airbnb’s were never great. couchsurfing was. airbnb always was a way to save on taxes for renting out actual bed&breakfast rooms. it was clear from the start, that airbnb led to empty houses, that people couldn’t afford the horrendous prices and had to move out. that big landlords would rent out individual rooms for double their worth…
i don’t think the airbnb business model was ever “great” except for landlords
No, couchsurfing killed themselves when they became a corporation and started trying to monetize. They were a non-profit, but changed to a class B corp. Fuzzy on the details there, but it was the beginning of the end. I was a lonf time couchsurfer, had a lot of great times thanks to them, but it started feeling noticeably different after the change and I stopped using it.
no unfortunately, couchsurfing changed their webstie model, made a paywall to even access old profiles, held people hostage. i couldn’t even login without paying money, so i never logged in.
a shame.
I disagree, I made my way across plenty of my country with some very nice options for a room. It might not have ever been great in NYC but in less busy areas it was nice to have options and availability outside of dated BnBs and hotels especially where neither of those existed.
airbnb’s were never great. couchsurfing was. airbnb always was a way to save on taxes for renting out actual bed&breakfast rooms. it was clear from the start, that airbnb led to empty houses, that people couldn’t afford the horrendous prices and had to move out. that big landlords would rent out individual rooms for double their worth… i don’t think the airbnb business model was ever “great” except for landlords
You beat me to it. Couchsurfing had a website long before airbnb it just wasnt as popular because it wasnt about making money.
Then people forgot it existed.
No, couchsurfing killed themselves when they became a corporation and started trying to monetize. They were a non-profit, but changed to a class B corp. Fuzzy on the details there, but it was the beginning of the end. I was a lonf time couchsurfer, had a lot of great times thanks to them, but it started feeling noticeably different after the change and I stopped using it.
no unfortunately, couchsurfing changed their webstie model, made a paywall to even access old profiles, held people hostage. i couldn’t even login without paying money, so i never logged in. a shame.
I disagree, I made my way across plenty of my country with some very nice options for a room. It might not have ever been great in NYC but in less busy areas it was nice to have options and availability outside of dated BnBs and hotels especially where neither of those existed.