Backpackers are increasingly turning to the Internet for their travel information. The Internet can be the main source of bookings for a hostel in a popular location.
What are some effective ways to use the Internet to market a hostel?
A few ideas to start:
Other ideas? Comments? Post below.
17 years
I think some hotels are starting to test the hostel business. I've talked to one resort company that was contemplating about opening a hostel, though I haven't heard anything about it for over a year. There is another European hotel chain that is going into hostels, but the name is escaping me at the moment -- I will try to find the article.
The uncensored reviews on Hostelworld was a good idea...
17 years
I think some hotels are starting to test the hostel business. I've talked to one resort company that was contemplating about opening a hostel, though I haven't heard anything about it for over a year. There is another European hotel chain that is going into hostels, but the name is escaping me at the moment -- I will try to find the article.
I think they´re still too narrow-minded to grasp the concept of "hostels". However, I notice that there are more and more hostel owners willing to buy wisdom and offer quite amazing salaries to people with experience as hostel managers. Good news for me! :)
The uncensored reviews on Hostelworld was a good idea...
I have molested them for quite some time with it. I´m very happy they finally changed this. It´s good for the travellers, so it´s also good for Hostelworld.
17 years
Three years ago I joined up with most of the booking engines at that time. Most were a complete waste of time generating zero bookings.
I am happy that I am now only with 3:-
Hostelworld - only because it provides more bookings than the competition.
Hostelbookers - who seemed to have a good 2007. In 2006 they produced only 20% of the bookings of Hostelworld, in 2007 this rose to 70%.
GOMIO - because European hostels really ought to support them and they say they are now the cheapest with only a 5% booking fee.
17 years
Hostelbookers 70% of Hostelworld??? That´s stunning, here it´s more like 7%... (will look up exact figures on Monday).
We work with Hostelworld, Hostelbookers and Hostelsclub in all 3 hostels. We tried Gomio last year in Munich - 17 bookings in 6 months - ridiculous. We gave Haystack a test run in Vienna this year, same result.
OK, Gomio is really the chepest now but I still don´t buy into the "fair trading beds" stuff. We´re not Mexican coffee farmers who really need that sort of thing. That claim insults real fair trade IMHO.
17 years
Interesting stuff. I wish I could spend more time on the web to find gossip like that.
It is just our luck that Hostels are a niche market. Besides, the guys with the big money still think about it as a rather uninteresting one where no (or very little) money can be made.
When big hotel chains like Accor decide to move into that market we´ll be fucked.
When Google and LP decide to team up to attack Hostelworld they´re fucked, too.
If you look at it from the travellers´ end Hostelworld is a great tool. It makes the market 100% transparent. Nearly all hostels allocate beds to it, you can compare prices (and what you get for your money) in a matter of minutes. I use it all the time when I travel. They have uncensored reviews now (at last!) and probably more than all other booking sites combined.
We had a big debate here before we decided to put Hostelworld behind our own website instead of our own email inquiry form. I thought giving away 10% of our revenues is a big waste, but the owners, who worked in Hotels before, thought 10% is a bargain compared to hotel booking sites, where 20% are common. We have now three full-time employees doing nothing else than email and phone reservations. Without sites like hostelworld, which save a tremendous amount of stupid work, there would be at least six of them.
Still - Hostelworld needs more serious competition. I think they could do very well with only 5% (and no booking fees) as well.
i think accor own the 'base x' chain in oz/nz.
17 years
i think accor own the 'base x' chain in oz/nz.
I didn´t know that. There was gossip a few years ago about Base Backpackers willing to buy hostels all over Europe - it never happened, but it seems everybody is waiting for something like that.
We won´t let the BORG assimilate us, innit? ;)
17 years
I just looked it up and found these articles:
http://www.asiatraveltips.com/travelnews04/77Sydney.shtml
http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2004_3rd/Jul04_SydneyBase.html
17 years
XML is a type of data that they export from their system that you can incorporate into your Web site programs. It can make it look like you have your own booking engine on your Web site (at your own URL), even though you are going through Hostelworld's system. That is probably what all the booking engines would need to do to be able to make a meta engine possible.
I wouldn't be surprised if Google builds a travel Web site...
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060417-091220There was some talk about partnership between Google, LP, and Travelocity:
http://www.hostelmanagement.com/sections/hostel-news/lonely-planet-google-and-travelocity-to-partnerI don't think Hostelworld is a bad thing. They send a lot of bookings to the hostels. If it weren't Hostelworld, it would be someone else. They have definitely dominated the industry though and made it difficult for others to break in. They are better than some of the hotel booking engines which take an incredible booking commission -- I can't remember the exact number that I heard recently. It might have been something like $25 (USD) minimum commission on a room, even if your rooms are only selling for $60 per night.
Well, I'd like to tell you a story instead. Here in Hungary we no fast food restaurants 20 years ago due to the Iron Curtain. We had nice little family restaurants instead. Since changing of the system, we have McDonalds, Burger King, KFC almost every corner. Guess how many people are eating in those little places with loads of atmosphere?
As you can see, relating to the new trends of travelling, Hostelworld is more oriented to offer Hotels instead of Hostels, obviously because they get more commission of it. As Hostelworld originally was based on serving low-budget tourists (they had the maximum 3 star hotels listed) , Boo.com is open for the 4-5 star hotels as well. If, let say, all your "rollie-pollies" (those guests who rather use the rolling cases instead of backpacks) would stay in hotels instead, how many people would stay in your hostel?
17 years
Since changing of the system, we have McDonalds, Burger King, KFC almost every corner. Guess how many people are eating in those little places with loads of atmosphere?
People prefer to eat in McDonalds and Burger King than the small restaurants?
That's really interesting... one of the other projects I'm working on now is helping "buy local" organizations promote local businesses. In smaller towns like this we have a lot of big "box stores" moving in that hurt the local businesses. The small businesses close down because they can't compete, and we are just left with Walmart and Target -- then the town starts to look like anywhere else in the USA.
17 years
People prefer to eat in McDonalds and Burger King than the small restaurants?
That's really interesting... one of the other projects I'm working on now is helping "buy local" organizations promote local businesses. In smaller towns like this we have a lot of big "box stores" moving in that hurt the local businesses. The small businesses close down because they can't compete, and we are just left with Walmart and Target -- then the town starts to look like anywhere else in the USA.
That is a big unfortunate, although understandable in a sense... As a FastFoodNation is more likely FasFoodPopulation, it is a process everywhere around the world. You get the "same" identity, quality, price anywhere you got into a fastfood shop, it is the same cult growing in shopping, as well travelling, etc. This is how big hostel chains growing these days, you can almost travel around Western-Europe staying in the same named hostel, getting the same services, almost like at an identical twin's house.
This could be a safety issue although a bit boring as well... but also makes up a standard, as you trust it more then trying a new one... Which is risky, but way before that was the adventurous part of backpacking. :(
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