Hospitality exchange service#BeWelcome
{{short description|Social networking services where hosts do not receive payments}}
{{Homestay service}}
{{Utopia}}
Hospitality exchange services (hospitality exchange platforms, hospitality exchange networks or HospEx) are social networking services used for accommodation of travellers, where hosts do not receive payments.{{cite book |last1=Ikkala |first1=Tapio |last2=Lampinen |first2=Airi |title=Proceedings of the companion publication of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing |chapter=Defining the price of hospitality |series=CSCW Companion '14 |date=15 February 2014 |pages=173–176 |doi=10.1145/2556420.2556506 |chapter-url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2556420.2556506 |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery| isbn=9781450325417 |s2cid=39491376 }}{{cite thesis |degree=Graduate |last1=Spitz |first1=Tara |title=The commodification of hospitality An analysis of tourism encounters between interculturality and difference in regard to Turkish couchsurfing experiences |url=http://academicrepository.khas.edu.tr/xmlui/handle/20.500.12469/2473 |publisher=Kadir Has University |date=2017 }}{{cite thesis |degree=Masters |last1=Håvardsholm |first1=Angelica Kolstad |title=How does gender influence couchsurfers behaviour intentions based on trust and perceived risk? |date=June 2016 |url=https://uis.brage.unit.no/uis-xmlui/handle/11250/2413810 |hdl=11250/2413810 |hdl-access=free |publisher=Universitetet i Stavanger}}{{cite journal |last1=Ronzhyn |first1=Alexander |title=Online identity: constructing interpersonal trust and openness through participating in hospitality social networks |journal=The Journal of Education, Culture, and Society |year=2020 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=47–56 |doi=10.15503/jecs20131.47.56 |s2cid=213038501 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=130794 |issn=2081-1640|doi-access=free }} The relationships on hospitality exchange services are shaped by altruism{{cite journal |last1=Rosen |first1=Devan |last2=Lafontaine |first2=Pascale Roy |last3=Hendrickson |first3=Blake |title=CouchSurfing: Belonging and trust in a globally cooperative online social network |journal=New Media & Society |date=1 September 2011 |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=981–998 |doi=10.1177/1461444810390341 |s2cid=14552636 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444810390341 |issn=1461-4448|url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |title=Value co-creation in Couchsurfing - the Indonesian host perspective |website=www.cabdirect.org |date=2020 |url=https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20203531291 }} and are related to the cyber-utopianism on the Web in its beginnings and to utopia in general.{{cite thesis |degree=Masters |last1=Latja |first1=Piia |title=Creative Travel - Study of Tourism from a socio-cultural point of view - The Case of CouchSurfing |url=https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/81953 |publisher=University of Tampere |date=2010}}
On HospEx, members typically create public profiles that describe themselves and their travel plans, and then searching for potential hosts or guests based on various criteria such as location, interests, and availability.{{cite book |last1=Lampinen |first1=Airi M I |title=Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing |chapter=Account sharing in the context of networked hospitality exchange |date=15 February 2014 |pages=499–504 |doi=10.1145/2531602.2531665 |chapter-url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2531602.2531665 |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|isbn=9781450325400 |s2cid=20255816 }} Travelers connect with local hosts who are willing to offer free accommodation, meals, and/or other forms of hospitality during their trip. The concept of hospitality exchange has been around for a long time, with informal networks of travelers and hosts existing for decades. However, the advent of the internet and social media has made it much easier to connect with people from all over the world, and hospitality exchange networks have become increasingly popular as a way for people to avoid commercial tourism and experience local cultures in a more authentic way.{{cite journal |last1=Molz |first1=Jennie Germann |title=CouchSurfing and network hospitality: 'It's not just about the furniture' |journal=Hospitality & Society |date=16 February 2012 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=215–225 |doi=10.1386/hosp.1.3.215_2 |url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/hosp.1.3.215_2 |language=en |issn=2042-7913|url-access=subscription }} These networks are usually non-profit, registered under .org-domains, built up by volunteers and use open-source software.{{cite journal |last1=Schöpf |first1=Simon |title=The Commodification of the Couch: A Dialectical Analysis of Hospitality Exchange Platforms |journal=TripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society |date=25 January 2015 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=11–34 |doi=10.31269/triplec.v13i1.480 |url=https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/triplec/article/view/480 |language=en |issn=1726-670X|doi-access=free }}
| style="margin: 0 auto;"
| File:Hospitalityclub Usercount log latest.png in the years 2000 to 2006.|200px]] | File:Brussels118.jpg in 2008|200px]] | File:A berlin1.jpg during the Berlin Beach Camp (an annual gathering of all the Hospex communities) in 2008.|200px]] | File:Couch Surfing meet.jpg meeting in 2009|200px]] |
Uniqueness
The biggest HospEx platform in 2012, "CouchSurfing appears to fulfil the original utopian promise of the Internet to unite strangers across geographical and cultural divides and to form a global community".{{cite book |last1=Molz |first1=Jennie Germann |title=Travel Connections: Tourism, Technology, and Togetherness in a Mobile World |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-68285-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AR3KsP7V8SgC |access-date=26 June 2021 |language=en}}
CouchSurfing used utopian rhetoric of "better world," "sharing cultures," and of much better access to global flows and networks of all sorts.{{cite book |last1=Picard |first1=David |last2=Buchberger |first2=Sonja |title=Couchsurfing Cosmopolitanisms: Can Tourism Make a Better World? |date=2014-03-31 |publisher=transcript Verlag |isbn=978-3-8394-2255-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ob_JBAAAQBAJ |access-date=26 June 2021 |language=en}} It was featured as a means to achieve a cosmopolitan utopia.{{cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=De-Jung |title=Couchsurfing: Performing the travel style through hospitality exchange |journal=Tourist Studies |date=March 2018 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=105–122 |doi=10.1177/1468797617710597 |pmid=30595668 |language=en |issn=1468-7976|pmc=6294175 }} Commodification of CouchSurfing terminated "the existence of a project run as a flourishing commons, a cyber-utopian dream come true; an example of genuine exchange outside and free from the dominant logic of capital, a space highlighting cultural instead of monetary values, understanding instead of commerce. This space still exists, but instead of outside, now within the market." After CouchSurfing became a for-profit corporation in 2011, some members urged others to join BeWelcome.{{cite news |title=A rough ride to profit for CouchSurfing |url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/A-rough-ride-to-profit-for-CouchSurfing-5920089.php |work=sfgate.com |date=26 November 2014}}{{cite news |title= Money causes schism in sharing economy |url=https://euobserver.com/business/137557 |work=sgpress.ru |date=22 May 2019}}{{cite news |title=Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com |url=https://www.inputmag.com/features/rise-and-ruin-of-couchsurfing |work=nputmag.com |date=15 November 2021}} Many volunteers, who had become brand ambassadors of CouchSurfing, left to BeWelcome and other non-profit platforms because of the change in legal status and insufficient management transparency.{{cite news |title=Managing a non-profit hospitality platform conversion: The case of Couchsurfing.com |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211973619300297 |work=Tourism Management Perspectives. 30: 138–146. 2019-04-01. |date=2019}}
Non-profit hospitality exchange services have offered scientists access to their anonymized data for publication of research on trust and cooperation. Before becoming for-profit, CouchSurfing offered four research teams access to its social networking data.{{cite journal |last1=Victor |first1=Patricia |last2=Cornelis |first2=Chris |last3=De Cock |first3=Martine |last4=Herrera-Viedma |first4=Enrique |title=Bilattice-based aggregation operators for gradual trust and distrust |journal=World Scientific Proceedings Series on Computer Engineering and Information Science |date=2010 |pages=505–510 |doi=10.1142/9789814324700_0075 |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/1108551 |publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-4324-69-4 |s2cid=5748283 }}{{cite report |last1=Dandekar |first1=Pranav |title=Analysis & Generative Model for Trust Networks |url=https://snap.stanford.edu/class/cs224w-2010/proj2009/final_report_Dandekar.pdf |work=Stanford Network Analysis Project |publisher=Stanford University}}{{cite journal |last1=Overgoor |first1=Jan |last2=Wulczyn |first2=Ellery |last3=Potts |first3=Christopher |title=Trust Propagation with Mixed-Effects Models |journal=Sixth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media |url=https://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM12/paper/viewPaper/4627 |date=20 May 2012}}{{cite book |last1=Lauterbach |first1=Debra |last2=Truong |first2=Hung |last3=Shah |first3=Tanuj |last4=Adamic |first4=Lada |title=2009 International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering |chapter=Surfing a Web of Trust: Reputation and Reciprocity on CouchSurfing.com |date=August 2009 |volume=4 |pages=346–353 |doi=10.1109/CSE.2009.345 |isbn=978-1-4244-5334-4 |s2cid=12869279 }} In 2015, non-profit hospitality exchange services Bewelcome and Warm Showers also provided their data for public research.{{cite book |last1=Tagiew |first1=Rustam |last2=Ignatov |first2=Dmitry. I |last3=Delhibabu |first3=Radhakrishnan |title=2015 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshop (ICDMW) |chapter=Hospitality Exchange Services as a Source of Spatial and Social Data? |date=2015 |pages=1125–1130 |doi=10.1109/ICDMW.2015.239 |isbn=978-1-4673-8493-3 |s2cid=8196598}}