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Hostel World - Hostel or guesthouse?

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DonnaDE started this discussion 9 years 5 months ago

Hi all,

Hostel World are giving me a headache!! They are saying to list my property as a hostel, I need to have a common kitchen, but that to list as a guesthouse, we can't sell dormitory beds. We have a closed kitchen (we allow guests to use the fridge, but otherwise guests need to eat outside or order delivery). Our kitchen is UGLY which is the main reason we're not wanting to put photos of it up on HW.

What would you do in this situation? My HW contact says that they need photos of my common kitchen in order to activate my property on HW (which I don't want to be used to advertise the hostel!), but if I don't have a common kitchen/don't send photos of the common kitchen then they will only list me as a B&B and sell rooms, not beds!

Why can't there be some middle ground?! What would you do?

Donna

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Josh Hostels

9 years

They are saying to list my property as a hostel, I need to have a common kitchen, but that to list as a guesthouse, we can't sell dormitory beds.

That's strange. I know hostels that don't have common kitchens (or even kitchens at all). I would call a property that has shared accommodation for individual travelers a hostel, and anything else a hotel or guesthouse. Their definitions aren't accurate.

In Japan, for example, you can find many guesthouses with a small dorm room.

Here is a hostel with no common kitchen:
http://www.waikikibeachsidehostel.com/

I can also think of ones that have no kitchen.

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anicholsb

9 years

We're on hostelworld and they didn't require a picture of the kitchen, but we started using them over a year ago. Maybe it's changed? I agree with Hostels, their definition is not accurate.

I had a lot of trouble signing up with Expedia because they hadn't really worked with hostels before. I finally asked to speak to a supervisor until I was moved up the chain enough for someone to fix the problem and make an exception. Sometimes the person you're speaking to is going off a check list and when something doesn't fit properly they become completely lost. Good Luck!

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Rucksack Brian

9 years

Did you manage to get listed as a hostel in the end?

Just thinking through the situation, if you only let your guests use the refrigerator, then you could argue that it IS their common kitchen. Would one of these ideas work?

Take a nice artistic picture of the fridge where the background fades away out of focus. (Many cameras do this automatically, or you can use a photo editor afterwords)
Open up the fridge and empty it out. Then take a picture of the inside with a little sign that says “You can put your food here!”
Snap a photo of someone smiling at the camera as they pull out their leftover take-out container.

Those all sounds like legitimate kitchen photos that accurately reflect what the guests will get without showcasing any unnecessary ugly. Maybe that would be enough to satisfy your HW contact?

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elif

9 years

Yes 1 year ago they didnt ask very details they normally are changed some procedures and please try to say we dont have kitchen to use for guests if you give the breakfast just say breakfast or you can have a hostel without the breakfast too.
This is your hostel you can decide we just give some opinions.
Some hostels are nt hostels just 1 room of the house so Hostelworld has got some rights to ask too.If some people want to rent just 1 room in their home it means Air B&B not hostel it s clear isnt it?

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