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Having used it extensively for travelling to places for concerts and festivals, it’s a massive advantage to be able to shop for places that can accommodate 3-8 people for several days at a time.

I don’t want a couch, I want a whole home that our group can share, and for less than the surge price that a hotel will slap on for a single room, we can fit our needs well.

From my original comment:

> worse than traditional self-catering tourist apartments (more expensive)

...is I think what I would consider your use-case to fall under. No?

This isn't something that didn't exist before AirBnB...

> While AirBnB has received a lot negative press for facilitating the letting of would-be residential property by large-scale professional landlords, the marketing from AirBnB's side has always favoured the "local guide, personal human experience" angle, an angle CouchSurfing has always tried to cover non-commercially.

Call me cynical, but "Advertise your product for a use that your core moneymaking market doesn't do" would be a good dark pattern to avoid scrutiny/regulation.

Couch surfing.com is basically dead these days because they've had to collect money to stay afloat. But tbh, I felt like there were a lot of pervy guys on there based on how every girl I met had some story of a guy thinking a free couch meant that she should fuck him in exchange. And couch surfing.com basically had no way to filter that.