Official TFTHostels Blog

HostelsClub.com launches an amazing offer for all US Citizens;  yes, they have been watching the news, they’ve checked the $ to € conversion , they added a bit of budget travel , they have added some oz of the best European hostels and mixed it all up into an explosive cocktail offer: the 1$=1€ for Top Hostels in Europe! “ What is that all about? 1$ now has the same value of 1€?? Yeah right……” Hey! It’s true! Check this out: http://www.hostelsclub.com/usoffer . All American citizens have now again a great opportunity to really backpack Europe on a budget; book one of the hostels or cheap accommodations participating to the offer through Hostelsclub.com, once you check in present your US passport and you will get more than 30% discount on your stay; here is a practical example: let’s say that at your arrival you have to pay 50€ for your stopover, well show your US passport and you will only have to pay 50 $ (€ 36.76 with the current rate exchange)! The offer doesn’t only include the main Euro Area Destinations such as Venice, Madrid,  Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam, Athens, Rome etc. but, if you are going off the beaten track you can also find the same offer for hostels and cheap accommodations in “minor” European cities like Verona, Lucca, Munich, Nice, Ibiza etc.

The offer comes at a time where backpacking and budget travelling to Europe becomes more and more difficult for US Citizens to consider; high fuel prices, high airfares, weak dollar , crises of the financial sector make it difficult to embark on a Backpacking frenzy in the now expensive European capitals; the offer thus comes really handy for considering Europe as a valid alternative to the unfortunately too popular “stayvacation” in the US.

Here are some additional tips for travelling Europe on a budget:

· Become a local in the places where you travel: sometimes guides and magazines won’t give you the best tips on where to eat and hang out; they tend to give you the most common places that may turn out to be not so cheap after all; so talk and questions to locals! Ask them where they usually eat without spending a fortune; in Venice and Paris for example going where locals eat guarantees you the great combination of quality food and an inexpensive bill. You can use our travel community Travelers For Travelers to find locals wherever you go.

· When you get to a city go straight to the tourist office to find out what city card passes they provide; most cities now have bargain city passes that offer free public transport and discounts on the major city attractions . If you spend 4 days in Barcelona (where, by the way you, can sleep at the Barcelona Urbany Hostel, which participates to the 1$=1€ Hostel Offer) don’t forget to buy the Barcelona City Card for € 34; it will grant you free public transport for the whole stay , plenty of discounts for museums, for leisure attractions , for shops and restaurant, and even a free English city guide.

· Travel Europe by train instead of by car; don’t forget that in Europe gas prices are high as well, and that when you rent a car you have plenty of additional fees such as  insurance , parking, tolls etc. You can easily get a rail pass to make the most out of Europe. If you are planning to stay in Europe for a while, enjoy the Global Pass, it allows to travel through more than European countries by train from € 159.

To all the American Citizens, Enjoy Europe and the 1€=1$ Top Hostel Offer by HostelsClub.com!! Check out the details

Technorati Profile

We combined more then 30.000 hostels and 250.000 hostel reviews from all major booking site.

We listened to our users and tried to made our Hostel Search Engine better to search, navigate, compare and select a hostel then any other site on the web. If you think that its rubbish, please tell me why, so we can improve our service.

This is how I think a Hostel should present itself: The Flying Pig Downtown Hostel

If you claim your hostel, we give you free tools to promote your hostel on the web. If you implement our suggestions, you will drive more traffic to your website and your hostel!

Here is what you can do for free:

• Add direct contact information like phone number, email, website, and Skype name. Your contact info and a link directly to your own website will be placed on your profile. So TFTHostel users can contact you directly. Learn how to get started
• Add a Flickr slideshow with good quality pictures, so you decide which pictures you place on Flickr, and automatically the pictures will be shown on you TFTHostels profile. We are creating a widget, so you can use the flickr slideshow on your own site. Learn more
• Add YouTube movies and a YouTube channel. Pictures and movies explain more then 100 words, so make a movie from your hostel and place it on Youtube. Learn more
• Add a blog RSS feed. If you own a blog, you can place the blog headline directly on your TFTHostels profile. It is easy to setup and can generate some extra traffic to your blog. Learn more
• Add the Plugoo application, so travelers can chat with hostel employees, directly from the site. If you use a chat program like MSN or Google Chat, you can use this service for free without any local configuration. Learn more
• Add Twitter account to the profile. With Twitter you can tell your friends, guests and future quest what is happening in the hostel. It is a weird service, but if you understand the power after some time, it is very useful. Learn more

So, if you are a hostel owner and did not claim your hostel, please do so. You can add great free stuff on your profile page. More travelers will see your hostel, so more bookings will follow!

Have fun, and happy travels.
Marco van de Kamp
TFTHostels.com

We created an easy to use Google map feature on the site. Here is what you can do:

• See all countries with hostels
• See all city’s with hostels
• See all major hostels plot on the map in a city, see screenshot below.
• Search nearby places, like “train station”, or “Eiffel tower”
• See the hostel details on the map

You can check out the movie here, so I show you how to use the map function.

All Amsterdam hostels on a map:

Hostel management really likes the idea from our site and they let all hostel owners know that our site exists. Thank you Josh for your support, and your believe in the idea. I created a screencast for hostel owners so they can see how it works:

Here is the post used in the Hostel Management newsletter:

TFTHostels.com is an innovative new meta booking engine for hostels. The website searches several different hostel booking engines at once and compares prices and availability. The site offers several other groundbreaking features such as the ability to sort the search results by the hostels’ facilities.

Hostel Search Filters:
For example, if a backpacker wants to only see hostels with dorm beds that have wifi in the lobby and lockers in the dorms, it’s very easy to limit the search to those criteria. TFTHostels appears to be the most intuitive hostel search tool created yet.

Hostels can now claim their profiles on TFThostels.com including:

• Add direct contact information like phone number, email, website, and Skype name.
• Add a Flickr slideshow with good quality pictures
• Add YouTube movies and a YouTube channel
• Add a blog RSS feed
• Add the Plugoo application, so travelers can chat with hostel employees, directly from the site
• Add Twitter account to the profile

Try it out at: tfthostels.com

To claim your hostel’s page, please email Marco at marco@tfthostels.com for details.

I made a start for sharing the TFTHostel possibility’s with the world by offering a Google gadget that you can add to your IGoogle or your own website.

Any criticism is most welcome. Here it is:

TFTHostels - The Hostel Search Engine

Please Copy and paste the following code on your site:
<a href=”http://www.tfthostels.com” title=”Search all hostels, find the cheapest”>TFTHostels - The Hostel Search Engine</a><br /><iframe name=”TFTHostels” src=”http://www.tfthostels.com/gadgets/googlegadget.php” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”auto” width=”220px” height=”320px”></iframe>

Hello world,

Here are some off the posters/stickers that I like to see in all 30.000 hostels from our site. It is an ambitious plan, but not impossible. I start by sticking the posters here on the blog. All pictures are taken on my trips in 2006. The images are free to use for all Thanks brandman for the design.

I thought, why not make a short introduction video about our site. Afters days screenwriting, casting actors, finding a great location to film and 10000 dollars down the drain, here it is. The first TFTHostels video.

Just kidding. On my macbook in my office in a few hours to film, edit, upload and place it on Vimeo, Youtube our homepage and here on the blog. Check out the Youtube channel

So this cheap video is brought to you by the site that compares the best hostels

Check it out:

TFTHostels.com - Hostel Search Engine Promo Video from Marco van de Kamp on Vimeo.

A great guy from a prague hostel explanes in plain English what a hostel is. If you are new in the hostel world this video is great. Easy overview:

I found this video at Travelpunk.

This post brakes down the 10 best features you can find on TFTHostels.com beta release. If you like some more details just click on an image below. Here is the list.

1. Searching made easy, we offer 3 options:
   
   

   Enter a city, Browse by country or Browse on a map.

   

   Enter a few letters off the city you want to visit, and select the city from the list.

   

   Easy hostel directory browsing with a tag cloud

   

   Browse for Hostels on a map.

2. We are the first Hostel Search Engine.
   We just started with all hostels from Hostelworld, Hostelbookers and Hostelsclub. And we have an enormous hostel database. More then 30.000 hostels on 1 site. (We are adding other sites later this year.)
3. Search for a hostel where you want to go!
   

   Search for hostels near bars, Train stations, Musea, Famous buildings. This mashup with Google maps is great. Try it out on the site

4. Add your own videos and info from the hostel
   
   
   You can add video’s and direct contact info to the hostel.
5. Easy to sort and narrow down the results
   
   

   Sometimes you get more then 200 hostels in 1 city. So we made an easy narrow down your search bar next by the results.

6. Different rates, different Hostel Booking sites
   
   
7. Different rooms, same property
   
   
8. All the Best Booking sites on 1 site.
   
   
9. Availability check for all hostel booking sites
   
   
   
10. Direct Links to the Hostel booking sites, where you can book your stay!

We are working around the clock to improve our site. We hope that you like our efforts too make this site better every day. More features coming up

Hostelbookers and Hostelworld are the favorite hostelbooking sites on the web for Linda and Craig from The Indie travel podcast. In 2007 the favorite hostel booking website was hostelbookers.com.

If you do not know which hostel booking site to choose check out the podcast. Hostelmania and Hostelsclub are not mentioned so you could check them out by yourself, because does sites are doing a great job in trying to be better then Hostelworld and Hostelbookers.