Hostel Booking Engines and Hostel Maps

[Hostels]

Minihostels just launched a maps feature on their new site:
http://www.minihostels.com/



All booking engines should have map features.

The way hostel booking engines organize destinations makes it difficult to plan trips. Here's an example from one booking engine:



The average traveler isn't going to know where most of those locations are. Interactive maps would make it easier to plan routes. Hostels.com has always had a map, but it only works up to a certain point. You can't view individual hostels on the map. Minihostels has taken a step in the right direction. I hope they develop it even further.

Minihostels' new site is well done...

[Hostels]

I was just looking at this site and they have a hostel map also:
http://www.jugendherberge-sachsen.de...nden/index.php

[santa klaus]

True. Hostelworld could easily do that, they have all the hostels on Google maps anyway.

[Hostels]

True. Hostelworld could easily do that, they have all the hostels on Google maps anyway.

Hostelworld has the data on their route planner on Facebook.

Hostelbookers maps:
http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/england/london/map
There's no way to zoom out of a view of just a city. For example, view a single map of the UK and zoom in on London, and then zoom out and view Manchester.

GOMIO has city maps that are similar in functionality to Hostelbookers:
http://www.gomio.com/hostels/europe/...lin/search.htm

TFThostels.com has this feature though:
(tfthostels.com is a very innovative site)



I think drilling into locations from a map is one way that users want to find destinations. I think the maps should be prominent on the front pages, like how it is on Hostels.com but with more functionality. Another navigation method that I think would benefit from development on the booking engines is the search boxes, but that's another post...

[Hostels]

EDIT: Hostelworld has the route planner feature on their home page, but it requires login so it's not really a site navigation feature.

[Hostels]

hiusa.com has a maps feature also. I think all booking engines should have this kind of feature because it helps backpackers who aren't familiar with the geography to plan a route.

Choose a state:



Get a list of cities that have hostels:



Click on a city and get a list of hostels in the city:

[Kapake]

Well, that would make my job so much easier!
Most of m y guests come to front desk asking for places to visit within argentina...I mean, we have forest, mountains, desserts, glaciars! I have so many places to offer, so many hostels to recommend (andd that takes time of browsing websites, communicating with them, getting reservations, blah blah).
I´m not complaining, coz I really love what I do, but we are just starting and gathering information was a hassle!
There is no website (at least from what I´ve seen) that has maps to plan ahead for Argentina...

I love this site, I spend a lot of time reading you guys! Your like my "all time, all favorite" guidebook!

[Hostels]

I just discovered one of the best examples so far over on Independent Hostels Guide.

You can choose a map by what you're looking for:



They are Google Maps where you can find a hostel by location:



Zooming in shows exactly where the hostels are:



I wish all hostel websites could be searched this easily.

[santa klaus]

Awesome. I really wonder why none of the booking engines has a decent map search. They should think more about the user-friendliness of their sites instead of marketing bullshit.

[Hostels]

I really wonder why none of the booking engines has a decent map search.

It would make travel planning much easier. To plan a hostelling trip, just look at the map and connect the dots...