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Always when I'm going to travel to someplace, I book my hostel with precedence. Actually I look only for two Booking sites:

http://www.hostelworld.com

http://www.youth-hostels.co.uk/

Is there a cheaper site than these two, which has the same service with same quality, with the same number or larger?

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  • Your question is really a collection of questions. That makes it hard for the community to get what you are asking. Have a look at travel.stackexchange.com/questions/how-to-ask to see how you can improve this question. Jul 30, 2013 at 13:49
  • Question summarized; The others questions will be asked in another time. Thanks for tip. Jul 30, 2013 at 14:09
  • Hostel world is taking a very large % from the money from each hostel now, they also have to pay to come high in search rankings, and if you book a non refundable booking the property can charge the same card the full amount immediately, thus blackmailing people into spending even more on a flexible booking. Hostelworld are a monopoly and must be disrupted. Do not use them.
    – niico
    Apr 15 at 12:44

2 Answers 2

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It depends.

  1. The prices listed on HostelWorld and HostelBookers are dependent on the hostel themselves, not the website. If it's cheaper on HostelBookers, it's because that's what the hostel was aiming to do. It's not because of HostelBookers themselves. Second thing you need to understand about this is that HostelWorld has bought out HostelBookers not too long ago so essentially it's all going to become the same company as things start to merge more.

  2. If you are traveling to SE Asia for example, you're less likely to find hostels and more likely to find locally owned small guesthouses. Many of these places are not listed on hostel websites.

  3. During low season in many destinations, you have a better chance in just showing up and negotiating a price. But during high and peak season, you really need to book in advanced otherwise walk-in price is higher if you can even find a room at all.

  4. It really depends on where you are going. I had great luck during low season just showing up to many places in SE Asia. I was not so lucky in Europe though. Either way, it's not going to affect your service because you showed up or booked on a website.

Safe travels.

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  • in SEA hostels spring up like mushrooms recently, but yes it is still more likely to find guesthouses.
    – greg121
    Jul 31, 2013 at 7:58
  • The % HostelWorld takes now is insanely high, specially if you want to appear high on search results. It's a monopoly and alternatives are required. The non flexible booking also means your card can be immediately charged by the property which is highly irregular.
    – niico
    Apr 15 at 11:02
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Hostelbookers - not quite as big as hostelworld, but most of the same popular hostels, and they claim to be about 8% cheaper, on average.

I assume you're after global sites - if you're wanting a Colombian one, a Scottish one and a South African one, you'll have to ask separate questions or it'll be considered too broad.

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  • Is this even after they were acquired by Hostelworld? Jul 30, 2013 at 16:23
  • 3
    Can you cite your source on that survey?
    – Greg
    Jul 30, 2013 at 21:38
  • Well it's actually on the front page of their website in big bold writing, which I linked to....but I'll update it with a link to the survey details.
    – Mark Mayo
    Aug 1, 2013 at 3:53
  • Thanks. I have just proposed a more correct formulation. Aug 1, 2013 at 10:07
  • It's true that Hostelbookers was acquired by Hostelworld, but for now the two sites have completely separate inventories and prices. So some hostels will be cheaper on one site or the other (it varies depending on the hostel).
    – traveld
    Dec 19, 2014 at 19:37

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