The Legal Impacts of COVID-19 in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

14 collaborative platforms in their pure form, that is, those with a neutral intervention in the transactions carried out by their users, with a non-economic and non-profit consideration. Both fit perfectly into the paradigm of collaborative consumption, collaborative economy or collaborative tourism 30 . The first one was born as a non-profit website in 2004, but later, in 2011, it became a for- profit company, with its function still being the same as before – to allow its users to find a place to stay in the destination for free, without any kind of added service, since it was sufficient to let them sleep on the couch at home, without the host assuming any other obligation, nor the traveller any financial consideration, given that the reasons for hosting them go beyond the monetary exchange, such as cultural exchanges and possible long- term personal relationships 31 . On the other hand, HomeExchange is a social network that allows the exchange of houses. Both its expansion and the motivation of its users are similar to that of Couchsurfing: a reduction in the cost of accommodation that is achieved through the home exchange, if possible 32 , thus experiencing the coexistence of neighbours in the destination, as if the traveller was only just another resident, since, in many cases, the accommodation is outside the tourist circuits. HomeExchange was founded in 1992 and, since then, has been allowing users, through an annual fee, to subscribe to its website, in which said users can offer their homes, as well as propose to exchange them for another property in the place they wish to visit. To do so, they will have to provide certain information about the property, such as the 30 In this same line, PAOLO RUSSO, A. & QUAGLIERI DOMÍNGUEZ, A., “La lógica espacial del intercambio de casas: Una aproximación a las nuevas geografías de lo cotidiano en el turismo contemporáneo”, Revista electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, no. 483, 20 June 2014, p. 2. 31 According to DE MIGUEL, C., “The transformation of identity and privacy through online social networks (The Couchsurfing case)”, McLuhan Galaxy Conference: understanding media today , UOC, Barcelona, May 2010, p. 311, Couchsurfing consists of a network of strangers from all corners of the world who, on the one hand, can see each other’s profiles, and on the other hand, make requests to stay at someone else’s house. Couchsurfing breaks, as well as many of the social rules we have adopted, as people are welcoming strangers into the privacy of their homes, allowing them to live and enjoy their space, for a certain time, in exchange for interpersonal relationships. Also because it is a way of providing the prospective host with the possibility of being received by the current guest in his home at a later time, although no reciprocity is required. 32 Certainly, the consideration is not monetary, but in kind, since it would be configured by the transfer of the dwelling or property in exchange for the use of the property of the other party to the contract. In this line, CALDERÓN CORREDOR, Z., “Experiencias de respuesta fiscal para el alojamiento colaborativo desde los contextos europeo y de la OCDE”, Nueva Fiscalidad , no. 4, 2017, electronic ed., p. 112.