HOW TO CHOOSE A COUCHSURFING HOST 🛋️ / Safety tips

Couchsurfing is a great way to explore a new city or country without having to spend money on accommodation. In this video, we'll discuss the importance of safety precautions when using the service, as well as tips for finding available hosts.
You will learn how to post a public trip, how to use filters when searching for a host and how to choose a host best suitable for you, to make sure that you have the best Couchsurfing experience!
Timing:
Intro - 00:00
Post a Public Trip - 01:13
Find Available Hosts and Send them Couch Requests - 03:14
How to choose a Host. Safety Tips - 06:19
Hosts with no references - 11:20
A Host for best Couchsurfing Experience - 19:24
#couchsurfing
Playlist with all videos about Couchsurfing: • Couchsurfing Guide
My Instagram account: / anna.gladillina
Music by audionautix.com

[@iannicholson7205]

Anna you are an excellent ambassador for Couchsurfing! As a prolific CS male host and guest who has travelled in over 100 countries and couchsurfed every continent except Antarctica I think you present a clear and balanced view on this topic. By contrast, some inexperienced bloggers fall for the risks you mention and then complain about it on YT. A pity as it is a great way to travel and meet people. An obvious clear red flag for female CSers are male hosts who specify female guests only. Hmm interesting right? I chuckled at your mention of nudist hosts. I was looking for a host in Paris recently and was surprised how many also expected their guests to go naked too. I feel the cold too much! As a host and a group of 2+ friends wish to stay I insist they are all CS members. BTW I can only think of one disadvantage as a CS guest. I have to be on my best behaviour at all times..... 🤪🤪🤪 PS I see you know the DRC. I have a CS meet-up next week with a CSer who flew aid helicopters there for UNESCO. Small world!

[@warmhearttravels1]

Hello Ian! Thanks a lot for sharing your experience! Yes, that's right, you have to behave yourself all the time when you are a guest on CS 😄 And this is truly a small World 🌎

[@iannicholson7205]

​@@warmhearttravels1❤

[@warmhearttravels1]

@@iannicholson7205 🙂

[@feramiro]

Thanks for your advice, Anna. I'm curious about your past travel life, what problem you encountered, how you solved them etc. I'm young and haven't accumulated much money for travel, but I want to travel earlier to experience different cultures. Do you think travel is so expensive that I have to become an "upper class" member firstly like my parents and friends said to me? How do you calculate your budget? I just confused, you do not have to answer. But if you like to explain it in your future video, I'll be grateful for you.😊

[@warmhearttravels1]

Hello! It is definitely possible to travel and explore the world even if you are not super rich. I have traveled A LOT lately and I spent very little money, because in the cities I traveled to I used Couchsurfing, which is free accommodation, and between cities I hitchhiked, so I didn't spend money on transportation neither. I only spent money on food and some first need things, which is not much if you buy products in markets and cook at home, or I like going to some local small cafes, which are usually cheap. Of course, I could travel because I had some savings from my previous jobs, but my expenses were so low, that I could travel for months. When it comes to bad situations, I really didn't have any, because I always use common sense and try to make sure that I am going to be safe, but I definitely met a lot of hospitable, interesting and kind people on my way) Many people just don't know that it's possible. You can start with little trips to some close cities or countries) I hope that you will start travelling as soon as possible! Good luck! Yeah, I am planning to make more videos with tips about budget traveling in the future 🙂

[@hakannalcaci]

Good luck Anna..

[@warmhearttravels1]

Thank you Hakan)

[@ahmetasatekin891]

1 - What do you think about the surfers who send "stay request" to more than one host simultaneously then choose one of them after they accepted request?🤔 2 - if you write to host by "stay request" "CS is not dating application, not tinder etc" do you think host may feel himself blamed?🤕 Love from Datça and good luck. :) 🤗🙋‍♂

[@warmhearttravels1]

Hello Ahmet!) 1. Well, people do it to increase their chances to find a place to stay, especially if they are new on Couchsurfing and do not know how to write a good couch request. It is also more difficult to find a host for male surfers, at least in Turkey, so people want to use all chances not to stay in the street. I did it a couple of times too when I was really short of time and needed to find a place to stay asap. So, I think it can be reasonable sometimes. The important thing here - if they already agreed with someone and another host also offers to host them, they should thank them, maybe apologize and say that they have already agreed with someone else so that the host doesn't wait for them. But if surfers agree that they will come and then do not show up, it is bad Couchsurfing etiquette, maybe you should write a negative reference to them. Because a host arranges his time so that he can welcome guests in his house, and also he could host someone else if he wasn’t expecting them. People should learn that this is not the right thing to do. 2. Yeah, it can hurt their feelings. I never wrote it to hosts that I chose myself, because if I request to stay with someone I already choose someone I can trust. Only when I posted public trips and hosts wrote me themselves offering to host me, if I saw that they had no references, I wrote about it. Of course, it is not a pleasant thing to hear, but this is reality - there are people with such intentions on Couchsurfing, so this is normal for a solo female traveller to worry about her safety. If people have no bad intentions, they should react normally to that.

[@iannicholson7205]

Ahmet, if you are trying to find a host in the most popular destinations eg New York, London, Paris, Venice you will find it really difficult unless you have a "cut and paste" template ready. Individualize the wording with cues from the hosts' profiles!