All Couchsurfing members can receive references from Hosts, from Surfers, or from Personal connections. You can find these three types of references in the References section of a member's profile.
Surf & Host references can be categorized as "Would host/stay with again" or "Would not host/stay with again". Members must have a couch request with the “Yes” “Maybe” or “Confirmed” status in order to leave a Surf/Host reference.
Personal references can be categorized as "Would recommend" or "Would not recommend", but you'll also see references categorized as Positive, Neutral, and Negative if they were left using the previous reference system.
How Can I Find Negative References?
To view all non-positive references that a member received, first select a reference category (From Surfers, From Hosts, or Personal), and then use the filter that appears above the references.
Safety and the New Reference System
Our Trust and Safety team takes a range of both proactive and reactive actions to help keep our members safe. We also work closely with the Product team to ensure safety is a key component of our vision. Recent changes to Couchsurfing reflect this philosophy, as they:
- Introduce new flows to report concerns directly to the Trust and Safety team
- Encourage honest references by reducing fear of retaliation
- Provide a quick view of a member’s experience
- Improve the relevance and accuracy of references by categorizing them by “Host/Surf”, “Friend” or “Other”.
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