1. Register - It's free!
2. Create a Trip & Get Offers from Locals - It’s free!
3. Or Contact Your Favorite Local
4. Receive Custom Offers in Your Inbox
5. Make a Booking & Enjoy Your Trip
To make sure you have the best possible experience while visiting new cities, get started by reading these simple tips about setting up your meet up and interacting with your future hosts.
1. Make it easy for people to recognize you: When you meet your host for the first time, it’s important it’s easy to find each other. From your account settings page, make sure you upload a recent photo that makes it easy for people to recognize you. This photo should be a photo of only you; from the shoulders up; no sunglasses; no pets; and most importantly– a big smile!
2. Contact multiple hosts: Increase your chance of connecting with a local host by sending booking requests to multiple hosts at once. You will have the opportunity to choose an offer that is the best fit and value for your needs. It is also important to realize that not all hosts are available for the selected dates and hours you may want to meet up. You can contact multiple hosts at once by clicking the “Get Offers” button located on each search page.
3. Upgrade to a Premium Membership: It’s free to use Citysurfing and receive multiple offers from different hosts in the cities you visit, but if you discover a local that shares your interests, you might want to contact them directly. To contact any host directly, you will need to upgrade to a Citysurfing Premium Membership. It’s a great opportunity, because when you connect with like-minded people it’s much easier to meet new people and establish lifelong friendships. To upgrade your membership, simply go to your Account Settings page and click the Membership tab.
4. Mark Citysurfing email alerts as – Important: When you communicate with hosts on Citysurfing, you’ll receive a message alert on your dashboard, and we’ll send you an email letting you know a host has responded to your request. To make sure you receive these emails, it’s extremely important that you login to your email account and designate all messages from Citysurfing as “Not Spam”.
5. Create a game plan: Before you connect with your host, make sure you talk about your interest and get suggestions on things they recommend you do together. Knowing the duration, routes, places to visit, timing and possible meeting points will save time and make things run more smoothly. Make sure you also ask about any additional expenses that are not included in their price, such as transportation, entrance fees or any third party services.
6. Keep communications on Citysurfing: We strongly recommend communicating with your host via Citysurfing to make sure there is a record of your interaction in case of any disputes that may arise. Contact your hosts whenever you need to inform them about any changes to your plans.
7. Consider leaving a tip: Tipping is never mandatory, but if your host really entertained you and provided an amazing experience then showing your gratitude is always welcome.
8. Write a review: Reviews are critical for helping Citysurfing to grow as a credible and trustworthy community and are especially valuable for local hosts who want to build their reputation and experience. Hosts appreciate when you ‘rate’ your meetup experiences, because it helps give them an idea of what worked, what didn’t work, and how they can improve their service. When you review your experiences with your hosts, you enable the community to make more informed decisions.
9. Follow the Citysurfing Blog: You can meet up with local host when your on vacation, a business trip, relocating, or just hanging out in a nearby city. To get the most from each and every new meet up, we highly recommend you follow the tips and suggestions on the official Citysurfing Blog – “Citysurfing Blog”. Always be the first to know when a new post hits the blog. Enter your email address here.
10. Get Verified: Many locals will only offer their services to verified users and will require that you get verified before contacting them directly. Once verified, you can contact any local offering their services on Citysurfing. Click the My Verifications tab to get verified.