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Where to market your hostel

Internet Marketing

Josh started this discussion 18 years 2 months ago

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:

Hostel booking engines such as WRI (Hostelworld), Hostelbookers, Hostelsclub, and other hostel booking engines (which will be covered in detail here: http://www.hostelmanagement.com/sections/marketing/booking-services)
Building an effective web site (which will also be covered in more depth here: http://www.hostelmanagement.com/sections/marketing/web-sites)
Search engine optimization: making sure that backpackers can find your web site when they search for it in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This reduces the booking commisions of up to 10% that have to be paid to affiliate booking companies.

Other ideas? Comments? Post below.

Comments

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santa klaus

17 years

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?

If there´s really a "new trend in travelling" why would it be Hostelworld´s fault?

I´m not telling our guests they´re not "real backpackers" because they use rolling cases. What´s the "real backpacker" myth about anyway (let´s start a thread in off-topic-chat about this). I doubt that just because they haven´t got backpacks they´d rather stay in 4-5 star hotels. I wouldn´t worry to compete with these on Hostelworld.com.

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santa klaus

17 years

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. :(

Reply here:
http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forum/showthread.php?p=449#post449

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Tim

17 years

Hostelbookers 70% of Hostelworld??? That´s stunning, here it´s more like 7%... (will look up exact figures on Monday).

We use both HostelWorld and Hostelbookers for hostel bookings on BUG. We probably have more HostelWorld hostels on the site, yet we have around five times more bookings coming through Hostelbookers.

We will most likely drop HostelWorld altogether by next summer so we can advertise that all the hostels that can be booked through BUG will have no booking fee.

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santa klaus

17 years

We use both HostelWorld and Hostelbookers for hostel bookings on BUG. We probably have more HostelWorld hostels on the site, yet we have around five times more bookings coming through Hostelbookers.

In Vienna, you have 4 hostels to be booked with Hostelworld and 8 for Hostelbookers.
In Munich it´s Hostelbookers 10:2 Hostelworld.

We will most likely drop HostelWorld altogether by next summer so we can advertise that all the hostels that can be booked through BUG will have no booking fee.

OK, so you can advertise that, but many hostels have better rates on Hostelworld. So the advertisement is misleading.

Example:
I just checked for rates in some London hostels for December 10.

Globetrotter Inn, 6-bed mixed dorm
Hostelworld: £ 8.50
Hostelbookers: £ 19.00

St Christopher´s Village, 10-bed mixed dorm
Hostelworld: £ 12.50
Hostelbookers: £ 17.00

Kind of pointless to save £ 1.00 booking fee on Hostelbookers, when the same bed can be had for less than half the price on Hostelworld.

That´s exactly why I wouldn´t favor a particular booking site, but try to come up with a meta-booking-site which compares prices of all the sites.

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Tim

17 years

In Vienna, you have 4 hostels to be booked with Hostelworld and 8 for Hostelbookers.
In Munich it´s Hostelbookers 10:2 Hostelworld.

Well our system gives preference to Hostelbookers so if a hostel is with both then the booking goes to Hostelbookers. I don't like the idea about a booking fee and besides Hostelbookers pay a bigger commission and HostelWorld are becoming too much like a competitor.

Hostelbookers does have a lot of hostels in the bigger cities, but in smaller towns and outside Europe HostelWorld has a much bigger selection. But the large number of Hostelbookers bookings compared with HostelWorld could have something to do with them having the hostels in the places where people are more likely to book.

OK, so you can advertise that, but many hostels have better rates on Hostelworld.

That's funny, because Hostelbookers advertise "Guaranteed lowest cost hostel booking" on their site. I guess booking sites have limited control of what prices they allocate their beds for. If I were running a hostel I would sell my beds for the full price to everyone.

That´s exactly why I wouldn´t favor a particular booking site, but try to come up with a meta-booking-site which compares prices of all the sites.

Well coming up with a meta-booking site sounds like a lot of expensive custom programming, but it certainly has its advantages. I will ask the guy who wrote our review system to see how much something like this would cost.

There would be many issues here as hostels in smaller countries may list their prices in different currencies on different booking engines so it may be difficult to compare them properly. Also we have a policy of having all prices quoted on our site in the local currency inclusive of taxes. But many hostels advertise tax exclusive prices in a currency that they don't accept to appear cheaper on the booking sites (which is illegal in Australia).

Another thing is that a co-branded booking site appears to the traveller like they are booking directly through BUG. When a traveller has a problem they come to me and it is difficult to tell who to refer the enquiry to if the hostel could have been booked through multiple sites. I can provide much better customer service if I stick with one booking service.

I have put in thousands and thousands of hours into BUG and it has more original content than any of the other review sites (especially for Europe, Aust and NZ). Furthermore we are the only major hostel review site that is completely independent (ie. no hostel descriptions written by the hostel, everything is an independent review - both our review and the travellers' reviews). We have a few other major new features that will launch in the next three months, but it would be nice to offer something else that no one else does such as the meta-booking engine.

In the past I had considered setting up my own booking system (with no booking fee and a refunded deposit for any cancelled booking), but that would mean working with thousands of hostels, which would be a big risk as most hostels would be wary of going with yet another booking system. Besides I like the independence that comes with not having any business relationship with the hostel.

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Josh Hostels

17 years

Well coming up with a meta-booking site sounds like a lot of expensive custom programming, but it certainly has its advantages. I will ask the guy who wrote our review system to see how much something like this would cost.

This should be possible because I think Hostelbookers now has XML product feeds. Hostelworld also has XML product feeds.

If the smaller engines would also offer them, they could get some of the action also. (Hostelsclub, Hostelmania, etc.)

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santa klaus

17 years

That's funny, because Hostelbookers advertise "Guaranteed lowest cost hostel booking" on their site. I guess booking sites have limited control of what prices they allocate their beds for. If I were running a hostel I would sell my beds for the full price to everyone.

Well, they obviously have no control at all - the hostels set their prices themselves.

What happens is this: many hostels recently became quite fond of yield management systems, i.e. offer beds for low rates when it´s unlikely to have a full house and raise prices on busy days. Many hostels now use Backpack Online (Hostelworld´s front desk software), which does that automatically if you want it.

Even hostels which don´t use Backpack Online do it. I observe the prices of other hostels in the cities where we operate. Some hostels change their rates on Hostelworld all the time but don´t bother to do it on other booking sites; probably because these don´t deliver lots of bookings anyway.

I hate the whole yield management idea. We´re quite used to that when we book flight tickets and I don´t complain when the guy in the seat next to me paid less for his ticket than I did, but people don´t expect that to happen when they book hostels. We tried this once and what happened is that roommates talked with each other and the ones who paid more complained at the reception. So: our beds always cost the same, no matter when or where you book them.

Well coming up with a meta-booking site sounds like a lot of expensive custom programming, but it certainly has its advantages. I will ask the guy who wrote our review system to see how much something like this would cost.

I have put in thousands and thousands of hours into BUG and it has more original content than any of the other review sites (especially for Europe, Aust and NZ). Furthermore we are the only major hostel review site that is completely independent (ie. no hostel descriptions written by the hostel, everything is an independent review - both our review and the travellers' reviews). We have a few other major new features that will launch in the next three months, but it would be nice to offer something else that no one else does such as the meta-booking engine.

I absolutely love your site. Anyway, you have to admit that your "unique selling point" (uncensored reviews) is not so unique any more. Hostelworld now has them, too (and much, much more reviews, too). So what you need is a *new* reason for travellers to use your site and not any other one. Or use yours *first*, at least.

The "meta-booking-engine" would be such a reason.
Kayak does exactly that for flight tickets, but there is no site (yet!) doing the same for hostel beds.

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Tim

17 years

I hate the whole yield management idea. We´re quite used to that when we book flight tickets and I don´t complain when the guy in the seat next to me paid less for his ticket than I did, but people don´t expect that to happen when they book hostels.

I agree, I like hostels (and any accommodation in general) to have fairly fixed prices. But I have no problem at all with yield management pricing model with transport. Tomorrow morning I'm taking a 6½-hour bus ride that I paid $24 for and I'm certain that the guy next to me will have paid $1 for the same fare, but I have no problem with that as its still cheaper than driving.

From a travel writer's point of view, fixed prices mean it is easier to write an accurate guide that won't be too out of date as soon as it is published. So basically having a straightforward pricing structure gets your hostel on the good side of guidebook authors.

The "meta-booking-engine" would be such a reason.

Sticking with one booking system has it's advantages. By forging a closer partnership I should be able to better integrate the system into our site and it is also easier to provide much better service to travellers booking hostels through our site. Multiple booking systems can create a lot of confusion between travellers who think that they are booking everything through BUG, but then find that they have bookings through three or four different agents who each work a little differently. Still a meta-booking-engine does have its advantages and it is something I will look into (I will certainly get a programmer to give me a quote on building it).

I absolutely love your site. Anyway, you have to admit that your "unique selling point" (uncensored reviews) is not so unique any more. Hostelworld now has them, too (and much, much more reviews, too). So what you need is a *new* reason for travellers to use your site and not any other one. Or use yours *first*, at least.

Thanks. Well the travellers' reviews made us unique when we were the only ones with them, but now I realise that I have to offer a lot more.

I think our biggest mistake was concentrating on Europe, Australia and NZ and not including Africa, Asia or the Americas. This gave other sites the opportunity to establish themselves in the places where we weren't. I am working on fixing this and now have all the Americas and half of Asia online, but it will still be at least a few months before I can say that BUG has every hostel in the world.

We do have a few other unique features, but nothing that stands out like the reviews did when we first started out 10 years ago. The hostels in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK also have reviews written by our own staff and proper star ratings (which use quite a strict assessment procedure). We are extending this outside Aust and NZ and have recently added Amsterdam and Paris hostel reviews/ratings and Los Angeles should be online in a couple of weeks. If all goes to plan we will also have our own reviews and ratings for around 3000 hostels across Europe and North America by this time next year.

When I mentioned that the reviews are totally independent I meant that nothing is written by the hostel so there is no bias. All the hostel booking sites and the other review sites include a blurb written by the hostel, which in some cases can paint a very unrealistic picture of the hostel. I think it would be difficult to provide this sort of independence and still have comprehensive content without also having the reviews that we write ourselves. I think that this is a really major feature but I don't know if that many backpackers appreciate the effort that has gone into it. Perhaps this feature will be worth more when we have Europe and North America covered in the same way.

However I do have a really major feature that I am working on that will make a huge improvement to the usefulness of BUG, but I will keep quiet about it until it launches because I want to be the first with it. I will launch the new feature with around three or four cities in Australia and New Zealand in January and then roll out North America and Europe later in 2008.

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Plakian

17 years

So, hostelmania.com are doing a major re-launch today. Had a quick look and they seem like a minnow trying to swim in a big ocean.
I tried them a few seasons ago and received zilch bookings.
Does anyone know of a reason to give them another try?

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Josh Hostels

17 years

hostelmania.com are doing a major re-launch today

Interesting... I just looked at the new site and I think that it is going to be tough for them to compete with Hostelworld and Hostelbookers. It looks like they put a lot of effort into design and programming, but I think that they need more search engine optimization (for higher Google rankings) to be able to send a lot of bookings.

I used to allocate a small percentage of beds to them. They sent a few bookings, but not many. I think that they have potential, but should focus more on SEO.

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