Also Metaserch needs deep marketing budgets to survive. They have no reason to give HostelRocket their API if HostelRocket’s interests are not aligned. Hostels have trouble doing this because, any hostel operator can tell you, Web Reservations International (Hostelworld and HostelBookers) has positioned itself as a monopoly in the space. They still are pushing the boundary of friend or foe. Now hotel metasearch companies can get away with adding a direct booking functionality akin to an OTA such as TripAdvisor’s new direct tool, Kayak’s that is powered through Priceline, and Room77 because their customers, the OTAs, still need to advertise with them. These companies either boast heavy user traffic, like TripAdvisor gets from its reviews, or a strong advertising, both traditional and digital, like TripAdvisor, Trivago, and Kayak does ( Room77 is unique because they thrive off of licencing their tech to Google). In hotel metasearch, Priceline ( Booking, Priceline, Agoda) is competing heavily with Expedia (Expedia,, Travelocity, and now Orbitz) with a few other OTAs and wholesalers and chain reservation systems in the mix. Metasearch fuels on a fierce competition between their customers. HostelZoo and Hostelz have illustrated that a hostel specific metasearch company faces nothing but an uphill battle. added meta-search functionality not too long after. Hostel Rocket also claims to be the first hostel metasearch company, however I met the founder of HostelZoo in 2012, and I was excited about his product then. They make it seem like they are pulling data from the booking engines of Siteminder, Myallocator, which is a way more complicated than the OTAs. What they sell themselves as, to the hostels and their investors, would be a niche metasearch company (see here), which they aren’t either, well not until they add another OTA as their customer. I might add that they beautifully pull data and take bookings on through HostelsClub flawlessly. They are an affiliate advertising channel for what looks to be HostelsClub. That would entail an entirely different business model, taking bookings, processing payments, having the hostels load their rates, etc. HostelRocket claims to be an OTA, which it is notFirst note that HostelRocket claims to be an OTA (online travel agent), which it is not. Are they an OTA? Hostel metasearch? Both? Neither? Their claims are quite confusing as well. At an allegedly 0% commission, HostelRocket could be the holy grail hostel owners have been dreaming of, or it could just be that theyre desperate and would sign up any other option out there. Hostels are desperate for an alternative to being so reliant any one distribution channel, especially when a majority of the bookings come from one company with a 12% commission. Now many hostels are bidding away their margins through the elevate program. The largest booking channel, Hostelworld acquired its largest competitor HostelBookers, and then raised its commission rates in 2013. HostelRocket’s launch comes in a time where hostel owners and managers are facing increasing costs of distribution. Hostel owners and operators can take from it what they want, and hopefully it offers some good criticism to the HostelRocket team too. To illustrate my view, I will introduce you through some general hostel management, online travel agent, and digital advertising terms mixed in with some simple math. There has been lots of chatter about HostelRocket in the sector. Clients of mine have been asking me about this solution, so I figured it is about time to let the world know what I think about HostelRocket. For a snapshot of their product, please read below. I will have an update on this within the next week. ![]() ![]() UPDATE: () HostelRocket has seemed to pivot and drop their HostelsClub inventories.
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