Couchsurfing Reviews 

Great people with good intentions and very open minded and friendly attitude , with a love of travel and new experiences where ever they are at

I can confirm the sneaky verification charges which seems like a sc7m. At no point through the 'vetification' the amount charges is clearly stated.
Luckily I paid through Payal and recovered the charge. Cancelled the subscription straight away!
Couchsurfing, if you are reading this hope you are ashamed of treating potential hosts with complete contempt. I wrote to Paypal and asked why they allow Couchsurfing to collect such charges.

Buyer beware! Couchsurfing used to be run as a free playform. Now a subscription service which is low cost. Where they screw people is with their wording and with their "verification of payment method". You would think verifying your payment method is just a means of ensuring your payment matches your information...name address etc. Nope. They charge you $80 for it and you literally get nothing in return for that. It's not clear when you do it that it's going to cost you. And when you ask for a refund they say it was a financial contribution therefore can't be refunded. Your membership is also a financial contribution, so if they keep auto billing you because you forget, or you decide you are unhappy with the site or service, you have no recourse because they word it as a financial contribution. It's absolutely predatory as a corporation. If they do this to you please make an official complaint to better business bureau, the FTC and your credit card company or PayPal if you paid through them.

Victim of sexual assault on Couchsurfing has their profile on Couchsurfing.com removed.

To whom it may concern,

I have been the victim of sexual assault while a guest on Couchsurfing.com.

A few hours later, I could not access my profile on Couchsurfing.com.

When I contacted Couchsurfing.com through email about not being able to access my profile, they sent a very curt message stating that my profile had been removed without providing a justification, stating that their decision was final.

I am flabbergasted by the response of Couchsurfing.com.

And I am appalled by the actions they decided to take, that, at the very least, amount to connivance with perpetrators of sexual assault.

I'm outraged by the actions of Couchsurfing.com, protecting people who perpetrate sexual assaults while at the same time punishing, silencing and cancelling the victims of sexual assault.

The fact that the company, Couchsurfing.com, deliberately chooses to encourage and promote those behaviours by protecting people who commit sexual assaults while at the same time it chooses to punish, silence and cancel victims is deeply unsettling.

It is akin to having a criminal committing a crime, then going to see a judge who then will sanction and punish the victim over and above that.

Criminal, judge, jury and executioner. All together, against the victim.

Not only is there a sense of impunity, but also of lingering injustice.

I had been using Couchsurfing for a long time and finally decided to pay $70 verification fee to support the platform and verify my account. Shortly after completing the payment and submitting my ID, my account was canceled without any explanation.

I received no warning, no reason, and no response about what happened. I feel completely scammed—especially after paying for a service I never got to use. It’s unacceptable to take someone’s money and then block their access without any communication.

Couchsurfing used to be a great platform, but this experience has destroyed my trust in it. I do not recommend using Couchsurfing unless you’re ready to risk losing your money without warning.

Scamsters will eat your money with dark pattern and wont give it back to you! Lost 50 Euros, they dont even follow any law and the customer service is non-existent. My mental health is down the drain. I HATE THEM AND WISH THE GET CLOSED SOON AND PAY EVERY PENNY THEY HAVE SCAMMED FROM PEOPLE.

The interface is terrible. I even offered free help improving it, but they simply ignored me.
Terrible support, which simply won't respond.
I block your account as soon as you stop paying, even if you already have a trip or guests; you simply can't respond to them.

There are no alternatives. But that's too bad. I hope something will appear as soon as possible.

only if you want to lost your time and meet l00sers

Was a great platform, now a nudost gay hangouts app. Was charged for annual after supporting though covid. Despite the platform being useless to me since covid. Asked for a refund for recent charge a d told no refunds on donations. Pretty ungrateful for my support IMHO. Escalated case on PayPal

I was charged £4.99 by Couchsurfing and then prompted to “verify” my account, which in reality meant an additional £60 fee hidden in very small print. This is a misleading and deceptive practice.

I have already reported Couchsurfing to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the California Attorney General, and the European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net).

Travelers and backpackers should be extremely cautious — many others on here report the same experience.

Awful company. They take out random amounts from your bank account and call them "contributions". They then refuse to refund those amounts. Terrible customer service. Do not sign up.

It requires that you pay 7 dollars for a month to even see if they have something that could match your needs.

In my case there was nothing that matched my needs. So I just spent money for nothing. When asking for a refund (within an hour of registering) they denied it.

Crappy website. Crappy company. I do not recommend this service.

Charged 60 euros, in a non-transparent way
Charged 60 euros for verification without mentioning a fee. I also deleted my account immediately due to their promise to refund, but nothing right now. Scaming
could we make a Group consumer filing to this company? if you still not been refunded, it will be a shame and closing

Scammed also. I was charged 420 danish kr without being asked. No visitors or anything from this company. Seems like a total scam.

This company is a scam.
Very misleading and has hidden charges
Account verification costed me 70 euros without me realizing it.
They do not offer refunds and only give automated answers in their email

I was charged 70 eur without clear information about this whe trying to verify my profile. They dont want to initiate a refund which breaks EU laws.
Scammers, sad to see couchsurfing going so low 😔

Couchsurfing isn't the same site as 6 or 7 years ago. The monthly membership fee has doubled (used to be 3, now is 6 €). Last experience last year was good, but I had to look for a long time to find the right host. Let's see if it will be easier this time.

EDIT: 07/12/2025: sent out at least 20 requests for hosts in NYC, I have references and a validated account, yet all I got was rejections. Also, the high number of nudist hosts on CS is a bit disturbing IMO.

Charged 60 euros, for verification without mentioning a fee. I filled a report to customer service, Europe users have the EU law of '14 days' cool off law that they have to obey to in Europe.

This feels very unfair and just makes customers angry. I'll delete my account immediately after this. Not sure who thinks this will ever be sustainable. Shame on you Couchsurfing!

After paying 70 euros to verify suddenly the cost of monthly subscription jumped from 2 euros to 5. Really now...