There is absolutely something wrong with the renter/property owner relationship because this is one of the defining features of capitalism. The property owner has all power (particularly in the UK where I am based), and the renter is completely disempowered. Hosting dissolves this relationship of exploitation, and while it doesn't take property ownership out of the equation, it is a form of property sharing, and is quite genuinely aligned with many of the peer to peer principles.
Franz Nahrada
May 26, 2009
Alex Rollin
May 27, 2009
Sepp Hasslberger
BBC the other day had a service on couchsurfing as the new phenomenon in terms of travel and staying somewhere.
There's also a commercial service - tripping - which just came out of beta and is online.
Article about it here
http://social.venturebeat.com/2010/05/25/tripping-launch/
May 25, 2010