‘Sharing Economy’ is going to be big in the coming years, many travellers are using it to their benefit. Start-ups in the travel and hospitality space are leveraging it. Here are some interesting one mentioned below:
Hospitality Networks
Before Airbnb hospitality networks did exist and one of the most popular ones, when I was in college, was Couchsurfing. It connected with locals who were willing to give travellers free couch, room, etc. The idea was to stay with the locals and experience the local culture. I don’t think at that time money was involved. All you had to do was buy dinner or something as a gesture of appreciation for letting you stay in their place. It is still very popular among student travellers. So check it out. There are local group meet-up happen for Couchsurfing. Find out which one is closest to you and go for it.
Some others on similar lines are Hospitality club | Be Welcome | Global Freeloaders (l love this name)
Camp in my garden
Camp in My Garden is a UK-based website started in April 2011. Its simple premise: connect campers to people who let them camp in their backyards for a small fee. You have to bring your own camping gear, but most properties will let you use their facilities (no peeing behind a bush!). Locations are found predominantly in the UK and Europe, but the site is gaining traction around the world.
Eat with locals:
This website eat with locals allows you to eat a home-cooked meal with locals. Here the locals post the meal which they are planning to make for dinner or lunch and as a traveller if you are in that area you can decide to visit them. There will be a small price that you have to pay for the food that is pre-decided. It is an excellent way to have some authentic local food with the locals. You get a chance to share your stories and have some awesome selfies.
Share a ride
A growing trend in European countries is to share a ride with people who are going to a similar destination. Instead of taking the train you can visit the website and find out who is travelling in your place of interest. Connect with them and travel to that place.
The biggest player in this space is BlaBlaCar, which is huge around Europe and a couple other parts of the world. If you’re travelling, definitely look them (or a similar service) up. It will save you a ton of money and you’ll have a much more interesting time!
Rent Anything You Need
At times we need stuff only for a day or a few hours and for that we don’t want to invest in buying the whole thing. And after using, it will be just lying around and occupying space. What if you could just visit a website and rent it from a person near you who are not using it.
It’s cheaper than buying something you may only need once or twice on the road and creates less waste. Websites that facilitate this service allow you to travel a lot lighter. Gaifong and Rentoid are some of the websites in this space.
The Sharing Economy has made it easier for people to connect, exchange and experience things in a better way. It is very beneficial for travellers when it comes to experience authentic local life.
If you have any ideas on some new kind of ‘Sharing Economy’ do let us know. We can collaborate to develop it
1 Comment
Great post 🙂