4 ms·
A friend of mine, she used to travel a lot, used it as a dating app. She said better as Tinder, more transparency and in the worst case still a comfy couch. Sh
by franze 5y ago
A friend of mine, she used to travel a lot, used it as a dating app.
She said better as Tinder, more transparency and in the worst case still a comfy couch. She met her husband via it.
- inglor_cz 5y agoI can definitely see the mechanism. On Tinder, people lie about themselves to make themselves more attractive. Couchsurfing info will likely be more honest.
- blunte 5y agoOne of my hosts did the same. She was more casual about it. But I also heard from people how they hated when guests would show up and start acting like it was for dating. So many profiles would explicitly state that they were not looking for dates.
- k__ 5y agoAh, so this really worked? What was the social contract here?
- blunte 5y agoI think hosts learned to post very clearly if they were not looking for dates. That way potential guests would not misunderstand acceptance (for a place to stay) as also being a potential for romance. I saw plenty of host profiles that were very clear on their disinterest in romance. I did not see any profiles that said "looking for dates", as I'm sure that would not have worked out well... imagine the emailed photos they would receive... But in her case, she was super alpha female (gay), and I _think_ she had an eye for people who would be receptive to that. But she was also very cool, so I'm sure if she didn't get the right vibe she wouldn't push something that would become awkward. From my background, I wouldn't have advised single women to host men. But two of the people who hosted me were single women, so I guess they were just more comfortable (or perhaps Swiss people are less accustomed to bad behaviors?
- purple_ferret 5y ago>more transparency Really...I always heard it was terrible for guys because people only wanted female guests, women because it probably meant they weren't interested in sex, men because it meant maybe they might get laid. The possibility of romance never really seemed like a transparent implication to me.
- poorjohnmacafee 5y agoWell "dating app" is a bit of a euphemism here for no strings attached sexual encounters since will be leaving soon, isn't it? Met guys who hosted primarily just for "easy hook ups", and am sure many woman enjoyed it for same reason. Nature of travel for most 20-somethings anyways.
- xapata 5y agoThat's what ruined it for me. Some time after AirBnB started, no one wanted to host my girlfriend and me as a pair. It seemed like all the people who just wanted to host travelers left for AirBnB and only the hookup-seekers remained.
- kaybe 5y agoAs a woman often travelling alone, it was ruined around that time for me too. Things started to feel very much unsafe where it was fine before.
- dangom 5y agoAs someone who used to host, I didn't like hosting couples because many a times they were absolutely not interested in having a "CouchSurfing experience", only looking for a free place to sleep. Also, since reviews were the currency for acceptance, it was hard to trust someone who just mentions their partner in passing, without linking to any profile. Same applied to people willing to bring friends along. Both as a host and a surfer, I've always found solo experiences the best. Never had any hook-ups nor intended to, though I know many people who had.
- xapata 5y agoYes, but that doesn't apply in my case. Both of us had plenty of recommendations independently. I'm pretty sure we would link to each other's profiles. More to the point, we didn't have trouble finding hosts as a pair for at least a year or two.