Skype is a free program that many travelers use to make free or cheap phone calls over the Internet. If you want backpackers to be able to call your front desk for free from Skype at Internet cafes, you can put a Skype button on your Web site.
This is the first post in what is going to be a blog about travel industry marketing. Even though most of the content will specifically be about hostels, the tips and techniques will be applicable to marketing hotels, tours, or any segment of the travel industry.
Hostelworld.com is asking Oxford, Collins and Chambers' dictionaries to redefine the word hostel. Many dictionaries still use outdated and inaccurate definitions of the word.
The HI Redwood National Park hostel was voted the #1 HI hostel in the world by users of hihostels.com, tying with the Shin-Osaka HI hostel in Japan.
New Zealand's Minister for the Environment spoke at YHA Wellington City on 29 April 2008:
Swiss hostels saw a 4.4 percent increase in visitor nights in 2007 over 2006:
Switzerland's 58 youth hostels registered 912,000 nights spent by tourists last year, a rise of 4.4 per cent compared with 2006.
YHA Australia reports that the numbers of solo female travelers are increasing:
A boost in women backpackers travelling alone has led the country's largest hostel group to encourage them to take extra precautions.
Illegally operating hostels in Queensland may face trouble under new rules:
The Queensland Backpackers Association says amendments to state laws governing youth hostels mean illegal operators will be caught.
