Newsletter
BeWelcome Newsletter Happy New Year 2024
BeWelcome Newsletter Happy New Year 2024
Table of Contents:
- What’s New at BeWelcome
- Donation campaign – HelloAsso
- Meet Ben, an Active BeWelcome Host from Taiwan
Dear anonymous,
It’s 2024 officially, and year of the Dragon in the lunar year cycle and a new year for adventures, making new friends and traveling this unique planet of ours.
2023 was full of activity on BeWelcome, the largest free hospitality network in the world. We saw our members being hosted everyday around the world, in major cities like Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and New York, to small villages in India, Turkey and Mexico. Everyday, someone somewhere is being hosted, or traveling and making new connections wherever they go. These connections more than not turn into lifelong friendships, adding some spice to this experience we call life.
In this Newsletter, we highlight some developments the volunteers worked on, some news and some photos. Enjoy -
What’s New at BeWelcome?
Since our last newsletter in May, a lot of things have happened at BeWelcome! The main one is, of course, that many people enjoyed using BeWelcome for travelling or hosting. Our member base has been growing steadily, as well as the number of actual hospitality experiences through BeWelcome. We are glad to be offering you a site empowering cultural exchange and friendship between strangers!
To improve your experience with BeWelcome, we took several actions this last year:
- Member Survey: In order to get feedback for future developments of BeWelcome, we conducted a survey among our members. It has been confirmed that the improvements made to the website have increased overall satisfaction significantly. A complete summary of the results is here. Big thanks to all who took the time to have their voice heard in the survey!
- Empty Profile Requests Opt-Out: One of the most requested features from the survey already has become a reality: We introduced a new option to let you decide if you do not wish to be contacted by members with an insufficiently filled profile. You will find this option on the “My Preferences” page.
- Cleanup of inactive members: In order to keep a realistic database and reduce the number of unanswered requests, we suspended all members who had not logged in for more than 5 years (after sending several reminders).
- Site improvements: We improved the location search algorithm so you can find your next destination more easily! We also made it easier for you to upload photos on your profile, while accepting more formats and a bigger size than before.
Donation Campaign – HelloAsso
The donation campaign for the year 2023-2024 was launched in November, after the General Assembly of BeVolunteer (the non-profit association running BeWelcome). This year BeWelcome needs 3050€, reflecting our real costs which are mainly to pay for the servers. We are transparent about our finances which you can find here.
We also introduced a new option to donate by credit card, in addition to Paypal. Donations can now be made through HelloAsso, which is a French company offering payment services to non-profits and, unlike Paypal, take no fees for donations.
BeWelcome is 100% funded by donations, and run by volunteers!
If you like our site and you would like to contribute, there are three ways to do it:
- Actively use and promote BeWelcome
- Make a donation or
- Join our volunteers!
Meet Ben, an active BeWelcome Host from Taiwan
Ben from Taipei, Taiwan, joined BeWelcome the moment he first got a couch at his apartment. When the pandemic lockdowns started to ease at the end of 2022 he welcomed his first guest. Since then, Ben has hosted more than 40 travelers! Why does he host so much?
“I really appreciate the opportunity for meeting with the guests from around the world”, Ben says.
He thoroughly enjoys not only spending time together with his guests but he also enjoys talking and listening to stories about travel and life. He freely offers the use of his kitchen for his guests to prepare vegetarian meals for everyone.
“As a host it feels like traveling yourself by tasting the culinary delicacies from far away. I learned how to prepare quick and yummy dishes from other cultures which I have greatly enjoyed.”
Thanks for reading our Newsletter and being a member of BeWelcome! We hope you find connection and friendship through our growing network.
The BeWelcome Volunteers