Er. Neha Godbole: Couch Surfing

Imagine landing in a new city. You’ve never been there before but you go directly to a stranger’s house – someone you met through Couchsurfing – and spend the night on his couch or in his spare bedroom.

Sure, it’s cheaper than a hotel but the benefits of Couchsurfing go far beyond the savings in your pocket. Your hosts can can save you a lot of time, energy and money on all fronts:

They can help you find resources like local faxes, internet connections and wifi cafes where the internet actually works.

You get to know the city from a personal point of view.

You learn quickly where to shop for food or where the best places in town are to visit.

You have a place to rest that feels more like home.

When you leave this stranger has become a friend.

Sound like something you’d want to experience? Then Couchsurfing is for you. Your first step is to join the Couchsurfing site and then go immediately to fill out your profile…

Remember, this profile will often be your first introduction to a potential host so it pays to spend some time completing your profile thoroughly and as accurately and honestly as you can…

Fill out every part

Thoughtfully and thoroughly. The more complete your profile is, the more you’ll increase your chances of being offered a couch.

Be yourself

This is not a business or networking profile. This lets other Couchsurfers know who you are. Do you have a sense of humor? Are you intense? Are you deeply philosophical or would you perhaps like to sign all your e-mails with “Love and Light?” The people who want to know someone like you will find you.

Don’t just write what you think what people want to hear

Tell them about you. It’s ok to let some of your quirky side out because that is exactly what will attract people to your profile.

Don’t include personal information

Things like where you live, your phone number or e-mail address unless you want people to actually use them. Couchsurfing provides alternate methods of contacting people, so you don’t need to provide any other way of reaching you until you’ve made contact with someone and decided you actually want to be in touch.

Fill out everything entirely and don’t forget to add a photo or two. There are many hosts, usually the best and most in-demand hosts, who won’t even consider surfers who don’t have a complete profile.

Review every part of the profile carefully, including references and photos. Just as your profile introduces you, this is how you learn about your potential host. These are the questions I ask myself.

Is this someone you think you’d like to meet? Do you have common interests?

If the answer is yes, great. If nothing about the profile interests you, then it’s generally best to keep searching.

Is there anything about the host that strikes you as odd?

Maybe it’s something that you can’t quite put your finger on it, but there’s something not quite right. Go with your gut reaction and move onto someone else. Your gut is usually right.

What does your potential host’s references say about them?

Another important part of any profile is references. While many people will accept surfers who don’t have any or few references – particularly if you are new to the site – you have a much better chance of finding a place to stay if you have a solid list of people who you have met, spent time with and who have something positive to say about you and your character.

It is very rare for someone to give or receive a negative reference on Couchsurfing, and usually when it happens, there are extreme circumstances. While I wouldn’t automatically rule out someone with negative references, I am more likely to stay away unless for whatever reason I have no other choice.

Aside from negatives, though, what does the person’s references say about them? You’ll generally see the same adjectives appearing over and over as you scan through: Kind. Funny. Honest. You’ll read stories of things people did together and peek into their jokes. All these things let you know that a potential host has a real, solid personality and creates connections with his guests.

Occasionally, the references are nice, not negative, but they don’t really say much. They seem bland and don’t really give you any insight into who that person might be. I stay away from those hosts as well.

What if someone is new to Couchsurfing and doesn’t have many friends or references?

I generally prefer to stay with and host people who have been active on Couchsurfing for long enough to have at least 10 friends who have left solid references. In situations where a Couchsurfer is very new or doesn’t have many friends, then I read the profiles of their friends.

A few years ago, I found a family in the South of France who seemed lovely, but they only had one friend and reference. That friend, though, was a long time Couchsurfer with many friends and thus much experience evaluating hosts and surfers. They gave this family a glowing reference. That is the only reason I felt comfortable sending a request. Turns out, it was one of the best places I’ve ever surfed, and we are good friends to this day.

Your instinct also guides you well in many cases. If you’ve done your research and reading, have a general idea of who a person is, and don’t feel good about it nonetheless, then find another surfer or pay for a place to stay.

When you find a host with whom you think you would like to stay, you simply click on the Couchsurf With button at the top right of his or her profile.

There are a few things you can do to improve your chances of getting a response from the requests you submit. These include:

Fill out all the details of the request, including a personal message that makes it clear you have read that member’s profile carefully.
Mention some of the interests you have in common.
If something in your request deviates from what they’ve specified as ok for guests, explain why that is the case.

For example, I sent a request for three people to someone who said he only had space for two, but I told him our third is our little daughter, and I was hoping she could meet his daughter. Without that, he would not have accepted my request.

There are a few other things you can check out which may help you improve your chances of finding someone to host you when you’re looking for your next couch:

Has the host been verified? That means they’ve donated $25 to pass through the verification system which generally means you have found a dedicated member who is ready to host.

Does your host definitely have a couch as opposed to the Maybe or Meet For A Drink option? UPDATE: CS have removed the “Definitely” option.

How many friends and references does a person have?
How involved are they in the local community?
How long have they been on the site? You’ll also see at the top left of the profile a percentage of Couchsurfing Requests that person has replied too.
When is the last time a person logged into the site?
All these things will give you an idea of who a person is and whether or not they’re likely to receive your Couch Request in a timely manner and accept you as a guest.

As I mentioned above, having some solid references on your profile can markedly increase your chances of being hosted…but if you don’t have any references yet, here are 2 useful strategies which can help you overcome this barrier:

Start surfing. Or start having people surf with you. If neither of these is an option for you, the first thing you do is join a local Couchsurfing community event. You can find a full listing of all groups and communities under the Community tab of the main Couchsurfing menu.

These events range from going to concerts, out for dinner, drinks, Santacon, tours of the city, horseback riding and more. You name it, you can find it. Just about every city in the world has its own couchsurfing community, so you can most definitely find one along the way of your travels.

Meet people. Talk, get to know them. Often you can find a couch for yourself at these couchsurfing community events. When you connect with someone, make sure to get his or her profile name and send a friend request soon after.

You do this by going to that person’s profile and scroll to the bottom. At the beginning of the Friends section on the left hand column, you’ll see a button labeled Add To My Friends. Fill out the form as completely as possible.

If you’re Location Independent and especially if you’re nomadic, there’s a good chance you won’t have your own couch to offer to others. That doesn’t matter. Couchsurfing is a community exchange – and you can be part of the community in more ways than just offering a quid pro quo place to sleep.

There’s a section in the profile of what you’d like to learn and what you can teach. There, you can include anything from teaching someone how to blog to offering PR advice to fire spinning and yoga classes. You can bake chocolate chip cookies, dog sit for an afternoon or simply be a good guest.

You can also consider setting up meetings and events when you arrive in a new town. This is a great way to meet people as well as bring cohesion to the community you visit. Meanwhile, you’re developing your own couchsurfing network.

As you can see, one of the strengths of Couchsurfing is the community aspect - it’s not simply about finding a place to sleep or stay but can be more about plugging into a network of friends and community members around the globe who can make your introduction to a new place even more exciting and even less stressful.

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