TRAVEL: Where to Stay When Traveling

When you think about where to stay when traveling what is the first thing that comes to mind?

...

...

Hotel

Hotels are the go to place to stay when traveling for work or fun. However, there is another option that can just as affordable and give you more bang for your buck, home hosting.

Let's look at one with an unusual name; couch surfing. Yup, I said it. Sounds weird right?

However at www.couchsurfing.com you can find a place to stay at someone's home. Now, this doesn't mean you are going to sleep on a sofa. Many hosts have bedrooms that they are renting out for people to say in.

Now, I signed up for this website to take a look. I clicked Rome to see what was available. I saw a huge list of men....ten straight pages of men and some of those pictures...well it looked more like a dating website.

London, England wasn't as bad. It had a nice mix of men and woman.

Los Angles first two pages in not terrible but then men, men, and men. Now mind you I am going through these cities without filters, still a little disconcerting when you see how many of the hosts right off the back are male, especially if you are a woman traveling alone.

Now you can read review about the host and people's stay and the website even saids to review the person first and trust your instincts when going to stay with someone you don't.

Another thing I noticed about this website is to verify your account you have to pay and of course you get a few extra features.

So now I tried a filtered search in Orlando, Florida. I selected verified account, with references, a female host, and a private room. I got two results. A host profile tells you about the person hosting you, provides photos they have decided to upload, references, places to visit, and reviews. I did notice there are no prices. This means you have to message each host you are interested in staying with.  I also noticed one host had pictures of her home, the other did not, just pictures of herself. Again has a dating site feel. Note, that couchsurfing.com does not rent out the entire home/apartment, at least there isn't a filter for it.

Take a look around and see if this is your style or not. I am sure couchsurfing.com works for a lot of people and you could probably find a fun place to stay.

Couchsurfing offers the following in their filters:

Let's look at another one, www.airbnb.com, which I have personally use and love. Great thing, it's 100% free. This website is similar to couchsurfing.com.

However you will get a different feel from this website. Main photos for each host is the home you will be staying in. There can be from 1 to 10 photos or more. There are verified accounts, reviews, and prices. You can stay a single night or even long term for international students. At Airbnb you can rent an entire home/apartment, meaning your host will not be there.

If you like the place you can click on the host button and take a look at who is renting out the space. There will be a profile about the person, a photo and contact information.

I have personally use this website and hosts are a range from singles to family. You cannot however filter for a female or male host but with a wide variety you'll probably won't be limited.

Airbnb's filters are as followed.

Now www.tripping.com is very similar to Airbnb and even has a similar layout however once you see a house that grabs your attention when you click it you get redirected to another website.

It's a little overwhelming at first but to have access to HomeAway, VRBO, FlipKey, Housetrip, Homestay, Roomorama, Wimdu, ZenRentals, Bedycasa, WayToStay, and more from one website meaning you will have more options and less searching around is definitely a plus.

Now after clicking a few houses to view and being sent to different websites, I noticed not all the other hosting websites offer information about the host, example is Perfect Places. Overall not terrible it a little overwhelming as you are trying to figure out a variety of website styles all at once. 

Tripping.com filters look like this.

So next time you are going to travel whether is be for business or vacation take a look at these hosting options. You could find a real gem that will make your trip so much better.