Facebook as a booking source for hostels

I'd think for us FB is just a way of keeping past guests who are interested informed about goings on here. I see it as another marketing channel, and as it's free there is no sense in not using it. In the past year it has been the 8th highest referring site to our web page. As it is free to have a web link to our site on facebook it makes a lot of sense to have it. Tripadvisor want I think something like €35 per month just to have a link and phone number, which for our size of business seems totally out of proportion.

I could certainly imagine some people making a booking on FB, although at the moment I think it would be a small number - I think this will increase in the future though. I have no idea how one would go about getting a booking form onto a hostels FB page.

My guess is that a major boost to Facebook would be HW integrating FB on their pages (like allowing guests to login with their Facebook accounts, or creating links to hostels' FB pages on HW).

I don’t know if this is really a weakness or not, because through that network you end up with fewer but more qualified sales leads. This takes us back to the idea that FB’s benefit to hostels comes from past guests referring new guests to you. Every time a backpacker goes to a new hostel and makes friends they’re going to want to add them on FB. Many backpackers follow similar routes when they travel, so there’s a strong potential for those new friends to come through your city too. They see that their new friend “likes” your hostel and they see the tagged photos that look like everyone’s having a good time. They don’t have to go searching through a directory to find you, because you’re already showing up in their news feed. They don’t even have to remember your hostel’s name – just their friend’s.

I've added a LOT of people I've met on my travels - including over the past month in cambodia and laos - and if i check their FB pages nowhere do I see anything about the hostels theyve stayed in. THAT, as i see it is the problem. its not that there isnt the potential for leads, its that the nature of FB pages themselves means i need to investigate in order to gain the information i want. HW/HB etc however have sites that are designed (and thats a very important factor) to show you the options available, they make it as easy as humanly possible. for FB, its just one more little bit of info in amongst a hell of a lot of unrelated stuff.

yes more and more people are using the 'where are you' sort of apps (something i personally find very creepy) which can drive people; 'so and so is at hostel XYZ' etc and if that increases then FB could become a major booking source. but like so many techy things, I get the impression people are getting too excited about the 'potential' of a website rather than the actual function. FB itself has been valued at what, 50 billion? and not a single person anywhere could reasonably explain WHY its worth that much. potential is potential, its not the reality. i remember predicting the dotcom collapse when i was a teenager (my dad made some good money off that) because i for the life of me couldnt figure out how any of these companies would ever actually make any money.

will FB and social networking play an increasing role in the hostel industry? of course it will. im just yet to see how exactly it'll do it.

FB itself has been valued at what, 50 billion? and not a single person anywhere could reasonably explain WHY its worth that much.

It's probably highly overvalued, but they do have good monetization opportunities:

• Facebook makes money from highly targeted advertising.
• They are making money from online gaming where users buy credits to use on Facebook games.
• They sell your personal data behind the scenes. Forget traditional market research--Facebook knows things about us that we don't even know. :) They even track people as they browse other websites. The value of this kind of data about people from all over the world is enormous. Now people make Facebook pages for their babies. It's cradle-to-grave consumer tracking, by interests, friends, family, facial recognition (tagging), inner thoughts (wall posts, private correspondence), "likes", shopping choices ("check-ins"), Web browsing habits, and GPS (mobile app).

its the new big thing but nobody can really explain how or why or even what its actually doing for hostels (or any business, as the article says). is it just an extension of word of mouth? is it something more? seems like nobody really knows, its just the 'next big thing'.

The main benefits I've seen are a magnification of word-of-mouth, and being able to reach "influencers" (business networking that would be impossible without social media). I think that's most people don't use it to its full potential (including many social media marketers)...