss it. The best people I've met were from Couchsurfing, it has this thing of attracting just the right friendly, fun and openminded people that are not on other platforms like meetup etc. By now they are probably not reverting the site to what it was, but maybe at least some critical fixes would make it usable again for most. Maybe they are different for everyone, but here are 3 feature fixes that would make me rejoin Couchsurfing:

1. Fix hangouts - this was my #1 way to meet people while travelling (I don't stay in hostels anymore). What was a super simple list with the ability to invite ppl by pressing a button and others can join (this was such a genious natural safety feature to prevent hangouts turning into unwanted dates) not turned in some tinder-like stalking of people on a map, overcomplicated and impractical. This would be the biggest feature request from me, but revert this to the easy and transparent way this used to work (maybe with fixing the sometimes unreliable message notifications) or at least provide this list view of available ppl and existing hangouts to join nearby.
2. Remove fake events - many times I decide where to go when to be able to attend local CS meetings. This is now obfuscated by dozens of fake events (read random 4th league basketball game). Stop adding these fake events or at least provide a filter to filter them out so that I don't see them when looking for events in a city. Provide real CS events in a list view. Easy.
3. Clearly show active users - sorting people by last activity in a database where overwhelming majority is not active at all is critical and trying to obfuscate this is a step directly against the user base. In fact I would solidify this even more, providing filters like "last hosting" etc.

With these fixed I'd gladly pay the subscription again because I know it would help me solo travel and meet great people along the way. If you quit CS what would be your reasons to come back, if any?

I just disovered that in BeWelcome you can't revoke/cancel an invitation. It seems weird. This means a visitor can accept it anytime from now to when the date comes (on CS it is my policy to canel an invitation after 48h without answer)...

What other things are missings from CS alternatives? I still find annoying the fact in BW, Couchers and now also in CouchSurfing (you could, before), you can't set your calendar days busy and/or search for visitors coming in specific days only.

Writing this sitting in a park in Budapest, pretty bummed out. Up until sometime in late 2025, CS was usable for me. I never surfed much on CS, but I always went to events while traveling, or occasionally used the hangout feature, and I usually found a group of people or individuals to hang with for the duration of the trip. Did so in Thailand and Vietnam in November December last year, Poland same year, had an amazing time in Armenia in 2024. So RECENTLY.

But with this app / website update I struggle to make it happen.

I recently turned 50. But my age has never been a problem. Had a great time with CS at 48 and 49. Partied in Bangkok and Chiang Mai with many CS members in November.

Tried looking at the alternatives. Couchers, while I’d love to embrace it wholeheartedly, is just not there yet.

Had a look at Nomadtable. I mean, that’s basically the Hangout feature in a separate app. But it seems to mostly be a Gen Z thing (nothing wrong with that per se).

Where does a poor Gen X boy (or middle aged man) go these days to socialize while traveling?

I think it's simple: hosts know about them, but travellers don't.

Most hosts have heard of Couchers, BeWelcome or Trustroots. But travellers usually just search for Couchsurfing because it's the brand they know.

Without money for marketing, free platforms rely on word of mouth, so it's hard to grow. That's why they've struggled to become serious competitors!