About Us
Why did we create this site?
As long-term travellers ourselves, we are here to support all travel enthusiasts around the world in finding the most suitable hostel. Hostelz.com was started way back in 2002 because we saw a need for a better hostels guide website that really gives you all the information you need to find the absolute best hostels in the world . Over the past 17 years this site has grown to become the largest and most complete hostels database on the web - it now stands to be the only real worldwide hostels guide online.
How so?
This site offers comprehensive free listings for all hostels worldwide including:
- Quick and easy searching
- Direct contact information
- Genuine unbiased reviews
- Original hostel photographs
- Insider knowledge & tips from other backpackers
Our system searches for the best prices and availability across all of the major booking systems. Save money, time and sanity.
By working with all of the major hostel booking systems, we are able to combine all of their data with our own database of hostel information and exclusive reviews, along with online booking price comparison, giving you all the information you need to find all the best hostels on one website. There really is no reason to ever look anywhere else for hostel information.
What makes Hostelz.com unique?
So many things! Here's a list of some of the major differences that put Hostelz.com in a completely different league to any other online hostels guide.
- Hostelz.com has the largest hostels database on the web. In fact it's now the only comprehensive worldwide hostels database. The other sites only list hostels in their booking system, so many awesome properties are missed. We list all hostels worldwide, for free.
- We include direct phone and website contact information for hostels in their listings (when available). Other sites would never do that because they are really just booking systems, not hostel guides.
- When you want to make a booking, our system searches and displays results from all of the major hostel booking sites so you can choose the lowest price and the best availability no matter what.
- Hostelz.com offers only genuine reviews. We never allow hostels to censor reviews about their hostel. We believe you should be able to read everyone's opinions about every hostel, both good and bad.
- In addition to user-submitted reviews, we also have paid reviewers who visit each hostel in person to write more thorough comprehensive reviews (these appear at the top of the page, separate from the user reviews at the bottom of the page).
- Photographs of each hostel show our users what each hostel really looks like on a typical day, not just the glossy, instagram-perfection of photos provided by the property.
- We also give you ratings and full reviews from the major hostel booking sites. This way you get the complete picture of how each hostel is rated.
- We take all of the ratings from our site combined with ratings around the web, and calculate the Hostelz.com Combined Rating for each hostel. This is a special weighted average that takes into consideration the number of reviews. The Hostelz.com Combined Rating is the single most reliable indicator of the quality of the hostel that exists anywhere.
- We've been online for more than 19 years (since 2002), so you know it's a website you can trust.
We could keep going, but those are at least some of the major points. And we are not done yet. We're working on many more neat new features that will be going live on the site this year. So stick around, it only gets better.
How much can I save by using Hostelz.com's price comparison system?
On average 10.6%, as much as 50%-60% on many bookings depending on the hostel. See the complete hostel price comparison study .
Why stay in a hostel?
A hostel could be compared to a hotel. Except, hostel life is simply so much better! Forget spending a fortune on a lifeless private room: at a hostel you can experience sharing a dormitory room with other travelers. Of course, this means that you can stay for less money than you would pay at a hotel for a private room. And besides, nowadays many hostels offers as well private rooms. This means you could sleep in your private room and still enjoy the benefits of the hostels lifestyle.
Yet there's so much more to the hostel experience than just that. Social vibes, freebies, activities, helpful staff, epic design and superb locations are a few more aspects of the hostel world to get excited for.
Hostels are primarily used by young and young-minded travellers, though most hostels do not age discriminate. These days, hostels accommodate all traveller types: solo travellers, backpackers, couples, families, groups and older travellers - you name it. Modern hostels now also usually give you the option to stay in inexpensive private rooms.
For our young-minded travelers seeking hostels, we added more filters to find the perfect hostel instantly.
Read: 17 Tips for Sleeping and Staying in Hostels
The atmosphere of a hostel can vary greatly. Some are big social hang outs with pool tables and a bar, and some are quaint little homey places run by a sweet old lady. The reviews, descriptions and filters on this site will help you to find the ones that fit what you're looking for.
Help us spread the word about Hostelz.com
We strive to be the travellers go-to information resource when it comes to finding great hostels. It’s no secret that we rely on word of mouth to spread the love about Hostelz.com - it’s an organic and genuine way to reach more people. The power of online community is in your hands, dear reader. If you have a website or blog and you like Hostelz.com, include a little link to us. We appreciate any help we can get to let people know about our site.
You can also sign up with Hostelz.com. Make your own profile to get future discounts, save your hostel wish list and more.
Also please "like" us and "follow" us...
See our Suggestions for Hostel Owners for information about what makes a great hostel.
Suggestions for Hostel Owners See our Packing Guide for
tips on packing for Hostels Backpackers