Hostelbookers launches video and signs Tripadvisor deal

Hostelbookers launches video and signs Tripadvisor deal

Press release – 15 August 2008 – Tripadvisor-Hostelbookers HostelBookers.com has this week set an industry first in the budget accommodation sector by rolling out videos of its properties. Agents can now access some 100+ videos on the site, featuring accommodation in Amsterdam, Singapore, Rome, Venice, Florence, London, Edinburgh and Dublin. HostelBookers offers agents and operators…

Press release – 15 August 2008 – TripadvisorHostelbookers


HostelBookers.com has this week set an industry first in the budget accommodation sector by rolling out videos of its properties.


Agents can now access some 100+ videos on the site, featuring accommodation in Amsterdam, Singapore, Rome, Venice, Florence, London, Edinburgh and Dublin.


HostelBookers offers agents and operators dedicated access to its global base of hostels, hotels and other budget accommodation by logging onto: http://www.hostelbookers.com/content/workwithus/


The aim of the project was for HostelBookers’ users, as well as agents and operators, to have a better experience on the website – allowing them to see properties in more detail than with images alone.


This groundbreaking project enables a realistic view on the facilities and atmosphere of a property allowing agents to be best placed when recommending hostels to their customers.  By taking these videos by themselves with a mobile phone HostelBookers puts itself in their customers’ place.


HostelBookers also claims another budget sector first by teaming up with TripAdvisor, to promote a selection of the videos, which can be found at tripadvisor.co.uk/members-videos/HostelBookers.


The introduction of a video feature to the site also stands as a statement of intent to HostelBookers’ properties of the company’s ongoing desire to improve the distribution of their product. Although the project is still in its infancy, HostelBookers have noted a slight uplift in bookings for those properties featuring video footage on their microsites.


HostelBookers’ head of ecommerce, Ed Goldswain, said: “We were keen to produce a type of video that was in sync with our market and wanted to shoot the properties as they were, in a totally realistic fashion, without staging any of the shots.


“The videos form a major part of our ongoing quality assurance drive: the aim of the exercise, after all, isn’t to create a glossy ‘sales’ video, but to be totally transparent and allow our customers to see more of what a property’s actually like before they book it.”


“The whole video project is an extension of the company ethos: HostelBookers is the only website in its sector that conducts rigorous quality assurance reviews of its portfolio. In this respect, tripadvisor.co.uk is the perfect partner for us, and once again we are excited to be leading the way in our sector.”


Martin Verdon-Roe, director of sales, Europe, for TripAdvisor, said: “HostelBookers’ videos on TripAdvisor provide valuable content for our younger demographic by giving them a behind-the-scenes look at accommodations for budget travellers. Shot with a camera phone, travellers benefit from a real view of the properties, allowing them to select what best suits their needs.” 


The company has undertaken the entire project in-house – from the recording to the editing – and will be opening the field up to user-generated content, and footage created by the properties themselves, in the near future. Ultimately, HostelBookers will be looking to roll out as many videos of its properties as possible in the coming months.