Free Accommodation Around the World
Nobody likes a freeloader – except maybe other freeloaders. And thanks to the emergence of several similar Websites over the last few years, budget-minded moochers can surf a pool of international addresses to find a free couch (or floor or air mattress) to crash on.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
Doing London over a long weekend? Globalfreeloaders.com (http://www.globalfreeloaders.com) boasts more than 150 members in the city who may be willing to open their doors and their red beans-on-toast lifestyles to you. Tired of hearing the same tired travel stories from your fellow tourists in the jam-packed budget accommodations of Kho San Road in Bangkok? Why not go local and hang with a real Thai family? HospitalityClub.org (http://www.hospitalityclub.org) now claims more than 60,000 members in 185 countries, including Greenland, not to mention Thailand (with more than 100 members).�¯�¿�½
But this relatively new concept in budget travel is not just about avoiding hotel bills. As one HospitalityClub.org member and active volunteer put it, “I really love to receive people and take time to make them discover places I like.”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
And that’s the main idea behind these clubs: They foster cultural exchange, throwing in a free place to crash for their members. Registration is free, and the only caveat to membership is that everyone should be willing to give as well as take. In other words, couch bums may someday be hosts – though this prerequisite is not necessarily strongly enforced.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
The big three in this growing movement are Globalfreeloaders.com, HospitalityClub.org and Couchsurfing.com (http://www.couchsurfing.com). Of the trio, only Globalfreeloaders.com is insistent that its members play the role of both host and guest. Couchsurfing.com, for example, says on its FAQs page that couchsurfers can “completely make your couch unavailable.” HospitalityClub.org also says its members are under no obligation to host, but what counts is “the will to meet and help other people from time to time.”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
HospitalityClub.org is reputedly the largest of the online accommodation services, with 6,600 registered in the U.S. alone. There is even a handful who claims residence in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the other sites may be smaller – Couchsurfing.com is home to more than 15,000 people in some 3,600 cities around the world – they are just as effective. One Londoner, for example, has his own Website linked to Globalfreeloaders.com and claims to have hosted more than 190 members.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
Each Website is different. Globalfreeloaders.com is pretty no-frills, and it’s easy and quick to set up an account. On the other hand, Couchsurfing.com and HospitalityClub.org invite members to create extensive bios, upload pictures of themselves and ramble on about personal philosophies and favorite music. These latter two also host chat rooms and feature media links for journalists to further promote themselves, as well as tout long lists of personal testimonials. Couchsurfing.com even sells a whole line of logo gear, from T-shirts to coffee mugs to thongs.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
The two biggest questions are probably: Is it safe? And does it really work?�¯�¿�½
Each website has its own protocols in place for safety. All of them, for example, have links to check references and allow hosts to make the first move on whether or not to contact a potential houseguest. For instance, Couchsurfing.com’s safety system is multi-layered. Members can vouch for one another (not unlike Ebay’s feedback system), as well as sign up to be verified through their credit card. All the Websites recommend checking a houseguest’s passports or I.D.s before letting him or her through the door.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
Speaking from personal experience as both guest and host, these Websites really work. Our first experience was in London, where even a hostel dorm bed can set you back about $20. We had used Globalfreeloaders.com and were able to send multiple messages to prospective hosts, who offered brief descriptions of the accommodations they could offer, from a pull-out couch to a bedroom en suite. After a week or so we got a response from a young medical student living in South London, just a few blocks off a Tube stop (slang for the London underground metro). We exchanged a couple of emails across the Atlantic, and worked out an arrival date and time to meet.�¯�¿�½
We arrived in London on a surprisingly sunny but chilly winter morning in January, spent some time in the center of the city, and eventually headed to the southern suburbs to meet our host. Admittedly, we were a little nervous. Would she be there? Would she be an ax murderer?�¯�¿�½
Our fears dissipated as we exited the Tube into a vibrant London neighborhood, with few, if any, tourists in sight. Cheap curry shops, emitting spicy smells of chicken simmering in cinnamon-red and pine-green sauces, clustered at every corner. After just a short trek through the hustle and bustle, we were in a quiet cul-de-sac and easily found our host’s house, a modest brick home, skinny but tall. Our host, Katherine, a redhead with a heart-shaped face and big smile, greeted us warmly, apologized that she was too busy to give us much of a tour of the house, showed us around quickly, tossed us the keys and then headed out, leaving the whole place to us. We had arrived in London.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
In the next few days we saw little of Katherine because of her work schedule, but on Saturday morning, the day we were leaving for Dublin, she whipped up a huge breakfast (including red beans on toast) for us and some of her friends, and we had a grand time swapping travel tales. Not only had we saved a ton of cash in the last several days (the British pound was nearly double the U.S. dollar at the time), we had made some new friends and found a place to stay out of the mainstream maelstrom of tourists.�¯�¿�½
In Dublin, our hosts turned out to be an ex-pat American family living in a 19th century Victorian home in the middle of embassy row. Our room, essentially the entire ground floor of their house, was nicer than any hotel we had ever stayed in.
We’ve also played host to travelers via Couchsurfing.com. One guest (and now a good friend), Ben, is a free-spirit who makes his way across the world hitchhiking. He’s caught rides in Europe, Asia, South America and even that most scary place – the United States. Ben says he’s never had any problems while hitchhiking or as a guest through any of the Websites. “The thing I really like about the clubs is that they’re bringing back our trust in human beings,” he said.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
A few points of guest etiquette: You’re only getting a free place to stay; freeloading is not a free license to raid your host’s refrigerator. Try to be unobtrusive and helpful, if possible: Do the dishes or cook a meal (Ben can throw together a mean tofu chocolate cream pie that’s as smooth as velvet). Don’t overstay your welcome: Most hosts will specify how long they are willing to allow you to stay. Besides, you don’t want to hang around too long: There’s a world of couches out there to explore.
