Couchsurfing: first time tips

I'm sure you've heard about this amazing platform for travelers. In the past three years, I've used Couchsurfing several times and I've always had positive experiences. I wrote down some tips that might be useful for you in case you're new to the Couchsurfing community. 

Take enough time creating your profile 
It doesn't matter how you use Couchsurfing, having a good profile is always important. How can you know if you wanna meet/stay with someone if the only information on the profile is a list of countries the person has visited? I know, describing yourself is not easy, but mentioning a few hobbies and facts about yourself is not that hard.

Write personalized requests
You should always write personalized messages, don't use copy and paste messages, you can see immediately if someone went through your profile or not. It's polite and it highers your chance to find a host. I've been to situations when I was looking for a last minute host, and I didn't have time to go through the profiles, so I at least started the message explaining the situation and saying sorry for the copy and paste message.

Don't ask four months before your stay
Most of the people don't know what they will be up to so much in advance, so it won't be easy for you to find a host so soon, Couchsurfing is not booking.com.  I think looking for a host one week before you go is perfect.

Do you need to get verified?

"What goes around comes around. Support the Couchsurfing community and the community will support you."

It's a good way to support the Couchsurfing community, but it's not necessary. I've never had a problem finding a host although I'm not a verified member. Not even in the beginning when I had none or just a few references. You can send just 10 messages per week if you're not, but you can always use public trips or groups.

Bring a little gift 
First I would like to make clear that you're not obligated to bring anything. But I think it's a nice gesture that always makes hosts smile. I usually bring some Czech sweets, a magnet or a postcard. Or you can just leave a little note when leaving, I'm a fan of these little things.

Don't behave like in a hotel 
You shouldn't forget, that you're staying in someone else's home, not in a hotel. Don't ask someone if you can stay for a week, don't expect to get breakfast, lunch, dinner and a guided tour between. Clean after yourself, ask if you can help with cooking or with the cleaning up. Don't let the host pay for everything... Just behave like a good guest. This might sound obvious, but I've heard some crazy stories about surfers that really misunderstood the meaning of Couchsurfing.

Don't react to inappropriate messages 
I always ignore messages starting with "Hey cute girllll", Couchsurfing is not tinder and you shouldn't feel obligated to react to every message you get. There are strange people in the world and you should always listen to your gut. Once I got an offer to play in a porn movie.

Always tell someone where you stay 
You shouldn't forget about safety while using Couchsurfing. Tell someone the name and address of the host you're staying with and always read the references on their profile.

It's not only for finding hosts!
Couchsurfing is much more than just hosting people and looking for hosts. You can ask locals about tips in the area you're traveling to, ask them to show you around, hang out with them or you can go to one of the many events, that are being organized all over the world. You can also look for a travel buddy or for a language tandem.

Do you have any experiences with Couchsurfing?