Hi,
Anyone ever hear of overflow control? Airlines do it. Airlines direct customers to other airlines when they overbook. Independant hostels may do the same. Yes, all hostels in the area are your competition. Its not a bad thing though. Swap information with them. Tell them that you will direct guests over to them if overbooking or fully booking happens. Ask them to do the same for you. This way its a win / win / win situation for the guest, your competition and yourself.
Please remember to seperate the term COMPETITION and ENEMY. They are different. You can still work together with the competition. You cant work together with the enemy.
17 years
Good point Tom. Having a contact with a few hotels in the area can be beneficial as well. The hostel I worked in in London had a lot of walk ins looking for single rooms, which we didn't have. So we had an agreement with a hotel up the road to direct these guests their way and if they stayed the night we received 5 pounds. Nice little earner just for giving directions :)
17 years
What I was talking about was for the smaller hostels. Sometimes during low season some hostels are full and some arent. During those times its good to help out someone or be helped. It always ends up being a 2 way street.
14 years
In addition to this good suggestion, I would recommend that competitor hostels in one area or city to avoid a bloody "price war" that would be bad for all in terms of decent profitability... in fact, is it a good idea to perhaps even organiza a hostels association in a city or area, so they can do joint marketing efforts of the whole area's tourism potentials and even lobby for government help to improve infrastructures, transport links, facilities, etc?
I think cooperation is good option for a win-win situation, because theworld is so huge and there are so many guests worldwide anyway...
Agree, cooperation and assist each other, good thought there that competitor is not enemy...
What I was talking about was for the smaller hostels. Sometimes during low season some hostels are full and some arent. During those times its good to help out someone or be helped. It always ends up being a 2 way street.
13 years
yea competition only when beds > clients, in rome or other hot cities hostels are seller power market. Union's better to set higher common price and mutual overflow aids.
if high competition exists this way of strategy obvsly will fail! price/quality rate is the only survival way isnt it?
13 years
In addition to this good suggestion, I would recommend that competitor hostels in one area or city to avoid a bloody "price war" that would be bad for all in terms of decent profitability...
This is illegal in many jurisdictions. Whether you are a small hostel or a big chain of thousand of hotel properties, price collusion and similar arrangements can entail fines and other legal troubles.
13 years
This is illegal in many jurisdictions. Whether you are a small hostel or a big chain of thousand of hotel properties, price collusion and similar arrangements can entail fines and other legal troubles.
Hahahaha
Tell that to the oil and gas industry.
11 years
When our hostel just opened, we thought it will become a challenge to compete with a much older hostel just aroun the corner.
But it turned out that our target groups are slightly bit different, and we can be partners in terms of overbooking collapses. We don't communicate very often with that hostel, but we can be 100% sure that if our hostel is overbooked, we can offer a nice place to stay just two steps away from us.
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