Bewelcome.org -- a non-profit democratic hospex service set up for growth

This paper presents an extensive data-based analysis of the non-profit democratic hospitality exchange service bewelcome.org. We hereby pursuit the goal of determining the factors influencing its growth. It also provides general insights on internet-based hospitality exchange services. The other investigated services are hospitalityclub.org and couchsurfing.org. Communities using the three services are interconnected -- comparing their data provides additional information.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

The Economy of Internet-Based Hospitality Exchange

In this paper, we analyze and compare general development and individual behavior on two non-profit internet-based hospitality exchange services -- bewelcome.org and warmshowers.org. We measure the effort needed to achieve a real-life interaction, whereby the advantages of mutual altruism arise. The effort needed is the communication quantified in units of time. Since the amount of effort is not obvious to individual users, the development of the effort investing strategy is investigated. The impact of individual behavior on general development is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures and 4 table