I have been in the business for more years than I like to remember, in the early days, (whoops showing my age again) backpacking was about a pack and a sleeping bag, with hostels on the whole being very, very basic, as the years go on our guests have become more demanding but still want to pay nothing for quality accommodation, this is especially true in Asia and the America's where the common perception is you can live like a king for the price of a bowl of rice, while I appreciate over the last 10 years or so, our now guests have become more aware of their rights they seem to have lost sight of the value of a local currency, so much so they arrive at venues demanding the world and finding fault just so they can 'big' it up with the mates on line and via review sites.
After all that hot air I will get to the point of this post I would like to investigate the viability of setting up a simple 'star' rating system, where guests can see in advance what they can expect from a hostel, if they then want (or can only afford) a tin hut in the jungle then the venue would fall into the lowest of stars while those that try to add value and descent accommodation to the guests experience get higher ratings. I believe both guests and hostels would benefit from such a scheme.
It could run on the lines of the European Hotelstars Union see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_rating
Would any one else like to take this forward?
10 years
The variety of a hostel business could be so different. A small hostel could be an excellent hostel, but it never comes with a swimming pool.
When a guest chooses a hostel, they probably trust the rating and word-of-mouth of others rather than an unknown star system. The effort to make the star system well recognized by the industry will be huge.
10 years
I appreciate the work could be extensive, as with any rating system surely the initial agreement on what the stars/diamonds or backpacks relate to is the only real work, once a standard is agreed then hostels would rate themselves against a list of requirements to meet the pre set rating.
You will note that the European star rating system (See half way down the page:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_rating)could be the starting point and we could use this as a guide and simply alter it to reflect more closely the attributes of Hostels/dorms.
The question is do hostels want a rating system or are the lines between hostels, hotels and guest houses to narrow to allow the industry to have its own identity?
10 years
I’ve been thinking on this problem for some time with regards to our own rating system on Open Travel Exchange. We’re more concerned right now with getting enough hostels on board to provide a viable alternative to Hostelworld, so we haven’t spent a lot of development time on it.
That said, I do think it is important to have reviews. But it would be very useful, as christ1 says, to have some way to set expectations, as they try to do with the hotel star system.
One idea we’ve been playing around with is to provide a list of terms that can be used to describe a hostel, and then let the customer choose which terms best describe the hostel and then tag the hostel with those terms.
For example, in addition to the normal review process that we’re all familiar with, we give them an extra step by asking them to perform the following task:
Click on the following words that best describe the hostel:
-Party
-Quiet
-Basic
-Luxury
-Boutique
-etc
-etc
-etc
There are little tricks that can be used to make sure that people are being honest, like how shrinks use flash cards, or randomizing the order to take out bias. The terms aren’t necessarily negative or positive, but descriptive in helping to match future customers to the right hostel, which is ultimately the goal of a hotel like star system—setting the right expectations.
This is just an idea we’ve had. It’s certainly a hard problem, setting the right customer expectations. But open discussions like this are certainly helpful in coming up with good ideas.
-Brant
10 years
Would the easiest option be to ask your members to complete a questionnaire where they choose in their opinion what would warrant a single star, to the maximum 4-5 stars. (I do believe we should use an alternative system to stars, something that reflects our industry e.g. backpacks 1-5).
The following is from the single star threshold used by Europe's 'Hostelstar Union' (see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_rating)our alternative could be that detailed in the (brackets)
100% of the rooms with shower/WC or bath tub/WC (shared bathrooms with either shower or bath with hold and cold water)
Daily room cleaning (Daily Dorm cleaning)
100% of the rooms with colour-TV together with remote control (Common area has Colour TV)
Table and chair (common area has separate seating and table areas)
Soap or body wash (not applicable)
Reception service (reception check in service)
Facsimile at the reception (same)
Publicly available telephone for guests (Wi-Fi)
Extended breakfast (this could possibly be on a 3-5 star bases)
Beverage offer in the hotel (Bar facility with hot and cold beverages and drinks)
Deposit possibility
We could add other minimum requirements e.g. lockers available, linen provided, towels to rent etc.
As your company has already a number of venues using your booking system if you and your partners were to instigate such a standard it could lend weight to the scheme and allow it to roll out, internationally very quickly?
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