"Hosting status" options

For the hosting status, the alpha version currently has five options -

  • Leave Blank
  • Can Host
  • Maybe
  • Difficult
  • Can’t Host

For reference, Couchsurfing had the following options…

  • Accepting Guests
  • Maybe Accepting Guests
  • Not Accepting Guests
  • Wants to Meet Up

Here are some questions for discussion:

  1. Do you think users should be allowed to leave this section blank?

  2. Are “maybe” and “difficult” are both necessary - they essentially both mean “maybe,” right? Are there any other words that might fit a grey area situation?

  3. Should we have a “Want’s To Meet Up” option or something similar?

Eager to hear your thoughts!

It’s easy to change this! I included difficult because that’s me now - I’m in a tiny place with my partner so we don’t generally host at the moment but it does happen sometimes! I consider that different from say, your rental agreement or housemates not allowing it.

But I can also see the argument for it not being necessary.

If blank isn’t an option, what would the default be? Or include it in the sign-up questions?

That seems viable to me! It would be good to solidify how central hosting is to the platform that way.

4 Likes

Me too. I can hardly host in my shared flat, but if e.g. some desperate cyclist were looking for a place I couldn’t refuse either.

it’s rather strange, all these options.

You can or you can not host, that’s also how we were used to do things in CS.
If there are limitations due to circumstances, there is always room to explain that in the profile.

3 Likes

I’d like a very basic general status setting:

  • Can host
  • Can’t host
  • On the road/traveling

And only related to hosting the more specific checkboxes, like

  • last minute ok
  • pets ok
  • kids welcome
  • but difficult…

If there will be functionality to hang-out/ meet up, similarly put a checkbox for ‘happy to meet up’ there and not set it as a general status.

Or actually move still farther from the cs setup towards what’s discussed in Usage roles / personas and have the general status setting only distinguish

  • in place/home
  • en route/traveling

and adjust hosting/not hosting/maybe hosting and meetup in their relevant sections.

1 Like

Isn’t the road same as can’t host then?

In my opinion, keep the status as simple as possible and elaborate about the issues on the “about” section:

Can host - definitely can / even if difficult we’ll manage
Can’t host - definitely can’t / on the road / not allowed to host
Maybe - busy / not sure / could be if you catch me on a good day / in between busy days / try but I might not answer (also good for ratings, if someone is “maybe” and doesn’t answer it’ll not affect their answer rate, in case we want one)

Wants to meet / happy to show around - should be a separate status or checkbox

2 Likes

Hi Ben!

The difference would be related to the discussion linked in my post above about whether or how to present a slightly different ui/dashboard while traveling and when at home.

I understand, but for safety reasons I’d prefer not to address if my house is empty or not at the moment.

if someone is travelling maybe it can be good to create a “traveling mode” for him and other optional hosts to see, but not for people who look at the profile to find a place to stay.

2 Likes

Yes, that’s probably a common concern! So either have this option somewhere else in settings or follow a setup similar to trustroots, I think that’s a good approach about hosting/not hosting in general:

  • can host
  • maybe
  • can’t host
    and if can’t is selected, hide all the hosting information and show nothing or an explanation why not. e.g. be able to select traveling there.
6 Likes

It’s insane to expect someone to host you just because their status is “can host”, I don’t think we should change feature because of weird people who don’t understand the meaning of the platform.

Agree with the “wants to meet”.

2 Likes

I think the following are sufficient:

  • Can host
  • Maybe can host
  • Can’t host / Unavailable
  • Willing to meet up

There is definitely value to having “maybe” as an option and conveys the same thing as “difficult” without the negative connotation associated with the word “difficult”.

I do not think people should be able to leave the section blank. It’s important to require people to set a status so when a surfer performs a search they can filter based upon this status.

Including “unavailable” with the status “can’t host” clearly indicates that not only can you not host, but that the person is unavailable to meet up, attend events or reply to messages.

It may even make sense to automatically set someone’s status to “can’t host / unavailable” if they fail to log into the platform for X number of weeks/months/years. The inactive person would of course be notified automatically about the change in status due to inactivity – and the message would encourage them to become active again!

1 Like

That sounds annoying lol. I would immediately reject anybody with that kind of presumption.

I agree with what seems the general consensus that we only need one intermediary between the can and can’t host - maybe. I like the “Maybe” because it implies more of a negotiation - it says “message me and we can talk about dates and if it will work out or not.”

2 Likes

Hosting situations can change. Now I can host like 3 up to 6 people. During the yearly music festival I at one point hosted 29 people but mentioned beforehand that it would be a little bit cramped but we all would be having a blast together if we got along.
Sometimes when you know for example you will be having som medical operation and want peace and quite time you might not be in the mood to host during a few weeks/months.
So the following seems ok with me:
Will host
Might host, but ask
Might not host, but who knows, ask and maybe it’s possible
Will definitely not host
Might hang out with travelers
Taking a break for some time

1 Like

Hi guys! So here is my line of thought:

HOSTING:

  • Can Host
  • Maybe
  • Cannot Host

MEET UP:

  • Wants to Meet
  • Not Available

Imo they should be kept separate because there are people who can host and also want to bring people around. If we only allowed “Can Host” or “Wants to Meet”, it kinda boxes people into an expectation of their role on the site. For example, I wouldn’t have contacted someone who was “Accepting Guests” to meet up on CS, but would have contacted someone who “Wants to Meet Up”.

I’d also like to explore if this “Wants to Meet” function/status can be highlighted somehow under Hangouts. Understandably, Hangouts is more impromptu, but it’s more under the same umbrella than with hosting.

Let me know your thoughts!

7 Likes

Could use to pictograms for it.

One like a bed/sofa going from:
green (Can host) to Orange (Maybe) to Red (Cannot host)

One like a glass drinks with side plate of food doing the same:
green (Want to meet) to Orange (might want to meet) to Red (Don’t want to meet)

Of course you need to keep into account that some people are colour blind and might not see the difference between colors so a extra like (Y / ? / N) added to the pictograms might be necessary.

2 Likes

I absolutely agree with keeping them separate:

Hosting Status
Meet-up Status

4 Likes

How about also “Now in travel!” status? Also could include the country below. We could visit our friends profiles and see where they at atm!

1 Like

I thought this would be cool too! I actually requested that CS bring this back when they revamped their platform because the original “old school” CS platform did have a “traveling” status. I learned they got rid of the feature because it is a security risk in some situations. Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to advertise that you’re not at home for a prolonged period of time. But in theory people should be able to make a judgement for themselves about how much of a risk it is…

3 Likes