Hostel Videos

Well I guess the style of videos can vary a lot between different hostels and also promotional videos will be more upbeat than a video that supplements an independent review.

Basically the videos on BUG are not music videos and we're not trying to compete with MTV. There will be some background music but I doubt we would have any techno, more like something low key in the background just to make it feel a bit polished.

Unlike the promotional videos, we won't have happy people jumping around. Our videos are just a supplement to the reviews and will basically consist of panoramic shots of the outside of the hostel, the common areas and a dorm.

I don't mind the upbeat music video style, but it just wouldn't fit in with the style of an independent review. Besides it would be too much work, which is a big consideration when I have hundreds of hostel videos to produce.

Has anyone tried uploading videos of their hostel to LonelyPlanet.tv?

Looks great. I think it's the most useful kind of hostel video that I've seen on a booking site.

I wanted to add a detailed example to this forum thread on how hostel videos can be used to gain additional exposure on the Web.

This technique was mentioned in my 10 Hostel (and hotel) Marketing Tips post as well as introduced in my free hostel marketing ebook.

Google has something called "Universal Search" which means that if you make videos and publish them on the major video sharing sites, Google (and now other search engines) may embed your videos in the search results.

If you put the name of your hostel in the title of the video, your video may get inserted in the search results when people search for your specific hostel. Here is an example:

[It says hotel above, but the property has dorm beds also.]

If you have a strong brand name that you want backpackers to remember, this video is a great opportunity to make a sales pitch that will make the viewers remember your brand.

Tips on producing hostel videos:

• Put the hostel's name and city in the title of the video
• Put the hostel's name and city in the description
• Make the first two sentences of the video's description read well because it may end up as the text snippet in the search results. For example, on youTube, the meta description tag is taken from the text description of the video. As mentioned in my free ebook, the meta description tag generally becomes the text snippet in the search engine results.
• watermark the entire length of the video with the URL of your home page
• Put a link to your hostel's Web site in the video description
• You could even add your phone number to the video's description -- be sure to use Skype format so that users with the Skype toolbar will be able to immediately click the phone number and call the hostel. E.g., +1 (555) 555-5555