Report

Hostelworld Is Sorting Hotels and B&Bs Above Hostels

Hostel Trends and News

Josh started this discussion 12 years 5 months ago

I've noticed that Hostelworld.com is not only listing non-hostels in the default views, but it is sorting non-hostels above hostels.

The screenshot below is from London, where Hostelworld lists 94 hostels. Despite that large number of hostels in London, Hostelworld also lists 56 hotels, 18 B&Bs, and 20 apartments in the default view.

When I sort by rating, the #1 property is not a hostel.
#2, #3, and #4 are hostels.
#5 and #6 are hotels.
Etc.

Another example is in Dublin where HW lists 32 hostels at the moment. Instead of just listing those 32 hostels, they also list 58 B&Bs, 23 hotels, and 6 apartments. That means that a hostel isn't just competing with 31 other hostels, but with 118 other accommodation providers, most of which are not hostels. And this is on what is seen by many travelers as "the hostel booking site".

Hostels do a service to hostel booking sites by allocating beds, and the hostels made Hostelworld what it is today. Why should hostels now be competing at a disadvantage with non-hostels in their own niche? In my opinion, listing non-hostels above hostels should not be accepted by hostels. I think that hostels should always be vigilant that they are not being used by hostel booking sites as a tool primarily to upsell hotels.

Have you noticed this, and what do you think?

Comments

Report

HostelOffice

11 years

As Rafael states "Invest in your own website and SEO"

This is part of the solution we provide to hostels worldwide and many gain over 100% increase in revenue in the first year of working with us. We charge less than $2000 a year and have enabled hostels to double their income. 25% increase could be $25,000 or $250,000 a year depending on the size of your hostel.

It is not Hostelworld that is hurting your business. Hostels are doing it to themselves by putting more effort listing with as many agents as possible rather than putting effort in to their website and processes that support direct bookings. We give free SEO to users of our software. People pay more than $2000 a year just on SEO or Adwords and it is all not as effective unless they have our software to manage and enable the increase in bookings.

We have a heap of videos found here that help explain what are doing for hostels worldwide. HostelOffice Films

Report

Hostelzoo

11 years

This issue is something we overlooked in our initial development but it's also imperative to keeping a focus on what we actually do - comparing "hostels", along with reducing the number of steps in the search process and enhancing the UX.

Thanks for a great forum topic and as a result we've just changed the default city view to populate only hostels at the top of the page, and bunch hotels, apartments & other accommodation underneath (see screenshot). NB: Users looking for properties other than hostels can still filter results by refining their search and unchecking the "hostels" box.

Of course we have no control over property integrity (that lies with our booking partners) so if we receive the property type as a hostel, we list it as is. However, it's also worth noting that we've discovered a bunch of hostels that have mistakenly not listed as "hostels" and so the results may be a little off in some cities. Search your city now to check your listing is correct. Also happy to receive feedback and thoughts on our solution in this forum.

Report

Josh Hostels

11 years

as a result we've just changed the default city view to populate only hostels at the top of the page, and bunch hotels, apartments & other accommodation underneath (see screenshot)

That's great. I think that hostels should support hostel websites that put genuine hostels first.

From a quick look, I see a couple of non-hostels (no shared rooms) that are using the "hostel" name. But that is the fault of the booking sites for not verifying the properties. I'll send you a message.

I wonder if those properties could be filtered out by a script that checks whether the property has allocated any dorm beds within the past six months. I think that all hostel booking websites should add a verification feature like that. Also, watch out for things like Hostelworld's "one-bed mixed dorms". :)

Report

easy7

11 years

maybe you should also make sure, that you do not support bull.... price listings in your system - eg in berlin a hostel is shown with 6.50€ on your citysite for a private - if you click the hostel, the private turns out to be a dorm with private bath - for 9€!

Report

StevenMarinello

11 years

Well, that's a good deal for me. I may be accommodating with this hotel with my family for the next month to come. We'll have a family vacation and we need such deals for our stay. Thanks for it by the way. (Sorry for posting on an old thread.) ;)

Search form

Report 'Hostelworld Is Sorting Hotels and B&Bs Above Hostels'?

Report 'Re: Hostelworld Is Sorting Hotels and B&Bs Above Hostels'?

Report 'Re: Hostelworld Is Sorting Hotels and B&Bs Above Hostels'?

Report 'Re: Hostelworld Is Sorting Hotels and B&Bs Above Hostels'?

Report 'Re: Hostelworld Is Sorting Hotels and B&Bs Above Hostels'?

Report 'Re: Hostelworld Is Sorting Hotels and B&Bs Above Hostels'?

Pages

Join the world's largest community of hostel professionals.

Check Your Email