A brief history of hospitality exchange networks

Hospitality exchange networks have been around for a while.

Non-profit networks

• Servas is the oldest hospitality exchange organization. Setup in 1948 by Bob Luitweiler, it was originally called 'PeaceBuilders'. read more - Servas
• Hospex was the first Internet based hospitality club, established back in 1992. Not active anymore.
• BeWelcome was started in 2007. read more
• Global Free Loaders
• Trustroots.org, started in Dec 2014. Non-profit and open source.

Commercial general networks

• CouchSurfing was started by Casey Fenton in 2003 and is currently the largest hospitality exchange network. Also the term "couch surf" has been around for decades, it used to mean staying on friends' couches. CouchSurfing is credited with changing the meaning to include international hospitality exchange. read more
• Hospitality Club is the successor to Hospex and Travelhoo, founded in 2000 by Veit Kühne and grown after merging with the Hitch Hikers Database, a global site based in Lithuania which originally had a dispute with Veit who copied parts of their website. read more - Hospitality Club
• BeLodged
• Stay 4 Free
• Tripping
• Horizon [1] - Hospitality Exchange within your own networks (friends, friends of friends, and people in your communities)

Specialized networks

• Dachgeber (a still paper based, mostly german network for cyclists)
• Gig Swap
• Warm Showers (hospitality network for cyclists)
• Organic Farming^wiki
• HelpX.net (help exchange network)
• Workaway (work in exchange for hospitality)
• Volunteersbase (non-profit work exchange for hospitality)

References

• More about hospitality networks.
• Graham, G. Scott (2015). Work Exchange: A Handbook for Hosts (Kindle ed.). Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Academic research about Hospitality Exchange

Organisational critique

• on CouchSurfing

Comparison lists

• Comparison table by BeWelcome
• Comparison table by Trustroots Foundation

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