When planning a trip I suggest book your first night(s) and the last night before you leave. If you have multiple flights you could book the nights around your flights and if you have certain dates that you have to be somewhere book those hostels or hotels as well.
It is so much more fun that you can choose where you want to go and when, then that you have to leave early. Just when you want to stay longer. It happened to me many times that other travelers have to rush to go to the next destination. I try to spend 1-2 month in 1 country so it is possible to stay somewhere for a week or 2 without feeling to be in a hurry.
If you are traveling off season, do not bother on booking all hostels/hotels before. It is normally no problem to arrange something on arrival. It is quit easy to book 2 days before arrival and. Prices can drop if you book online in the last days, because the hostels like to get the rooms full. If nothing available you could stay a day longer or try to contact the hostels directly. In most cases the hostels can find a spot for 1-2 backpackers.
If you use my site TFTHostels.com we combine all availability from all hostel booking sites, so it is the easiest way to find a place to stay last minute. Unfortunately it is not possible to book the same night that you want to go to a hostel. I hope we can make that possible in the future.
So keep your travel plan flexible. Do not book every hostel on your trip!
In 2002 the WYSE Travel Confederation did a study about youth travel. In 2007 they did the same study again with great results.
Which main factors influence travellers on their last trip:
94,3 % - The price
37,6 % - Quality of Information
33,1 % - Reputation of the travel products
30,7 % - Flexibility to change plans after purchase
29,6 % - Ability to book online
Method of booking accommodation for the last trip:
63,5 % - Made bookings online in 2007
15,0 % - Made bookings online in 2002
What feature should be available on a website for making a travel arrangement:
80 % - Website compares prices from different companies
80 % - Information about the destination
50 % - Book entire trip on 1 site
Factors that are identified as important when planning treir last trip
81 % - Travel as cheaply as possible
80 % - Widely explore the destination
78 % - Feeling safe in the destination
How does this report reflect on TFTHostels.com
It is possible to book your hostel online
It is possible to find the cheapest places to stay
It is possible to compare the prices from the different companies
Here is the full report from WYSE:
New Horizons II - 2007 Global Study of Young Travellers The highly anticipated release of New Horizons II report provides fresh insights and trend data about one of the world’s fastest growing niche travel markets. Drawing on survey responses from 8500+ young independent travellers, New Horizons II 2007 updates a benchmark study conducted in 2002 which identified the motivations and unique travel characteristics of the millions strong global movement of young travellers. Through this study, WYSE Travel Confederation endeavours to further advance an understanding of the unique travel motivations, activities, booking and spending habits of young travellers. This report has been selected for inclusion in a compendium of research on the student and youth travel market - to be published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in November 2007.
Hotel and Hostel booking on the internet is hot. The enormous growth for online bookings is not yet to be stopt. In de quote below it is clear that in America the growth will continue.
In 2008, 60% of all travel bookings and up to 40% of all hotel bookings in North America will be generated from the Internet (PhoCusWright, HeBS), which represents a 15%-16% growth over 2007. Another 25-30% of hotel bookings will be directly influenced by online research, but booked offline. By 2010 the Internet will contribute over 45% of all hotel bookings in North America. Source
I love to travel. I’ve spent a couple of years living out of a backpack, and I must say: it’s become a lot easier and more fun in the last decade. The single most important reason for this is, of course, the emergence of this pretty brilliant thing called the World Wide Web. The internet is great for travelers: you can find things to do, places to go, friends to meet, flights to book - and, obviously, hostels to sleep in as well. And that’s where I come in.
I think there are a few things every backpack traveler truly hates. Staying in overpriced, boring hotels without interesting people to meet is definitely one of them. But spending the whole day in an freezing cold or baking hot internet cafe, trying to find a good hostel on an ancient PC with a terribly slow internet connection isn’t a lot of fun, either.
But still, in the past 5 years quite a few hostel booking websites popped up on the internet: there’s hostelbookers, hostelsclub, hostelmania, hostelz and what have you. All of ‘em are reasonably OK: they’re offering quite a few hostels from all over the world. But if you really want a good deal, you’ve got to visit all of these websites and compare reviews, prices and availability. This is incredibly tedious and time consuming.
Long story short: I simply thought, I could do this thing better. I dreamt of creating a service that does exactly what I want: to search, compare and check availability of the largest possible number of hostels, by combining all major hostel booking sites. And I did exactly that. Travelers and people working in the hostel business I talked to loved the idea, so I started working. Fast forward 1 year, and here we are: TFTHostels is ready to launch, June 4th. Almost ready. Yee-haw!
