Here at Stay the Night, we’re always sharing hostel industry news. We love to see hostels hitting the headlines and making waves in the travel industry.
That’s why we created our very own ‘Hostel Hall of Fame’ – each month, we highlight the online (and offline) successes of hostels around the world.
Here’s our first Hall of Fame for 2019…
MTV LIST BEST BUDGET BACKPACKERS IN THE WORLD
Melbourne, Morocco, Mexico – MTV UK have searched far and wide to feature some of ‘‘the best backpackers in the world for under 20s’ on their website this week.
MTV UK were inspired by Hostelworld’s HOSCAR award announcement and decided to compile their own list of budget-friendly backpacker options across the world.
With a combined social following of almost 7 million users – the majority being under 30 – this is a valuable piece of mainstream press coverage for the hostels named.
Hostels featured in the list include well known chains Lub D and Hangover Hostels as well as independent hostels such as The Bucket List Hostel in India, Cara Cara Inn in Indonesia and AthensStyle in Greece.
To quote MTV, ‘budget doesn’t mean bad’ – with this list of hostels, we couldn’t agree more.
HOSCAR WINNERS ANNOUNCED…
As we mentioned in this week’s ‘Hostel Industry Insights’, Hostelworld announced their 2019 HOSCAR winners in January.
Roadhouse Prague were the biggest winners, taking home 5 awards including best small hostel and best facilities.
In Hostelworld’s newly introduced category for solo travellers – an addition as a result of the 42% rise in young people travelling alone between 2015 and 2017 – it was great to see hostels from all over the world recognised and celebrated. This included Soul Kitchen in St. Petersburg, Russia, Star Hostel in Taiwan and Hostel Majdas in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As the industry grows larger each year, it was particularly interesting to see which new hostels have travellers raving in reviews about their experience. The HOSCARS this year awarded Porto’s House of Sandemann with best new small hostel, Hostel One Madrid with best new medium hostel and The RomeHello with best new large hostel. For the extra large category – any hostel with 350+ beds – travellers dubbed Anda Venice as this year’s favourite.
It’s always great to see hostels celebrated, particularly by the people who matter most – the guests.
NEXY GUESTS ARMED WITH INSIDER INFO
As we mentioned in our blog post on Expedia’s latest Gen-Z travellers research, modern travellers are seeking unique experiences that are rooted in your local area, whether that’s taking local led tours, visiting places off the beaten track or trying new cuisines.
Vietnam based Nexy Hostels are ensuring their guests are armed with local knowledge to enrich their trip, thanks to the handy ‘Travellers Hub’ section on their website.
Offering a variety of useful local information including articles on the ‘best places to visit in Vietnam’, ‘top 10 things to do in Hanoi’ and even a live update of the current weather, the hub is a great resource for travellers and ticks all the boxes when it comes to promoting local experiences.
Sharing local insights like this is a hugely effective way of inspiring potential guests to make that decision to book a trip (and hopefully stay with you!). Make sure you use keywords when you publish this kind of content on your hostel’s website as this will also improve your search engine ranking and discoverability. This will help travellers who are looking for information and accommodation options in your area to find you.
We love this Nexy Hostel’s ‘Travellers Hub’ and hope their guests do too.
USER-GENERATED CONTENT + SHOWCASING DESTINATION = WIN FOR CASTLE ROCK
In the past few months, we have spotted Edinburgh’s Castle Rock Hostel curating a great Instagram feed with user-generated content to showcase their destination.
Encouraging people to tag @castlerockhostel in their Instagram photos, Castle Rock share stunning photos of the city which really capture the vibe and personality of the city.
If travellers didn’t already have the Scottish capital on their travel bucket list, they’re likely to add it once they’ve stumbled across Castle Rock’s Instagram, that’s for sure…
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