2012 World Hostel Conference (GoMio) Recap

If you missed the 2012 World Hostel Conference in Jerusalem here is a brief recap. Gomio has posted all of the presentations on their site if you would like to check them out.

Re-branding the hostel industry
There was a lot of discussion about recreating the image of the hostel industry in order to dispel misconceptions and paint a true picture of what hostels are (and are not). Through presentations and panel discussions we heard the perspective of hostel managers from chain hostels, HI hostels, and smaller independent hostels, as well as travelers. There were two key conclusions drawn from these discussions:

• We need a collective marketing campaign to educate the public at large about hostels.
• We need a collective voice that is derived from the hostels themselves to speak to government officials on our industry’s behalf.

The importance of hostel networking
Hostels that work together and form networks can achieve more than any one hostel alone. The German Backpacker Network and ILH - Israel Hostels presented two success stories of hostel networks who have achieved great things. Both of these organizations defined clear criteria to guarantee quality standards for their member hostels. Together those hostels have worked with local and national governments to change the touristic landscape in their respective regions. Some of the results of their efforts:

• They have demonstrated the importance of hostels to government bureaus and tourism boards.
• They have influenced their countries’ touristic infrastructure to support independent travelers.
• They have established responsible tourism that supports the local communities surrounding the hostels in addition to the businesses themselves.
• They instigated the addition of an international high speed train to bring customers into their markets.

HostelManagement.com feedback
I asked hostel managers from around the world to give feedback on Hostel Management and suggest ways that we could make the site more beneficial to hostels. Here is some of the feedback that I received.

• Many frequent readers of the site are content to lurk rather than contribute to forum discussions. This is okay, but it would be nice if more people joined the conversations. Their contributions would be more than welcome.
• Many readers stop by the site to check up on news in the industry and interesting info, but the news and info are not always easy to find at a glance.
• The site’s search feature needs to be more powerful to ensure that each search yields relevant results.
• There were several requests for a hostel information library (or an update to the hostel wiki) that would be easy to access and find info on specific topics. Topic suggestions included business plan models, examples of Standard Operational Procedures, best practices, How-To guides for new hostels, etc.
• When a forum thread gets hijacked and moves in a new direction we need to reel it back in to stay on topic. The new tangent conversations that are started should be split and reposted as a new thread for a new topic in order to maintain momentum in both discussions.
• A representative in each country who knows the hostels and their owners should be selected to promote the HM forum to their colleagues in order to stimulate more interesting discussions among hostel managers.
• There were several requests for the HM newsletter to go out more often, because it reaches everyone in the industry, including those who don’t have time to read the forum regularly.

Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions and constructive criticism! With your feedback we can make the community stronger and the site more useful for all hostels. Please let us know if you have more suggestions!

We hope to see everyone at the World Hostel Conference next year in Boston, Massachusetts, USA!