Hostelworld - Pay your way up the ranking ladder

Here are two previous discussions about the Elevate program:

Hostelworld's new ELEVATE program
Hostelworld - Boost your bookings with Elevate

One thing that has changed from the two previous discussions is the way that HW will collect the commission. As John pointed out, it looks like HW will now simply collect the full amount from the guest with a variable "deposit" percentage instead of taking it from your bank account after the guest arrives. This makes sense, because the "deposit" is non-refundable, and they can collect it at the time the booking is made rather than waiting for the guest to arrive, pay you for the booking, and then transfer the money to HW.

There is a movement right now among hostels encouraging everyone to include the commission in the listing price on HW. It will be very interesting to see how this would change the Elevate program. If the hostel won't lose any money on the commission anymore, then why not bid the maximum amount? It will shoot you to the top of the list and get you great exposure. The guest will ultimately book directly with you anyway because they'll save 15/20/45% on the booking that way. (Remind all your guests: "Book direct and SAVE!")

Sorry for the confusion. The method you described IS how it works worldwide.

What I was referring to was a statement in a previous post about how the money would change hands if the “service fee” that the hostel owes to HW were higher than the “deposit” that HW collects from a guest. (As I thought was the case with the Elevate program) According to the Appendix in the contract, HW would collect the difference from the hostel’s bank account.

However, it seems that HW have chosen a different tactic. It appears that they decided to simply raise the deposit percentage that the guest pays so that they can collect the money immediately (as Hostellier mentioned). So if the hostel “elevates” their commission to 15% to get a better listing position, the guest will have to pay a 15% deposit.