Understanding Hostelworld´s new Solo System
It's been a tough couple of years for the entire travel-tech industry, with most staying away from shared accommodation like hostels during the COVID-19, or avoiding travel altogether.
Hostelworld wanted to encourage travelers to feel confident and secure again, by making their travel experience easier and allowing them to share it with people all over the world. According to a recent publication, 76% of hostel travelers want their experience to be social, yet 30% feel nervous about speaking with others during their stay.
_w%3D800_h%3D595_pjpg.jpeg)
It is also worth noting that 70% of the answers said that being able to meet new people was their most decisive factor when booking a hostel, and 77% looked for others to do activities with during their stay.
That's why, Hostelworld has released a new native app with a ‘Chat’ functionality inspiring conversations and real life meetups between travelers visiting the same cities and hostels, around the same time. Opt-in users will be given access to hostel chats, city chats and interest-based chats up to 14 days before their check-in date.
Users can ‘See Who’s Going’ to be in a city and hostel when browsing the platform, allowing them to better organize their trip, communicate and enable them to ask for advice or recommendations when discovering a new city
Gary Morrison, Chief Executive Officer of Hostelworld Group, said: “By powering social connections through our platform before our customers even get to their destination, we are giving them an incredibly compelling reason to book with Hostelworld. We will continue to launch more social products in coming months including LinkUps, a feature that encourages travelers to create gatherings and social activities.”
To participate in chats and social activity, all customers who’ve opted in need to keep their profile public and agree to abide by Hostelworld’s community guidelines. Users must be 18 years or over to use ‘Chat’.
With this new feature, travelers will feel more comfortable traveling alone and meeting others along their journey. However, they'd still be missing a travel itinerary, which can be very tedious to plan alone - especially if they're not using a trip planner that is smart, holistic and ready in a few clicks. And that's exactly how Bridgify can "bridge" that gap.
