HONOMU — Ray Domire treats his visitors well.
HONOMU — Ray Domire treats his visitors well.
His fridge is nearly always stocked with beer, and the 66-year-old is happy to lend bicycles, offer travel tips or simply swap stories in the evenings on the ocean-view lanai.
And, in exchange for being a considerate guest (though a small gift or home-cooked meal never hurts), Domire offers you a free place to crash.
“For me, I get out of it a great audience,” Domire said. “I love to talk, I love to share stories. I love to share my life here with other people and hear their story.”
Domire is among about 500 Hilo-area residents on Couchsurfing.com, a San Francisco-based website that pairs “guests” passing through town and needing a free place to stay, with “hosts” such as Domire — many looking to share experiences and meet friends.
The website is most popular in European cities with high tourism, said Alli Shea, director of marketing at Couchsurfing, but it’s also heavily used in the United States. Shea said Hawaii is the company’s fourth most popular state, based on concentration of users per population.
The website launched in 2004 as a pioneer of the “share economy” concept, the idea of sharing resources with other people at a lower cost than a traditional retailer.
These days, however, Couchsurfing has some stiff competition. For example, Airbnb, a website in which local hosts can rent out their extra accommodations to visitors, had more than 50 million users at the end of last year. Couchsurfing has about 12 million members, Shea said. And there are other nearly identical websites gaining traction with the same concept as Airbnb — HomeAway and VRBO to name a few.
Last week, Gov. David Ige announced plans to veto a bill that would have required such companies to pay taxes in Hawaii. Ige told the Associated Press he was worried the bill would “facilitate illegal rentals” and wanted to see more rentals being used for long-term residents to help relieve the state’s affordable housing shortage.
Domire said he personally prefers Couchsurfers as opposed to vacation renters — the experience is more personable, he said. He’s hosted a handful of couchsurfers since arriving in Hawaii last winter, who’ve ranged in their 20s to older adults and have hailed from countries all over the world. He enjoys telling them stories from his impressive array of life experiences largely outlined on his Couchsurfing.com profile.
For example, last year he rode as a participant in the Ohio-based “World Naked Bike Ride” an experience he describes as “good, clean fun.” He’s also a military veteran who served overseas in the Vietnam and Gulf wars, and at age 55, he moved to Africa to serve two years in the Peace Corps.
“I find that Airbnb is for the people who want to be by themselves,” he said. “Couchsurfers are here in part to have some interaction, and I like that interaction.”
Earlier this year, he met 57-year-old California-based couchsurfer Rich Oberleitner who was visiting the Big Island. Oberleitner stayed with a different Couchsurfing “host” but met Domire — as well as several other hosts he never stayed with — simply to make friends.
“For me, it’s really about meeting people, and meeting good people,” Oberleitner told the Tribune-Herald in a phone interview. “I didn’t need to stay the night. I’m not interested in staying the night with someone and that’s it. We were just able to develop close friendships that can continue for a long time.”
Domire said there aren’t too many drawbacks as a host, other than the occasional no-show or mooching guest.
That can be a challenge, though, since the company “doesn’t exist without the generosity of the host,” Shea said, noting about 75 percent of registered users are “guests.”
“That’s something we think about a lot,” she said.
“What keeps the community going is (hosts) choosing Couchsurfing over other options where they’d get a direct financial cut.”
Michael Sanchez, a 33-year-old California-based member who stayed with Domire earlier this year, said he experienced a shortage of hosts after struggling to find someone on the island willing to let him crash.
“I messaged like 50 surfers,” Sanchez told the Tribune-Herald. “(Domire) was the only one who replied.”
The concept doesn’t come without risk, either. A quick Google search reveals pages of “Couchsurfing stories” — some good and some bad. However, the company “has an overall low incident rate” among the millions who use it, said Don Fultz, director of safety at Couchsurfing.
The website offers tips for travelers and several buffers — such as allowing users to get “verified” and to leave references so members can get a better sense of each other.
Fultz said Couchsurfing works with local law enforcement when situations do arise to take “quick, decisive action within 24 hours.”
Domire, who’s also used the site as a traveler, said he’s never felt unsafe. He offers couchsurfers the choice to share his double bed or use the floor — whatever the guest prefers. And currently, he only hosts men to avoid any uncomfortable situations with women, he said.
Ultimately, his reason for logging on each day is simple.
“I’ve met some really fantastic people out there,” he said.