Cheap hostel accommodation - be very careful!

To all Budget Travellers

Please remember that when you pre-book accommodation on webswites such as:-

www.HostelBeds.com
www.hostelbookers.com
www.cheaphostel.com
www.hostels247.com
www.Hostels.com
www.hostelbookers.com/
www.hostelworld.com

that these companies have ABSOLUTELY NO DIRECT COMMUNICATION WHATSOEVER with
the hostel / hotel you are making a booking with.

In other words.........when you think you have a confirmed booking made
through them.........and then when you arrive at your accommodation you find
that no room is available ..............problems!!!!!!!!!!!

These booking sites will gadly take your 10% deposit and then leave you in
the "lurch" when things go badly wrong - as they quite often do !!

This post is merely to forewarn fellow travellers of a potential pitfall
when booking budget accommodation online.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

On Jul 11, 7:39 pm, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
To all Budget Travellers

Please remember that when you pre-book accommodation on webswites such as:-

http://www.HostelBeds.comwww.hostelb...ostelworld.com

that these companies have ABSOLUTELY NO DIRECT COMMUNICATION WHATSOEVER with
the hostel / hotel you are making a booking with.

In other words.........when you think you have a confirmed booking made
through them.........and then when you arrive at your accommodation you find
that no room is available ..............problems!!!!!!!!!!!

These booking sites will gadly take your 10% deposit and then leave you in
the "lurch" when things go badly wrong - as they quite often do !!

This post is merely to forewarn fellow travellers of a potential pitfall
when booking budget accommodation online.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

I'm not sure if you have ever used any of these Online Hostels and
Budget Accommodation Booking Websites, or if you understand their
Business, for the Business to work, they must have some commincation
with the Hostels and Hotels, otherwise their business would never
work. The point you made that these websites you listed, have no
direct communication with the hostels and Hotels is far from the
truth.

The hostel and hotel owners will never allow some company to setup and
just use their name to decieve customers and just take their money,
without actually intending to help budget traveller to find
accommodation. Most of these businesses are well established
organisations, and between them have millions of customers, I'm one of
them. So if Millions of people that booked accommodation with these
companies, never actually got any accommodation, which they paid for,
I'm sure there would be a Worldwide uproar.

Usually, I would be the one pointing out to Budget Travellers and
friends, to beware of pitfalls and lack of good customer care by some
online booking websites, not just the Hostel booking sites but travel
sites in general. But when I saw this post by you, I couldn't help but
to get involved.

I have booked some accommodation in the past with some of these
websites, in different cities, Amsterdam, New York, Ibiza and Berlin,
just to name a few. When my Booking was confirmed I recieved an email
confirming my booking, the full contact details of the Hostel or Hotel
were on the email. All these places I have been and booked my
accommodation online, I got the room, I never turned up to a hostel or
hotel and was told ther was no booking for me.

I have heard about hostels and hotels over booking themselves, but its
never happened to me.

I'm not sure if you have had a bad experience booking accommodation
with one of these companies, but my last travel to New York I booked
with www.hostels247.com and I stayed in Candy Hostel New York, I had
No problems. I have used Hostels247.com before my New York trip and I
think they are very good, you can call them also if you don't want to
book online and speak to someone.

I also booked with www.hostelbookers.com a couple of years ago, and I
had no problems with the accommodation I booked.

The 10% I paid on each booking, was taken off the total booking
amount, the remaining 90% I paid when I got to the Hostel or Hotel.

I can understand if you said, that some of these companies don't have
the best customer care, or some hostels or hotels are not up to
standard, but to say that hostel booking website don't have any direct
contact with the hostels and hotels is an unfair statement.

I think the best way to make a valid critism, is not to exagerate, in
that way you will be helping other travellers to gain an insight.

Truth Be Told

On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:55:02 -0700 (PDT), the renowned
wrote:

On Jul 11, 7:39 pm, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
To all Budget Travellers

Please remember that when you pre-book accommodation on webswites such as:-

http://www.HostelBeds.comwww.hostelb...ostelworld.com

that these companies have ABSOLUTELY NO DIRECT COMMUNICATION WHATSOEVER with
the hostel / hotel you are making a booking with.

In other words.........when you think you have a confirmed booking made
through them.........and then when you arrive at your accommodation you find
that no room is available ..............problems!!!!!!!!!!!

These booking sites will gadly take your 10% deposit and then leave you in
the "lurch" when things go badly wrong - as they quite often do !!

And keep your deposit to boot!


This post is merely to forewarn fellow travellers of a potential pitfall
when booking budget accommodation online.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

I'm not sure if you have ever used any of these Online Hostels and
Budget Accommodation Booking Websites, or if you understand their
Business, for the Business to work, they must have some commincation
with the Hostels and Hotels, otherwise their business would never
work. The point you made that these websites you listed, have no
direct communication with the hostels and Hotels is far from the
truth.

The hostel and hotel owners will never allow some company to setup and
just use their name to decieve customers and just take their money,
without actually intending to help budget traveller to find
accommodation. Most of these businesses are well established
organisations, and between them have millions of customers, I'm one of
them. So if Millions of people that booked accommodation with these
companies, never actually got any accommodation, which they paid for,
I'm sure there would be a Worldwide uproar.

Usually, I would be the one pointing out to Budget Travellers and
friends, to beware of pitfalls and lack of good customer care by some
online booking websites, not just the Hostel booking sites but travel
sites in general. But when I saw this post by you, I couldn't help but
to get involved.

I have booked some accommodation in the past with some of these
websites, in different cities, Amsterdam, New York, Ibiza and Berlin,
just to name a few. When my Booking was confirmed I recieved an email
confirming my booking, the full contact details of the Hostel or Hotel
were on the email. All these places I have been and booked my
accommodation online, I got the room, I never turned up to a hostel or
hotel and was told ther was no booking for me.

I have heard about hostels and hotels over booking themselves, but its
never happened to me.

I'm not sure if you have had a bad experience booking accommodation
with one of these companies, but my last travel to New York I booked
with www.hostels247.com and I stayed in Candy Hostel New York, I had
No problems. I have used Hostels247.com before my New York trip and I
think they are very good, you can call them also if you don't want to
book online and speak to someone.

I also booked with www.hostelbookers.com a couple of years ago, and I
had no problems with the accommodation I booked.

The 10% I paid on each booking, was taken off the total booking
amount, the remaining 90% I paid when I got to the Hostel or Hotel.

I can understand if you said, that some of these companies don't have
the best customer care, or some hostels or hotels are not up to
standard, but to say that hostel booking website don't have any direct
contact with the hostels and hotels is an unfair statement.

I think the best way to make a valid critism, is not to exagerate, in
that way you will be helping other travellers to gain an insight.

Truth Be Told


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

wrote in message
...
On Jul 11, 7:39 pm, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
To all Budget Travellers

Please remember that when you pre-book accommodation on webswites such
as:-

http://www.HostelBeds.comwww.hostelb...ostelworld.com

that these companies have ABSOLUTELY NO DIRECT COMMUNICATION WHATSOEVER
with
the hostel / hotel you are making a booking with.

In other words.........when you think you have a confirmed booking made
through them.........and then when you arrive at your accommodation you
find
that no room is available ..............problems!!!!!!!!!!!

These booking sites will gadly take your 10% deposit and then leave you
in
the "lurch" when things go badly wrong - as they quite often do !!

This post is merely to forewarn fellow travellers of a potential pitfall
when booking budget accommodation online.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

I'm not sure if you have ever used any of these Online Hostels and
Budget Accommodation Booking Websites, or if you understand their
Business, for the Business to work, they must have some commincation
with the Hostels and Hotels, otherwise their business would never
work. The point you made that these websites you listed, have no
direct communication with the hostels and Hotels is far from the
truth.

The point I was trying to make (not very successfully perhaps) is that these
companies have no direct communication whatsoever with the hostel / hotel
you are making a booking with AT THE ACTUAL TIME OF BOOKING.

Hotel booking engines such as AlphaRooms, Bookings, Hotelopia,
HotelsCentral, HotelClub, HotelPronto, LateRooms, OctopusTravel, TotalStay,
Venere, etc. maintain and operate from a centralised database. A room is
booked, and that room disappears from the database of all the booking
engines. It cannot be booked again.

With these hostel booking sites, you could quite well be making a booking
for a non-existent room. You will only discover this when you turn up at the
hostel and find that you have no bed for the night due to overbooking.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

On Jul 18, 6:21 am, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
wrote in message

...



On Jul 11, 7:39 pm, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
To all Budget Travellers

Please remember that when you pre-book accommodation on webswites such
as:-

http://www.HostelBeds.comwww.hostelb...comwww.hostels...

that these companies have ABSOLUTELY NO DIRECT COMMUNICATION WHATSOEVER
with
the hostel / hotel you are making a booking with.

In other words.........when you think you have a confirmed booking made
through them.........and then when you arrive at your accommodation you
find
that no room is available ..............problems!!!!!!!!!!!

These booking sites will gadly take your 10% deposit and then leave you
in
the "lurch" when things go badly wrong - as they quite often do !!

This post is merely to forewarn fellow travellers of a potential pitfall
when booking budget accommodation online.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

I'm not sure if you have ever used any of these Online Hostels and
Budget Accommodation Booking Websites, or if you understand their
Business, for the Business to work, they must have some commincation
with the Hostels and Hotels, otherwise their business would never
work. The point you made that these websites you listed, have no
direct communication with the hostels and Hotels is far from the
truth.

The point I was trying to make (not very successfully perhaps) is that these
companies have no direct communication whatsoever with the hostel / hotel
you are making a booking with AT THE ACTUAL TIME OF BOOKING.

Hotel booking engines such as AlphaRooms, Bookings, Hotelopia,
HotelsCentral, HotelClub, HotelPronto, LateRooms, OctopusTravel, TotalStay,
Venere, etc. maintain and operate from a centralised database. A room is
booked, and that room disappears from the database of all the booking
engines. It cannot be booked again.

With these hostel booking sites, you could quite well be making a booking
for a non-existent room. You will only discover this when you turn up at the
hostel and find that you have no bed for the night due to overbooking.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

Well, presumably they have some kind of availability database because
they frequently show some hostels/room types as unavailable. Perhaps,
as you suggest, it's not updated in real time.

FWIW I use hostelbookers.com a lot (despite its name it offers a lot
of cheaper hotels as well as hostels per se) and have never had a
problem with it.

On Jul 18, 6:21 am, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
wrote in message

...



On Jul 11, 7:39 pm, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
To all Budget Travellers

Please remember that when you pre-book accommodation on webswites such
as:-

http://www.HostelBeds.comwww.hostelb...comwww.hostels....

that these companies have ABSOLUTELY NO DIRECT COMMUNICATION WHATSOEVER
with
the hostel / hotel you are making a booking with.

In other words.........when you think you have a confirmed booking made
through them.........and then when you arrive at your accommodation you
find
that no room is available ..............problems!!!!!!!!!!!

These booking sites will gadly take your 10% deposit and then leave you
in
the "lurch" when things go badly wrong - as they quite often do !!

This post is merely to forewarn fellow travellers of a potential pitfall
when booking budget accommodation online.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

I'm not sure if you have ever used any of these Online Hostels and
Budget Accommodation Booking Websites, or if you understand their
Business, for the Business to work, they must have some commincation
with the Hostels and Hotels, otherwise their business would never
work. The point you made that these websites you listed, have no
direct communication with the hostels and Hotels is far from the
truth.

The point I was trying to make (not very successfully perhaps) is that these
companies have no direct communication whatsoever with the hostel / hotel
you are making a booking with AT THE ACTUAL TIME OF BOOKING.

Hotel booking engines such as AlphaRooms, Bookings, Hotelopia,
HotelsCentral, HotelClub, HotelPronto, LateRooms, OctopusTravel, TotalStay,
Venere, etc. maintain and operate from a centralised database. A room is
booked, and that room disappears from the database of all the booking
engines. It cannot be booked again.

With these hostel booking sites, you could quite well be making a booking
for a non-existent room. You will only discover this when you turn up at the
hostel and find that you have no bed for the night due to overbooking.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

Hostel and hotel Booking Engines work in the same way, only rooms
which are available are able to be booked, I don't know what you
actually do for a living, but I don't think you have any idea of how
these Businesses actually work.

Another thing I must point out is, these hostel booking websites, DO
NOT only book Hostels they have Hotels, Studio Apartments, Guesthouse
and Bed and Breakfast, so when you say these hotel booking websites
you listed work differently to hostels booking websites, it is not
true. In Ibiza Spain, for example there are only a couple of Hostels
and the hostel booking websites have a lot of the hotels and
apartments, exactly the same hotels and apartments as the hotel
booking websites you listed.

Its seems to me that your out to damage the image of these companies
without any valid reason.

You listed Hotel booking websites; you said that they book from a
central database, what central database are you talking about? the
Hotels and hostels have a certain amount of rooms allocated to each
website, and as bookings are made, these rooms are taken off line,
which has to be done by the hotels or hostels them self. When a
booking is made there is system in place that informs the hostel or
hotel that they have a booking and its then up to the hostel or hotel
to take that room offline.

Its a little bit like paying money into your bank account and
withdrawing the money when it suites you, but you can not withdraw
money you don't have, and the bank can not take your money without
telling you.

I know a bit about online allocation, so the way you’re telling your
story is disingenuous.

I think you just got upset with one of these companies and decided to
vent your anger here.

One good thing about an open forum like this is we can not just let
you get away with making up stories that are far from the truth.

Another thing I’m thinking is, you probably work for a Hotel Booking
Website and consider these Hostel Booking websites as a threat to your
Business and you seek to undermine them.

TRUTH BE TOLD

On Jul 18, 6:21 am, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
wrote in message

...



On Jul 11, 7:39 pm, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
To all Budget Travellers

Please remember that when you pre-book accommodation on webswites such
as:-

http://www.HostelBeds.comwww.hostelb...comwww.hostels....

that these companies have ABSOLUTELY NO DIRECT COMMUNICATION WHATSOEVER
with
the hostel / hotel you are making a booking with.

In other words.........when you think you have a confirmed booking made
through them.........and then when you arrive at your accommodation you
find
that no room is available ..............problems!!!!!!!!!!!

These booking sites will gadly take your 10% deposit and then leave you
in
the "lurch" when things go badly wrong - as they quite often do !!

This post is merely to forewarn fellow travellers of a potential pitfall
when booking budget accommodation online.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

I'm not sure if you have ever used any of these Online Hostels and
Budget Accommodation Booking Websites, or if you understand their
Business, for the Business to work, they must have some commincation
with the Hostels and Hotels, otherwise their business would never
work. The point you made that these websites you listed, have no
direct communication with the hostels and Hotels is far from the
truth.

The point I was trying to make (not very successfully perhaps) is that these
companies have no direct communication whatsoever with the hostel / hotel
you are making a booking with AT THE ACTUAL TIME OF BOOKING.

Hotel booking engines such as AlphaRooms, Bookings, Hotelopia,
HotelsCentral, HotelClub, HotelPronto, LateRooms, OctopusTravel, TotalStay,
Venere, etc. maintain and operate from a centralised database. A room is
booked, and that room disappears from the database of all the booking
engines. It cannot be booked again.

With these hostel booking sites, you could quite well be making a booking
for a non-existent room. You will only discover this when you turn up at the
hostel and find that you have no bed for the night due to overbooking.

Happy travelling to all !
Gerry

Hostel and hotel Booking Engines work in the same way, only rooms
which are available are able to be booked, I don't know what you
actually do for a living, but I don't think you have any idea of how
these Businesses actually work.

Another thing I must point out is, these hostel booking websites, DO
NOT only book Hostels they have Hotels, Studio Apartments, Guesthouse
and Bed and Breakfast, so when you say these hotel booking websites
you listed work differently to hostels booking websites, it is not
true. In Ibiza Spain, for example there are only a couple of Hostels
and the hostel booking websites have a lot of the hotels and
apartments, exactly the same hotels and apartments as the hotel
booking websites you listed.

Its seems to me that your out to damage the image of these companies
without any valid reason.

You listed Hotel booking websites; you said that they book from a
central database, what central database are you talking about? The
Hotels and hostels have a certain amount of rooms allocated to each
website, and as bookings are made, these rooms are taken off line,
which has to be done by the hotels or hostels them self. When a
booking is made there is system in place that informs the hostel or
hotel that they have a booking and its then up to the hostel or hotel
to take that room offline.

It’s a little bit like paying money into your bank account and
withdrawing the money when it suites you, but you can not withdraw
money you don't have, and the bank can not take your money without
telling you.

I know a bit about online allocation, so the way you’re telling your
story is disingenuous.

I think you just got upset with one of these companies and decided to
vent your anger here.

One good thing about an open forum like this is we can not just let
you get away with making up stories that are far from the truth.

Another thing I’m thinking is, you probably work for a Hotel Booking
Website and consider these Hostel Booking websites as a threat to your
Business and you seek to undermine them.

TRUTH BE TOLD

On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:36:25 -0700 (PDT), the renowned
wrote:

On Jul 18, 6:21 am, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
wrote in message


I know a bit about online allocation, so the way you’re telling your
story is disingenuous.

I think you just got upset with one of these companies and decided to
vent your anger here.

One good thing about an open forum like this is we can not just let
you get away with making up stories that are far from the truth.

I can tell you with 100% certainty (since it happened to me) that you
can be left after dark, in a city with almost no hotel rooms free
(certainly no inexpensive ones), and not only do they leave you high
and dry, they steal your 'deposit'.

Another thing I’m thinking is, you probably work for a Hotel Booking
Website and consider these Hostel Booking websites as a threat to your
Business and you seek to undermine them.

TRUTH BE TOLD

Shoddy businesses and worse-than-useless middlemen need to be exposed.
Either deal directly with the people involved (phone calls using a
calling card are almost free these days, and many will respond to
e-mails) or use a website that offers real-time reservations (for more
expensive places).


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

"Spehro Pefhany" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:36:25 -0700 (PDT), the renowned
wrote:

On Jul 18, 6:21 am, "Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote:
wrote in message


I know a bit about online allocation, so the way you're telling your
story is disingenuous. I think you just got upset with one of these
companies and decided to
vent your anger here.

Not at all. I have in fact never used one of the hostel booking sites. But
many of my friends have and whilst, in the majority of cases their bookings
worked out OK, in quite a few instances major problems arose.


One good thing about an open forum like this is we can not just let
you get away with making up stories that are far from the truth.

Not a made up story - plain fact based on several people's experiences.


I can tell you with 100% certainty (since it happened to me) that you
can be left after dark, in a city with almost no hotel rooms free
(certainly no inexpensive ones), and not only do they leave you high
and dry, they steal your 'deposit'.

Ah, thank you Spehro. See, another dissatisfied customer.


Another thing I'm thinking is, you probably work for a Hotel Booking
Website and consider these Hostel Booking websites as a threat to your
Business and you seek to undermine them.

No I don't work for a Hotel Booking site, nor do I wish to undermine Hostel
Booking sites. I merely wish to advise fellow travellers of potential
pitfalls when booking on such sites.

Shoddy businesses and worse-than-useless middlemen need to be exposed.
Either deal directly with the people involved (phone calls using a
calling card are almost free these days, and many will respond to
e-mails) or use a website that offers real-time reservations (for more
expensive places).

I agree entirely.

Gerry

You have totally lost my respect now.

You have never booked or done Business with any of these companies,
you’re trying to discredit, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THAT. You have
second hand stories from so called friends.

Just to make yourself feel good, you started writing about something
you know nothing about, you might as well be writing about Brain
Surgery or Little men from Mars, because you know as much about that
as you do about Hostel Booking Websites.

I Booked an Airline Ticket before from a well know Travel Agent, on a
well known Airline, for a Busy Summer Holiday Period and when I got to
the Airport, I was told the Flight was over Booked and I had to wait
for the later Flight and lost many hours. This doesn't mean that the
travel agent and the Airline were dishonest or have NO DIRECT CONTACT
with each other; it simply meant that they over booked them self, a
lot of companies do this because some people cancel at the last
minute.

By the way, the day my flight was changed due to over booking, I had
to call the accommodation to inform them, that I was delayed and I
would be checking in later than expected, and they were ok with it.

I think people should only write about things they have first hand
knowledge of, you can not be a film critic without seeing the film, or
a travel writer without actually being to the destinations your
writing about.

I'm not saying that every booking always is perfect, and people are
not disappointed in some cases, or some online booking websites are
not guilty of lack of customer care, but like anywhere whether it be a
hostel or hotel, if customers do not check in on time for example or
inform the hostels or hotel about a late check in, their room may be
allocated to another customers as the hostel or hotel will think they
are a NO Show.

I think you should get your friends that have actually booked with any
of these websites, to write about this, I doubt they booked with all
the Companies you listed. So let your friends say which companies they
have actually booked from and to where.

If they want to help other Budget Travellers, to be better informed
about booking Hostels and Budget Hotels online, please tell them to be
honest and not exaggerate.

But I'm sure you’re going to do the opposite and get so called friends
to support your previous argument.

I still think you have something against these companies, your not
telling us, since you admitted you have never booked with them or done
Business with them. So please tell us what exactly is your true
motive.

TRUTH BE TOLD