That's because [Jim Stone] is part of a growing network of people online who've gone a step beyond hotels, hostels and even apartment swapping in their travel planning: they sleep on each others' couches.

"She was not all into it," said Lesage, who had his first couchsurfing experience in 1990 when a couple of guys he met on a California beach let him sleep on their couch. "But she's not a tut-tutter; I'm responsible."

"We are not responsible for the outcome of host/surfer negotiations," couchsurfing.com's [Casey Fenton] said. "We can't guarantee what will happen. We'll do as much as we can to provide data (about the person), but beyond that, that's all we can do."