When you leave a review on Hostel World, does the owner know WHO left it?

Every review on HW (with a comment or without) is linked to the reservation, so the hostel will always know who left it.

It is very common for people to resist leaving a bad review because they have made friends with the staff and don’t want to offend them. More precisely, people are willing to overlook shortcomings of a hostel if they had a great time with the staff and other guests. That’s just the sign of a good staff and a good atmosphere. I think that if someone is truly dissatisfied with a hostel but they have made friends with the staff, then they are probably more likely to leave no review at all than one that is exaggeratedly high.

Thanks for clarifying. HW can act a as a gate keeper to only allow guests to leave comments, but hostel shouldn't be able to see WHO left it. What you described is just what I suspected given the nature its visible to the hostel. As a customer, I'd like to see undistorted truth. When people refrain from leaving less than swell reviews, it tends to distort the big picture. Reviews are, just that. Not scrapbooks of positive reviews.

I stayed at St Christopher Hostel in London once, I wrote a review and mentioned that the French member of staff was very rude, and was only focused on talking to women (that is pet hate of mine).

About 3 weeks later, I returned to that hostel, and the manager recognised me from my previous stays, and the review of course. She pulled me up in front of staff including, the one I wrote about in the review, and asked me who exactly I was refering to, etc. I didn't want to say in front of everyone, including the French staff, so I just flaffed it and said something else. I didn't like that.