Ask HN: a better couchsurfing platform?

[kfk]

I moved recently in Belgium from Germany. I started using cousurfing (couchsurfing.com) to host people and meet couchsurfers because I live in a small town and it is refreshing to meet with this type of people.

Now, the good:

1. The community is amazing. I just love meeting and talking with these people

2. It gives you the opportunity to find buddies for your trips/visits

3. You build a worldwide net of friends

The bad:

1. The website experience is horrible. The site is down at least daily and it is non responsive most of the time

2. The tools given to screen people are good, but they should be improved. For example, I hosted a guy that left me no reference, this shouldn't happen

3. The community is very young (22-23 ish). Which I think is due to how the community is managed more than "couchsurfing is for young people only".

I start to think that some of this destroying is being done on purpose and that couchsurfing.com will die a slow death. This is a shame, it's a 5M people community. With amazing goals and values, I can't believe we are letting this go to waste.

I propose:

To start the discussion on a better platform (starting from which framework/language/DB to use). This is truly now just a need, a strong need, I have and I see. I am not planning on money, the first driver is really making the world slightly better. But, if you prefer money, I believe these users WANT to pay something for such a service (like ~USD 10 per year), so make your numbers.

My email is in my profile. If you are interested, just drop me a message.

#Edits below (based on comments)

1. Why not Airbnb?

I will tell you why I don't use Airbnb. First, I am hosting people because I enjoy it, because we go out for a drink or, if I am too busy, we have a talk about travelling/world/dreams. Second, because I only offer a bed on the floor, nothing else. With Airbnb the burden for the hosts is bigger (like offering towels, sheets, etc.). Finally, Airbnb is no community: you don't always meet your host; you can't post in their website to find people for a beer; etc.

[mryan]

> To start the discussion on a better platform (starting from which framework/language/DB to use)

The tech stack is probably one of the last items that should be discussed. Communities do not die because of the tech stack they use, but because of problems at higher levels.

IMHO a good starting point would be to identify features/processes that will ensure your new community does not suffer from the same problems you have identified with couchsurfing.com.

[m_rcin → mryan]

That's right, although I think good UX is the main reason why CS got more popular than HC (hospitalityclub.org).

I joined CS several years ago when travelling across the U.S. At that time CS was a bit more popular in the States, but HC had more users overall, especially in Europe.

HC website was terrible with ads everywhere. There was a great community there and it's not website experience that matters, but many HC-ers first started using both HC and CS, and then tended to use HC less and less often. Although I've heard from a few people that while HC website sucks they had better experience with guests from HC than from CS.

Then a group of volunteers tried to rewrite HC website, but they got conflicted with the owner and started BW (bewelcome.org). I don't know what's the state today.

[kfk → mryan]

I agree, but:

1. I wanted to make sure I am not just throwing an idea in the wind

2. The problem with couchsurfing now is mainly the poor website experience. I know this does not depend on the tech stack, but it's good to keep this in mind

As "features", I think those of couchsurfing are OK to start. Later on I think few things could be added:

1. jobs on the style of WWOOF and Work Away

2. Reviews, itineraries. Like I have an entire kayak itinerary for 2 rivers and I could put it in there or like where you can rent a kayak for a long trip, etc.

3. Guides. Like free tour guides, city walks, etc.

[PLejeck → kfk]

Can't something like Airbnb already fill this role? I don't know much about couchsurfing in all honesty.

[kfk → PLejeck]

I edited my post to answer your question.

[PLejeck → mryan]

To be fair, the tech stack can break a service (though it can't make it) - whether by slowing down iteration or crashing constantly. Putting out fires is not a positive thing.

[mryan → PLejeck]

I completely agree, and I like the way you phrase this: It can break it, but not make it.

[cesidio]

I also loved couchsurfing (http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/cesidio) and wanted to fix couchsurfing creating another product, but I struggle to create interest around it and a viable business model...

http://beta.minstrels.com/

any help or advices would be very helpful. It is built in ruby on rails and uses mongodb as database and deployed on heroku. it is just a prototype at the moment, a working prototype but with fake data in it.

The product is different from couchsurfing in the following things:

1) there are stories that form a user 'travel resume' that help users host real travelers and not just people wanting to get hosted for free

2) there is the concept of 'incentives' so a traveler can increase the chances of being hosted by providing something useful/entertaining to the potential host (small present, cooking a meal, sharing some knowledge on something)

3) there are 2 types of meetings: open meetings (where everyone can participate), close meetings (organizer can approve requests to participate)

[jlengrand]

Most of the couchsurfers I know have switched partially or fully to http://www.bewelcome.org/.

Hope this helps :)

[mjdn → jlengrand]

I was quite active on CS and also joined bewelcome. Bewelcome never seemed to gain the critical mass necessary though - this would be a difficult problem for any new platform.

OP why not approach CS HQ.now that it's been funded maybe you could pitch the idea.

[jlengrand → mjdn]

Kinda agree with that. Still, it is a sign that creating another CS platform can be difficult, because of the fact that people have to move to a new service.

The big problem of CS currently is that they have done a lot to increase the number of CSers in the community (for $$ reasons). This means that a lot of people subscribers that do not (IMHO) share the same spirit as older members. This is even the reason why bewelcome was created, as far as I know.

[meerita]

This topic has an easy answer: if you think they need it, just prove it by doing an MVP and leaning the project.

Make a homepage, get some sign ups, see if this is worth.