Long time ago, I wrote about CouchSurfing (hereafter CS) through an article “save money when traveling”. The CS consists of 2 parts: hosts who are open to having a guest, and guests who request to at host’s place, and it’s free. There is a reference section from both side, which keeps accountability (if you do something bad, you will be out from CS)
In the above mentioned entry, I mainly talked about being a guest of CS. This time, I would like to talk about the other side of this system: host side.
Some people think hosting someone for free is out of mind, and I didn’t see the point of doing so either. But I benefited one time as a guest in the U.S., so 3 months ago, I decided to change my profile by making it “Open to host” to see how it goes, and I am getting requests almost everyday in this touristic season in Mongolia.
From my experience, here are 5 reasons to host couch surfers.
1. Get to know people from other countries
I think this one is the biggest reason people host. You meet people from different countries and learn new culture by hosting them.
You also get to learn language by chance (I could talk to a nice French couple I hosted for 1 week).
Of course, there is no guarantee to meet great people all the time, but you have a right to decline by seeing their profile.
2. Get to know interesting traveling story
You can also hear interesting traveling stories from your guest, which makes you feel like you are actually there, while being in a same place (like in my case).
3. Get to have motivation to visit guests or travel where they were
Having guest might motivate you to visit the guests in the future. For example, I feel like going where the French couple lives (not so touristic so I would not have thought had I not met them). They might host you if the schedule matches (You don’t feel much guilty since you kind of helped them in the first place). Also, the places your guests visited might be another option to travel.
4. Get to know about where you are
People come to the touristic seasons. Through CS, I learned some new touristic activities (they usually inform their schedule when they request to host). Without CS, I wouldn’t have known those.
5. Sense of helping
By helping, they will thank you, which makes you feel good. I think this is something universal and how helping others works.
This time, I learned that:
Guest exists thanks to hosts (and vice versa), and it can be a win-win relationship, which is why something like Couchsurfing exists and is so popular.