Hi to all :)

[Besthostels.org]

I am writing to introduce you to Besthostels. It will change traveling habits in the hostel and backpacking industry with a new effective marketing strategy that may interest you since our publicizing targets are your own guests.

Take a look at our site if you are interested> www.besthostels.org

Many hostels already joined and we are working together with 2 youth hostel organizations. We now cover 13 countries and will soon expand.

Nice meeting you all,

Besthostels Team

[uktrail]

FOR BACKPACKERS:

we are setting up a hostel association that will save you 130$ a month on stupid booking fees, gives you 10% discount on each night

Hang on a minute.

Your $130 a month represents $2 per day booking fee + ~$2 per day being 10% of your overnight fee, right?

So you are saying that the backpacker will not need to pay these amounts?

In which case, part of that 130$ is itself a 10% discount, and it is misleading to imply that he will IN ADDITION get 10% discount.

Booking engines know their power, one has already begun charging a 15% booking fee instead of the standard 10%. It may only be a matter of time before the rest of them follow suit, and if this occurs, all hostels would be forced to pay.

Meanwhile, the hostel pays a 10% commission as before (to the backpacker instead of to the booking engine) and in addition pays a monthly fee to the company? This could end up as well over 15%.

We are NOT another booking engine.

You look like it to me, albeit you may be other things in addition.

[Besthostels.org]

We dont deal with bookings at all, the guest contacts directly the hostel. We just help providing printed material, a website (that is under construction) and other services.

Hostels give 10% discount that is the percentage that would usually be the deposit for a booking engine. The guest DOES NOT pay it. And no use of the bank card at all.

For the traveler it is a 120 € saving in a month if he was booking every night using his card and a booking engine.

Sorry if in the last post this was not clear, thanks for pointing it out.

Did anyone ever try to mail directly a hostel? It is hard cause booking engines have almost all the first google page of anything regardin hostels, backpacking and so on.

We are here happy to answer you if you have any doubts or questions.

BH Team

[Besthostels.org]

Sorry, I missed a question:

hostels pay for 1 year the cost of printing and website mainteinance. Even if our company only managed to send 1 additional person for 8 nights that would of not booked there before the hostel would cover the 89 Euro paid to us.

For these 89 Euro a hostel receives part of 20 000 leaflets, 2000 stickers, hundreds of tshirts and wall maps. Posting to infocentres in many cities, a free night in a hostel in Varna with dinner and beer.

Depending on how many join we will print more. Please ask a printing company the cost of all this. If its less than 89 Euro per hostel calculated with the variable of 20, 30, 40 hostels joining please get back to us and we will print there.

This first year is a loss to our company to try out this idea, sorry if you think we are trying to rip off someone giving so much with 89 euro.

[uktrail]

Thank you for clarifying your procedure, which is quite a bit different from what I first thought, and I thought the €89 was per month.

So the idea is, to attract the backpacker by offering beds at 10% less than they would be if he went to HWorld or HBookers? If so, this is a good idea, as backpackers now think of HWorld as the place to start looking, and it would be good to encourage them to come more directly to the hostel.

For the hostel, they have to give up 10% of their fee in either case, but in this case it goes as discount rather than as commision to a company? So the benefit to them is in the other aspects, the publicity and marketing, and the dinner in Varna ?

[Besthostels.org]

I am happy to answer any other question.

The advantages for hostels are: being more competitive that other hostels in the same city (because 10% cheaper) and beacause all guests from the other besthostels keep wanting to go where they can save money.

We are trying to organize hostel to hostel games, treasure hunts and so on.

If travelers understand that their money goes to a website they will start booking directly with the hostels to help them out and avoiding a middle man.
Most will continue for sure but this is the age of confort: do everything as easy as possible. Its hard to google a hostel and find its official website. Same difference as a local restaurant and a fast food.


As you say: "For the hostel, they have to give up 10% of their fee in either case, but in this case it goes as discount rather than as commision to a company?" YES

and

"So the benefit to them is in the other aspects, the publicity and marketing, and the dinner in Varna ?" YES, I will be cooking something so dont know about that