Hostelbookers and Rough Guides announce partnership
Rough Guides has announced Hostelbookers as a new accommodation provider on roughguides.com.
Congratulations to Hostelbookers and to Rough Guides on the partnership!
The deal means Rough Guide users can now search and book more than 20,000 accommodation options in 3,500 locations worldwide including campsites, self-catering apartments, B&B’s, guesthouses, hostels and budget hotels.
Notice they did not say, “20,000 hostels.” Just above the search area on the Rough Guides site it says, “Search and book over 20,000 value-for-money properties in more than 3500 locations worldwide, from boutique hotels in Tuscany to loft hostels in New York to family cabins in Iceland.” Nicely put.
What made Rough Guides pick HB?
A recent Hostelbookers survey found more than 40% of respondents were aged 30-plus, with 50% aged 21 to 29. Rough Guides’ core demographic is aged 25 to 45.
That's interesting info on HB's demographics. The percentage of 30+ travelers is higher than might be expected. Why would that be?
Is it purely a coincidence that so many of the respondents were over 30?
Are older and/or more experienced backpackers drawn to HB?
Are these respondents backpackers at all? Maybe more people over 30 are booking with HB because they're looking for a different type of budget accommodation and know they can find it there? (As stated before, HB describes the various accommodation options that they list. They're not just lumping them all under the false title of "hostel" - unlike some other sites that boast "25,000 hostels in 180 countries" and then offer a list of hotels)
Does this survey even represent HB's real customer demographics?
13 years
Another theory:
Since HB does not charge a booking fee and has better exchange rates, they are less expensive than other booking engines. Older travelers care more about the savings than younger ones, because they're spending their own money instead of charging it to their parents' credit card.
13 years
HostelBookers was happy to answer when I asked them about the survey.
It is important to note that the figures you mention are not necessarily a complete reflection of our customer demographic, more that this is the % breakdown of survey respondents (ie. it may well be that older people are more inclined to fill in surveys than youngsters and this could skew the figures somewhat).
Over 15,000 people completed the questionnaire. That may not be an exact representation of their total demographics, but it’s certainly a respectable sample.
Regarding the results, they had some theories to offer as well:
In all honesty the difference in demographics could be down to any number of reasons, from the feel of the site, to the fact that we have never marketed aggressively to students. I think that one conclusion that you can definitely draw from the fact that 60% of our respondents are also under 29 is that we have a very diverse customer base and in appealing to a broad customer base HostelBookers is in a very strong position to reach our long term growth plans.
Very true indeed. And regardless of whether they’re young or old, Rough Guides can now lead their online readers directly to our doorsteps the moment that they feel inspired to travel. Let the bookings begin!
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