Benjamin Pölz

Marco Garcia

Overview

General

• History

• Organisation

• Statistics

Security Aspects

• Verification

• References

• Vouching

Own Experience

• Situation

• Progress

DATUM!!! 2English for Engineers

General

• History

– First idea in 2000 by Casey Fenton

– Find a cheap way to stay in Iceland

– Public lauch in January 2004

– Slow growth first two years

– 2006: database loss and relaunch

DATUM!!! 3English for Engineers

General

• Organisation

– Mission statement: „Participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time“

– non-for-profit organisation situated in New Hampshire

– Currently the largest hospitality exchange network

DATUM!!! 4English for Engineers

General

• Acutal Statistics (27th of October 2009)

– More than 1.4Mio. Participants from

– 231 countries

– 30% of couches permanent available + 17% maybe

– Most of the surfers between 18 and 30 years

– http://www.couchsurfing.com/statistics.html

DATUM!!! 5English for Engineers

General

• Where are these CouchSurfers?

DATUM!!! 6English for Engineers

Overview

General

• History

• Organisation

• Statistics

Security Aspects

• Verification

• References

• Vouching

Own Experience

• Situation

• Progress

DATUM!!! 7English for Engineers

Security Aspects

• Verification:

Aim: confirm identity & physical location

How?:

Sending money(~20$) to couchsurfing.org by credit card

Couchsurfing.org verifies your identity

=>is mentioned on your personal page

DATUM!!! 8English for Engineers

Security Aspects

• References:

about host / by host

good indicator

can‘t be manipulated by the member

DATUM!!! 9English for Engineers

Security Aspects

• „Vouching“: A way to declare your trust in other members

• How it works:

Get vouched for 3 times

Now you can vouche yourself

Important: You must know each other in the real world!

• Significance:

Be serious!

Better than references

DATUM!!! 10English for Engineers

Overview

General

• History

• Organisation

• Statistics

Security Aspects

• Verification

• References

• Vouching

Own Experience

• Situation

• Progress

DATUM!!! 11English for Engineers

Own Experience

• Situation

– My sister came to Europe to backpack for the summer.

– She planned to stay for 6 weeks

– She had budgeted €40,- per night

– Decided to give couch surfing a try…

DATUM!!! 12English for Engineers

Own Experience

Ended up staying for 12 weeks!!

DATUM!!! 13English for Engineers

Own Experience

• Situation

– After hearing how great her experience was I decided to tag along in Italy

– It was crazy!!

– The guy was hosting about 19 people in his living room.

DATUM!!! 14English for Engineers

Own Experience

• Situation

– My girlfriend is an active member of the community in Graz.

– They all know each other, and if someone can’t host someone, he gives the person the handy number of someone who can.

– They meet each week.

DATUM!!! 15English for Engineers

That‘s it!

Thanks for your attention!

Start asking and Discussing!

DATUM!!! 16English for Engineers

Discussion Topics

Would YOU do it??

DATUM!!! 17English for Engineers

Discussion Topics

What are the dangers involved?

DATUM!!! 18English for Engineers

Discussion Topics

Leave a stranger in your home??

DATUM!!! 19English for Engineers

Discussion Topics

Sleep in a strangers home??

DATUM!!! 20English for Engineers

Discussion Topics

Is it really free? -

Nothing is for free....

DATUM!!! 21English for Engineers

Discussion Topics

If money would not be an issue would you still do it??

DATUM!!! 22English for Engineers

Discussion Topics

Nightlife as a couch surfer??

DATUM!!! 23English for Engineers