Backpack Online versus Backpack for Windows !

What else can they do to us? I love worst case scenarios, so hit me with them.

HW is a very useful marketing channel for online bookings, I admit that. However, Brian forced me to hit him with few worst case scenarios (Brian, I guess it's your revenge for using my mental tricks on you to come with us to Prague... :D)

BPO could reveal all your marketing channels to HW. IF they can use such information (WHICH THEY DON'T), they could position themselves to your existing channels as well. It would be like playing a poker game and one of them knows exactly what cards you have... so that's my privacy rant. :rolleyes:

HW's goal to make more bookings and be your only provider. Our goal is to make our hostels more independent, standing on more and stable legs... which enables focusing our hostels for our own choice of channels. So I prefer that if they don't have such information simply because it is more beneficial for all of us if they explore new areas instead of giving a chance to grow on our already hardly walked path.

Competition makes your business better. We all have issues with HW and these issues won't be resolved in a de facto monopoly situation.
The information stored in BPO just deeps this difference if used.
If they have better competition, that means they will focus on better services and focus more on what their costumers (both guests and hostels) needs, also invent some new ideas to involve more people to the hostel industry, because these clients have a choice to choose another provider.

(Colm, I'm begging for two months to change that icon distortion on the city listing and my request has been stuck at the software engineering department, also when do we get more pictures to be seen on hostels.com??? My current buddy is great and she just can't apologize enough that the software department bounces back these requests saying they're too busy! :( )

Currently HW favors to the highest rated hostels in town. If you have a top-rated hostel (let's say you are in the top 10), then you could easily live on using nothing but HW. You don't even need a website. You don't even need flyers. You don't even need marketing.
The problem with that, if only HW advertises for the entire industry, would it make enough bookings for your hostel? Although if you advertise but your marketing mostly goes into HW's channel, can you actually see the difference for your hostel? I personally don't mind even if our marketing results in more HW bookings as long as those guests still sleep in our hostel, not elsewhere... However, many other hostels don't even have a marketing strategy!

HW wants to catch the private room niche on the market and they think there is no need to catch more backpackers... Their point is understandable, we discussed in another thread. You have choice to choose other channels if it doesn't benefit for you... right? So these other channels is a kinda blind spot for them. Is that still a blind spot with BPO? You might say why not giving this info so they would stick to backpackers, etc. but then what? Crises are excellent push to evolve your business... as no one wants to close the business, right?

We have 90% rating on HW which despite anywhere else would give me a top rated position, it gives me #20th-ish position on the Budapest listing.
Some would say I should stop crying and get higher ranked (we are working hard on that ;) ) but I'm actually pretty proud of that we still belong to those fistful hostels who are still open since we have started.
So we diverse and find other channels to have more guests.

About even worse case scenarios, these days we need to market for more backpackers to hostels because they're the most effected target group due the crunch. An already low budgeted trip can't go even lower: if you got used to steak but you only have pasta now, you still won't starve, how about if you got used to pasta?

We are all hoping that the higher class comes to hostels but some forgets that hence they are working, they can only travel during weekends or holidays (and these holidays are rather few weeks only than most backpackers' 3 months EUrail pass) also they aren't used to hostels at all (especially dorms!). Meanwhile they have to resist the hotel sector's desperate promotion... Which means this year can be crucial for anyone.

we use BPO but to be honest, if it was MY hostel. i wouldnt want all my information in 'the cloud'. whilst i trust HW not to snoop (imagine if they got caught!) but there is something strangely reassuring about being responsible for your own info. i use googledocs regularly... but only i know im going to need to use different computers for the same document; and none of it is particularly important info. its not that im worried about google snooping (as im sure they do), its that i want important private information to be completely in MY control, rather than someone elses responsibility.

stu (my boss... and im sure you're reading this mate, LURKER!) loves the cloud - to each their own.