List
of hospitality website where volunteer hosts offer a place to stay for
travelers. I wanted to create a quick overview, mostly for myself, what
is available currently. The page was last updated in May, 2025.
Every
statement below is my personal opinion with the information and
insights I've had at the time of writing. Please keep this in mind.
Constructive feedback is welcome.
Warmshowers
A
website to exchange hospitality between bicycle travelers and hosts.
I've been using Warmshowers from the early days when monetization wasn't
a a thing. Cost and the desire to grow caused them to start charging.
Currently Warmshower has a one time $30 sign up fee and the mobile apps
have a monthly / yearly fee to use as a traveler. Since I've been
grandfathered in I didn't need to pay the one time signup fee. I also
exclusively use the website both on PC and mobile device. So far this
has gotten me by just fine. Over the years I have been hosting and been
a guest.
I
recommend Warmshower for hosting and travel. The number of hosts and
travelers in the US is good. I myself am active on Warmshowers as a
host and guest.
Trustroots
An
free hospitality website for any type of adventure takers. Specific
interests can be voices via their circles (hitchhikers, hikers,
cyclists, musicians, etc). The number of hosts in the US is somewhat
small.
I
just recently became active with this site so I don't have any actual
experience but it looks promising both for hosting and as a guest.
BeWelcome
An free hospitality website for any type of adventure takers. It has quite a few registered user in the US.
I
just recently became active with this site so I don't have any actual
experience but it looks promising both for hosting and as a guest.
Couchers
An free hospitality website for any type of adventure takers. It has quite a few registered user in the US.
I
just recently became active with this site so I don't have any actual
experience but it looks promising both for hosting and as a guest.
Couchsurfing
I totally missed the heydays
of Couchsurfing. Currently the fee $5 per month or 20 per year to be a
host or guest. From other reviews on the internet, I'm not sure if
it's something worth to check out the site.
Welcome To My Garden
The
Welcome To My Garden focuses on all non-motorized traveler hospitality,
not just bicycle, to allow them to camp in the host's yard. The number
of hosts in the US is somewhat small. The yearly membership to contact
a host is currently 36 Euros.
While
I do currently have my garden listed there, I don't see this website as
a viable option for US travel with the high price, low numbers of hosts
and uncertainty how many host are active.
Open Hospitality Network / Sleepy.Bike
This website uses Solid Project technology which makes sign up really hard. I never got it to work due to the 500 server error.
OK to skip this one.
SolidCouch / Tired Bike
Appears
to be a fork from Open Hospitality Network / Sleepy.Bike. Also uses
Solid Project technology, so it's also a pain to sign up. However this
site actually worked for me. It's run and maintained by one developer
that previously worked on sleepy.bike and before that trusted roots.
Currently a total of 8 users in Europe.
OK to skip this one.
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