ABSTRACT
For centuries, Bedouins have been opening their doors to strangersgiving them unconditional shelter, security, and sustenance for three days. Traditional Islamic hadiths states this about hospitality, “if the guest stays longer than the ‘three days’ it becomes charity” (O’Gorman, 2010). One wonders if this ancient Bedouin tradition should be considered one of the first hospitality exchange networks. In 1949 SERVAS International-one of the first hospitality exchange networks-was founded to promote world peace. Members’ contact details were printed and distributed on paper, and homestays were arranged with the host either by the telephone or the written word. The advent of the Internet made this form of communication almost obsolete and new online hospitality networks emergedHospitality Exchange, BeWelcome, and Global Freeloaders. The most well-known is Couchsurfing, and by 2013, was estimated to have over 5.5 million global members (www.couchsurfing.org). Membership of these hospitality exchange networks is mixed gender. These computer-mediated hospitality networks, born of the sharing economy-a new socioeconomic system built around the sharing of resources-are growing in popularity. Gansky believes the world is in the midst of an economic shift which involves less owning and more sharing (Gansky, 2010). Developments in the digital age, coupled with this shared economy phenomenon, has led to a global movement whereby people are sharing their cars, their wi-fi and even their spare bedrooms.
