Chasqui.io: Free access to travelers coming to your city; no OTA fees; all direct bookings. FREE TO USE!
Marketing Exchange
OK. So all hostel owners want to generate higher occupancy and pay less to fill the beds. Right now, 80%+ of all bookings require a commission be paid to a 3rd party (OTA).
But each hostel ALREADY POSSESSES THE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM! It's crazy to even think that, but each of you do.
The data you collect at check-in is the key to generating more direct bookings. And you're NOT DOING ANYTHING with the data right now. Admit it, it's just taking up space on a computer.
If, instead, you shared that data with all the other hostels, and they shared their data with you, you'd know exactly who was traveling to your hostel next and we could send emails to them to book directly through your website.
This is what my company, CHASQUI, will solve.
So- If I'm traveling to Rio for Carnaval and want to go to Sao Paulo next, when I check-in and fill out the guest registration card (name, nationality, age, etc), I will indicate where I'm going next (Sao Paulo). I 100% haven't made reservations yet and am very unlikely to know about any of the hostels (which is why I would use hostelworld or booking). Instead, the hostel in Rio shares this check-in data with CHASQUI, and the hostels in Sao Paulo will be able to advertise their hostel availability directly to this person via email. In return, the hostel in Rio will see the check-in data from the Sao Paulo hostels and advertise their hostel availability to their guests.
SHARING DATA IS THE KEY TO YOUR PROBLEMS. CHASQUI is the first company that is focused on helping you turn your data into money.
I have commitments from hostels in Rio, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Cusco, La Paz, Medellin, Cali, Bogota, Lima and many more. This works when everyone participates.
Happy to answer questions here or via email ([email protected]).
Thanks
Evan
- Comments
7 years
@silverseagull. Of course! That's clearly important. This will be handled with user's permission of course. Travelers are actively seeking advice from their current hostel on things to do in their current location as well as advice for transport to and accommodations in their next destination. As a result, this not only generates revenue for the hostel but improves customer service since curated/personalized info is delivered to the client. Win-win-win for all parties.
What type of involvement do you have within the industry? Would love to hear your experiences within this realm (marketing, etc). Thanks for asking!
7 years
Evan, would the emails being sent out come from one centralized point (your system) or would guests receive promotional emails from each participating hostel in their next destination?
How would guests opt in or opt out of having their email shared? Would it only be their email, or would the shared data include all of th personal information collected at check-in?
7 years
Ditto on the opt in/out question: would each hostel have to add this somehow to their registration card or digital form? And on the who is the email coming from question: several emails from different hostels in the next destination or one central email from the company?
7 years
@Rucksack & @CMloechl. Sorry for the delay. I am caravaning through Patagonia for a month and haven't been on a computer or near wifi for more than a week.
Emails: I have two beliefs here: 1) if i pass guest contact info to other hostels, they will abuse it (every marketer in the world does) and the guests will never trust it again and 2) guests would much rather receive one, concise, concierge-esque email/Whatsapp Message from their current hostel (via Chasqui) instead of multiple messages from multiple prospective hostels.
So, Chasqui (the central source) would be sending the emails to the guests. This would have a photo of the hostel, highlights, pricing, rooms, etc. in snippet form so the user could then book from there.
Data Share: This is only being shared with Chasqui. The personal data isn't flowing to other hostels per-se, but to our platform so we can crunch/analyze the data and then provide the relevant messaging to the user. So the more the better (ideally everything). At a minimum (name, email, next destination). Ideally: Whatsapp and home location. NOTE: I am sending out a survey to 275 travelers I've met who've asked to be included in this beta launch. It specifically asks them questions related to this execution. I'll post a link to the results next month. But I believe messaging (WPP/FB) is equally as desirable as email. But we'll see.
Opt-In/Out: Again, this survey will uncover a lot about travelers' views of the knowledge and capabilities of their hostel staff. Personally, I always ask staff/mgmt for suggestions. It's hit or miss. But I always at least inquire. If Chasqui can enable you to provide high quality, personalized concierge services (sell tours, promote similar hostels, dinner reccos, etc.) then I, as a guest, would be willing to open, read and convert into a customer if your staff promoted it directly to me at check-in or during my stay ("Hey Evan, I see you're in Rio and going to Sao Paulo next. Would you like me to send you a list of recommended hostels and things to do?"). If you position it this way, then people will opt-in when sharing the info.
I am open to all comments and suggestions. I want to make sure this is done right the first time. I need your buy-in and theirs.
Here is the survey I'm sending out this week: https://goo.gl/forms/ADj50d9GLVd2Ijj43 (remember, this is going to friends I've made on the trip. So it's casual and has been receiving very honest feedback so far).
7 years
Those are some good answers IMO. Totally agree on one centralized email that shows options clearly. And I agree how you frame the question to the guest can be a make or break move. As long as you are clear that them saying yes is equal to you sharing their email with a 3rd party. From my limited knowledge on data/privacy rights, that has to be acknowledged somehow to actually have consent.
So it may need to be "Hey Evan, I see you're in Rio and going to Sao Paulo next. Would you like me to send you a list of recommended hostels and things to do?" followed by something like "Great, I'll add your email to the app we use to send that to you, if that's ok with you."
I don't know if that's exactly correct, but I think there must be some kind of consent beyond 'Yes, I want info'.
7 years
If a hostel doesn't want to violate EU day a protection laws, so before sharing any guest data with your system, we have to ask the a guest to sign an agreement that we have his/her permission to do that. It is quite complicated. And, in my opinion, the best way is just to recommend your system to guests, and let them register in the system by themselves. This will solve two main problems, 1) the mentioned data protection laws and 2) if guests will not be happy with their stay in the next hostel, the previous hostel reputation won't be damaged by that.
But in this case that means that we recommend one OTA, ignoring others, and it's not good. Obviously we won't do that. Also for us is more beneficial to be a part of a local system/network as, for example, REAJ or ISIC, than promote for free a new system.
Sooner or later you will need money to support your system. So I don't believe that there never will be any commission or membership fees.
7 years
It's actually quite simple. We are creating digital sign up forms. I'm curious about the data you collect at check-in in Europe, but in South America, across the board, all hostels take pasport scans, contact info, etc. Sometimes the receptionist types it directly into a computer; othertimes the guest writes it on a custom Guest Info form; still others use big guest registration books.
Chasqui will build customized landing pages for each of the participating hostels that will have your individual rules, disclosures, check-out policies, etc. On this form, it will include a check box for the data share opt in. Thus, in concert with your staff/receptionist alerting the guest to your ability to provide info on future hostels, there is an immediate 1-2 punch to get them opted in. So you abide by the regulatroy requirements.
You won't be recommending an OTA. You're providing concierge services to your guests via your network (maybe you could look at this as YOUR OWN OTA?). I am believe we should include a 1-2% referral commission for the referring hostel.
7 years
How does everyone feel about the concept of using a digital sign-in form when guests arrive? It will capture all the necessary info, show your house rules and regulations, store all of your information (and share it to authorities if you so require/want it) and provide the opt-in option to comply with privacy regulations.
SilverSeagull: you've posted twice and haven't responded or acknowledged either of my replies to your comments. I would love to have an actual discussion about these options as it's your business I'm trying to help/work with. I look forward to contining the discussion at your leisure.
7 years
1) This is a forum, and we are not obligated to continue the discussion if we do not want or do not have enough time. 2) Your idea is too raw in all aspects, even in basics how it have to work, so I still don't see any subject for discussion here. For example, you say about centralised system with pricing, so you need an integration with main channel managers and PMS/booking systems (because the majorty of hostels won't introduce prices in you system manually), and it's an imposible amount of work for a start-up with no funds. Or, for example, in a big city there could be at least several hundred of hostels, even if 5-10% of them will participate in your system, you can't recommend them all, how you are going to share traffic/clients. Etc. 3) Not only legal issues (as data privacy) are preoccupying. Recommending your OTA (channel, or whatever you call your start-up) to clients, which come from other OTAs, will lead us to problems with these OTAs. And I don't see any reason to choose your OTA over others. Yes, your comission will be lower (at least at the beginning), but you never will be able to provide us with as many customers as, for example, Booking does. 4) Every year at least several new start-ups appear (with different contexts: OTA, cashback systems, hostel associations, student discounters, etc), but I still didn't see any them to succeed. That's why I don't see any reason to do free marketing for a new start-up, I prefer to invest in fidelization of my clients.
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