YOUR FRIENDS IN BOLIVIA
TECH & INNOVATION
Travel Apps and the Sharing Economy By Nick Ficeto
26
Tufts Observer
September 28, 2015
“H
ola. You’ve got friends in Bolivia.” These words, scrawled across the homepage of Couchsurfing.com in large, bold text, invite you to explore the 1,000,000+ listings worldwide the site has to offer. Couchsurfing isn’t revolutionary so much in its concept as it is in its modern implementation—with 10 million “friends” to connect with and over a million “couches” available to sleep on, the possibilities abound. Airbnb, an online service that lets residents rent out some part of their home to travelers, offers a similarly benevolent message: “Welcome home. Rent unique places to stay from local hosts in 190+ countries.” With either of these services, you can browse in the morning and sleep across the world the following evening. The rising popularity of these websites within the past decade sends a clear message: travelers, particularly those of today’s youth generation, are steering clear of traditional online booking methods like hotel websites in favor of quick, cheap, and accessible alternatives that link them directly to an individual host. With Airbnb, booking is as simple as contacting a host and determining whether a match seems appropriate. Couchsurfing goes a step further, as co-founder Dan Hoffer described the process of creating a full personality profile and matching with other travelers or hosts as being akin to “online dating.” Thus, the thrill of finding a host or residence that uniquely suits your criteria is inherent in this experience. With young travelers seeking lodging to accommodate flexible travel schedules and a sense of youthful spontaneity, sites like Airbnb and Couchsurfing fit the bill. As Palmer Fritschy recounts in a blog for the Spectator Tribune, the benefits of using Airbnb over traditional hostels for students touring Europe on a budget are numerous. The best aspects of a hostel remain intact, as student travelers can meet others with similar ambitions and expose themselves to unfamiliar cultures. Tufts University sophomore Maude Plucker reminisced on her experiences one summer traveling Europe with friends, “We became more immersed living in a residential neighborhood…The owner of our apartment in Barcelona gave us a list of local places where tourists never ICON BY PIGER VIA THE NOUN PROJECT