This article about the so-called "Host Services" deals with a new and at the same time ancient topic for travelers, the question of cheap and pleasant accommodation. The new thing about it is the simplicity and spontaneity with which you can now find accommodation in times of the Internet - but the thing itself has always existed, whether through word of mouth or other societies, such as a professing Jew all over the world with his own food and always found lodging available.
Overview
The modern host services (English: "hospitality services") operate mostly worldwide, computer and internet-supported and successfully mediate hosts and guests in large numbers.
How does that go?
Briefly a description: You register on the website of an operator (usually free of charge) and you can start immediately: Browse regions and cities in the categories and use filters to find the available potential hosts using date ranges. The first contact is usually made via the platform to protect the privacy of the participants (e.g. with regard to spam mails). Here it is important to present yourself sufficiently openly and honestly and to address the person behind the profile page so that he / she wants to share his apartment with you.
Further boundary conditions are then clarified in a few subsequent e-mails - approximate date of arrival and planned departure. Whether the private areas of interest overlap in such a way that you can do something together, for example a city tour, can soon be seen between the lines. Otherwise it means: get up at the latest when the host has to go to work and come home between, for example, 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Your own room or not, bring sleeping mats and sleeping bags or not. Otherwise you don't have to know anything, if you are used to having higher demands then these services are probably not suitable.
Hence the target group the younger generation as well as well-traveled travelers who can adapt quickly and easily to the cultural and social circumstances of their hosts.
Hosting services
Couchsurfing
Couchsurfing is probably the hippest project and owes its popularity not least to its original name. The website offers many additional features, such as the usual references that you can leave the other person during pleasant encounters, as well as photo albums and detailed information in your own profile. According to its own information, Couchsurfing has over 12 million members in 200,000 cities (as of July 2020).[1] Especially in the first 5 years since Couchsurfing was founded, a large part of the administrative and programming work was done on a voluntary basis and free of charge. This led to a large change of active participants, among other things, because the commitment of volunteers was not reflected on the level of decision-making. In 2011 the legal status of Couchsurfing was changed to a for-profit organization and US $ 7.6 million was accepted by an investor, which met resistance from the user community. In September 2012, Couchsurfing changed their terms of use. These were criticized by the then German data protection officer Peter Schaar as incompatible with German law. In May 2020, as a result of the low number of referrals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a flat-rate membership fee (of US $ 2.39 / month or US $ 14.29 / year) was introduced. (Couchsurfing in Wikipedia)
Hospitality Club
Hospitality Club is the second largest network of its kind and is particularly well represented in Germany, as well as in the United States, Poland, France and Italy. The website has not received any new functions for a number of years and there is also no evidence that security gaps will be fixed in a timely manner. The Hospitality Club has no registered legal form and is therefore the private website of the domain owner and founder Veit Kühne. According to its own information, the Hospitality Club has 330,000 members in 207 countries around the world (as of July 2020). However, according to the analytics service Alexa, the website is losing more and more of its activity. In 2019 it was announced that the service would be relaunched, but this has not yet occurred. (Hospitality Club in Wikipedia)
BeWelcome
BeWelcome is a young, committed and international project - based on the date of creation - which describes itself as the "first open source hosting service ever". It was created in October 2006 from a volunteer project made up of - partly former - members of the hospitality club. From this the non-profit association BeVolunteer was founded, which is registered in Rennes and is responsible for the BeWelcome website. According to its own information, BeWelcome has almost 130,000 members in 218 countries around the world (as of July 2020). (Bewelcome in Wikipedia)
GlobalFreeLoaders
An idealistic project by an (originally?) Individual. The website is therefore a bit simpler, the search is not too sophisticated. - http://www.globalfreeloaders.com/
Hosting services for cyclists
- ADFC roof donor - Germany-wide host directory for touring cyclists. You can register here for a membership fee. The list is open to all cyclists.
- Velo roof The Swiss equivalence to the umbrella provider.
- Members of the Radreise- und Fernradlerforums ("rad-forum") have the option of registering in an internal overnight network, which, however, does not offer very sophisticated research options.
Warmshowers
Warm showers is an international, non-commercial host network for touring cyclists. It offers a good research possibility via map like a place name search field. Anyone who is currently on a trip can be offline as a host and can still be reached. Contact requests are forwarded to the respective email address. A feedback system allows for relatively good quality control, but sometimes you have to read something between the lines to filter out negative reviews.
Regulate:
- only non-commercial accommodation offers,
- only for touring cyclists, only for single cyclists, couples or very small groups,
- Pre-registration desired,
- Host and guest can cancel at any time, there is no obligation for hosts to accept a guest (even if he is already at the door).
Other specialized hosting services
- Pasporta servo (Requirements: basic knowledge of Esperanto, purchase of the host list.)
- WWOOF ("Worldwide opportunities on organic farms", food & lodging for work on the farm; requirement: purchase of the host list)
