At last. Hostelworld's New Review Catergories For 2012

Hey

I know many of you are aware of this change but as this has just been publicly announced last week I thought I would post up the news here too. This is without a doubt the most significant change HW has done to their site and business model since their sale. This has been a long time coming from all perspectives.

• FUN becomes ATMOSPHERE
• STAFF same STAFF
• CHARACTER becomes FACILITIES
• SECURITY same SECURITY
• CLEANLINESS same CLEANLINESS
• LOCATION same LOCATION
• new VALUE FOR MONEY

New categories in bold

We have all dealt with the old categories either as users, owners/hostel staff, travel agents or critics. This new category matrix is better and more useful. I have always believed that the review categories function as talking points for the written parts of the review. We train our staff to understand this above all else. As such I am glad to see some new categories appear and some silly ones leave (Very glad to see Character eliminated.) All reviews are subjective but having well thought out objective categories will aid the guest in improving the content and context of the written part of the review and water down the overall averages a little (which is a good thing)

Implementation will be a nightmare I believe (and the ensuing debates/criticisms). Is it better to flush everyone and start everyone new? Or perhaps meter the new system in, using some complicated, mathematical way? Have a dual system for the next twelve months by perhaps showing an average of the last 12 months along side the new reviews and scoring matrix? New hostels may benefit more, small hostels may suffer, typical bar type "Fun" hostels will definitely score differently as a hostel with a quiet, comfortable atmosphere now has equal standing in a category that was generally the party hostel, pub crawl domain , hostels with "Character" will be scored and reviewed differently (I was going to build moats, hire mimes and paint cartoon characters on our walls to improve our "Character" ratings this summer!! thank goodness that has been now averted haha). "Facilities" is a welcome addition as it will encourage not only comments about the types of hostel facilities but also the condition of the hostel facilities.

I really like the new "Value For Money" category, it will really help to illuminate the low priced bottom feeding motels/properties that add everything extra on at checkin, the "premium priced" location only hostels, the one banana and cold toast breakfast included hostels, and of course the membership based chain hostels that price their property online in such a way to encourage membership purchases. Paradigm shift definitely. Hostels that advertise true "all included" pricing will be recognized in comments and statistically by their overall review score.

It is my hope that as hostels get better at providing a true hostelling experience an evolving review system will serve as a truly usable comparative tool for guests and hostels.

Improving the category choices is only the first step in improving the review structure, I believe. I hope that along with this improvement that we find more integrated social networking efforts by the booking engines, greater review fraud detection, more demographic knowledge of previous reviewers for new bookers prior to booking and elimination of non-hostel businesses from the hostel booking engines.

Hostelworld has great review density, amazing uptake of review use by all stakeholders and an easily used system that all users quickly understand and utilise. Instead of trying to fit non-hostel properties into a hostel booking website, why not use the review system as a basis for an ad campaign that will bring new customers to true hostels. It is an incredible third party assurance that hostel properties are great places to stay. What an asset! It is not used beyond our current demographic/customer base. Google knows this very well. It is a mystery to me that Hostelworld or Hostelbookers have never seen the incredible marketing potential of their respective review systems to encourage new customers to try hostels. Both of these companies have signed up so many non-hostels to try and capture new revenue streams. Having new customers choose motel/hotel properties at the "hostel" end of the price scale is short sighted and silly. New customers with bad experiences in low priced motel/hotels will never use a hostel booking engine again. The extremely valuable review systems have incredible potential for new business sources for the booking engines and hostels.

With the incredible start up speed/usage of airbnb.com, couchsurfing.com, crashpadder.com, istopover.com etc etc. Hostel booking engines have to work with true hostels and industry stakeholders to seperate the hostel experience from all the other choices out there. One way is to use the review system as a marketing tool. Another is to eliminate marginal properties not committed to the industry and the customer base (as wide as it is). Show new customers why staying in a hostel is such a unique, consistent and third party certified and reviewed experience.