Hospitality club - sleep for free everywhere

Hospitality club (HC) is an online community of people who love helping other travellers out in many different ways. This website is the impoverished, but more idealist brother of Couchsurfing (as mentioned earlier in this blog).

The core function of the website is to give other travellers a place to rest their weary heads after long travels through strange countries.

People register on the website and after they are approved can both go to stay at other people's houses and have people stay at their house.

This is very similar - and older - than the popular Couchsurfing.

The difference between Couchsurfing and HC is that HC is less commercialised and is very basic. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Ideologically, HC is more pure than Couchsurfing because it stays true to its core function as a hospitality website, wheras Couchsurfing is more aimed towards events.

The downside is that the website was designed by an amateur webmaster many years ago and it has not been upgraded since. Sometimes this means the website is slow or does not work. It is also very unattractive and the search function is extremely limited.

What it does do better than Couchsurfing is the forum where people can talk to eachother about almost anything. Of course this does mean a meeting of the minds.

Although the membership base is getting smaller (due to website dilemmas) it is still and excellent community full of like-minded people who just want to help a brother out.

The way to use the website is simple - you register, contact members and stay at their house for free! There is no membership fee, there is no obligation for you to reciprocate if you don't have the time/facilities/will.

This will save you a lot of money.

Couchsurfing - best money saver ever (save 10< euros daily)

Couchsurfing (CS) is one of the travel world's great inventions. It is a hospitality exchange site meaning that you join the community and people exchange their sleeping space for the pleasure of your company.

As the name suggests, guests using CS often end up sleeping on the couch, but for those of us with red blood, not blue, that isn't a problem.

Once you are registered, this is how the CS experience goes.
1) Search the city of choice
2) Select one of the names that pop up
3) Read their profile
4) Send a message asking for hosting
5) Get a positive reply and go to their house
6) Stay at their house, chat, eat together, do things together
7) Leave with hugs and well wishes have had a great time

For the skeptics out there - yes this is actually free. Yes people really do believe in doing things without needing the exchange of money.

If you are one of those people so afflicted that you need to give something back, you may give your host a gift, buy them some food, cook them a meal (my favourite) or something else nice. However, it is against the rules for the host to ask for anything material.

Hosts have different rules - you might have to sleep on the couch, you might sleep on the floor, you may have to wash dishes, you might be required to spend time with the host (people want to get to know your culture) and many more rules. Some hosts have no rules at all. This is the beauty of CS - there are no set rules about hosting and you do whatever you feel like.

The website is the best hospitality exchange website out there (there are many, all of which I have tried). CS has the best security measures in place and it is the easiest website to use. It can be integrated with Facebook and other sites.

People from any walk of life can participate. I have been hosted by students, by rich people, by young people and by old people in their 60s. All of it has been a blast.

If you are skeptical, then just try it - the only thing you have to lose is your skeptopride. Yes I just made that word up. What you will gain however is a brilliant insight.

I personally rate the discovery of CS and other hospitality sites as the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

Give it a try. If you don't, you are REALLY losing out.

www.couchsurfing.org