Introduction

Welcome to the December edition of the EHC newsletter. Hopefully you will find something of interest in here, and please remember, if you ever have anything you would like us to include in future editions, please send it to paul.scraton@gomio.com.

A number of new hostels have opened around Europe. First up is the “2go4 Quality Hostel” in Brussels, Belgium. It opened in October, and if you want have a look at the website, including pictures of the new house, you can find it at www.2go4.be.

Over in the Czech Republic, Prague has a new addition to the hostel scene. The Hostel Rosemary opened on December 1st. It seems as if they are still building most of their website, but there are a couple of pictures and some information at www.praguecityhostel.cz.

One hostel that will fling open its doors in early 2006 is the Smart City Hostel in Scotland. The hostel will have 600 beds, and is located in Edinburgh’s city centre. The Smart City website is www.smartcityhostels.com.

Please remember, if you are opening a new hostel, or have carried out renovations, or if there are any other things that you want to announce through the EHC newsletter, then please do not hesitate to get in contact with us.

The folks at Infohostels sent us an email to let us know about the launch of their new website, www.infohostels.com, which features backpackers news as well as hostel listings. It also has a feature that allows hostel owners to post news about their place online, as well as for backpackers themselves to write comments or tell their stories.

The Backpacker Network Germany recently had their ‘5th Conference’, which included some things that sounded interesting to us. We in turn thought they might be interesting for the newsletter, so we asked Carolina from the Backpacker Network to send us a report... and here it is:

“This year’s meeting was organized by the team of the Easy Palace Hostel, who took care of a smooth and effective Network-conference, which took place from the 25th to the 27th November 2005 in Munich.

In a very good atmosphere the “Networkers” decided about their new managing board (Peter Weißbach - Berlin, Carolina Kuhlmann - Hamburg, Michael Lotte – Dresden) and again confirmed their treasurer (Sabine Schröter - Bremen). Some budget has been allocated for different kinds of activities to make “Backpacker Hostels” more popular in Germany and the world. Higher annual fees for the “Networkers” will finance the work of the union of independent German backpacker hostels, while higher entrance fees for new hostels reflect the growing self-confidence of the Network and its work.

The “Networkers” are especially looking forward to a closer co-operation with “Swiss Backpackers” - the union of independent backpacker hostels in Switzerland. In the next editions of their print media, both organisations will not only list each other, but also extend the already established German service known as “Confirmed OFFLINE Booking” to the hostels of “Swiss Backpackers”: guests will be able to make a guaranteed booking for their next stay in one of the independent hostels of Germany OR Switzerland free of charge at the reception of any participating hostel.

The meeting finished Saturday evening with a great party – lots of fun and plenty of free drinks generously donated by the Euro Youth Hotel, also in Munich.”

The Conference in November 2006 will be organized by the In-Hostel-Veritas in Oberhausen.”

Carolina also asked us to include in the newsletter that the next edition of the Backpacker Network Pocket Guide will be published in spring 2006. If anyone has any questions about the conference report, they can send an email to the Backpacker Network at carolina@backpackernetwork.de.

Another network, that has just been launched, is London’s Best Hostels, a marketing collaboration between a group of London’s hostels. The hostels involved are the Wake Up, the Ashlee House, St Christopher’s Inns, the Generator, Astor, and the Globetrotter Inns. The website for the group can be found at www.bestlondonhostels.com.

The small republic of Armenia has it’s first ever backpackers hostel. Armenia was one of the constituent republics of the USSR, and became independent in 1991. The Envoy Hostel aims to bring ‘European-style budget accommodation’ to the country, and it opened on the 30th September. According to the owner, the aim of the hostel is to provide a place to stay for young travellers, who may have previously been put off the country due to the high cost of hotels.

The world of hostels is growing! You can check out the Envoy Hostel at their website which can be found at www.envoyhostel.com, and there is a news article from Armenia Now in English, here: armenianow.com

A new independent travel magazine for Central Europe is being launched in April next year, and the folks behind it asked us if we would include their press release in our next newsletter. Here it is:

“Central Europe gets "packed" magazine:

A new independent travel magazine titled "packed" is to be launched in April 2006 by former hostel-staffers and media-professionals Brigitte Weiss, Dave Long and Gerald Reisecker who all share a passion for travel and adventure. The magazine, which will be distributed in 10 central European countries, has been described by co-founder and publisher Gerald Reisecker as "a free magazine in English, written for backpackers and international budget travellers in Europe."

"packed" will be up for grabs every two months offering 48 full-colour pages in 20x28cm format. 25,000 copies of the magazine will be distributed through selected "packed-mates" such as hostels, student travel agencies, tourism info centres, universities, and other businesses catering to independent travellers.

Magazine readers will get packed with high-quality info-tainment about Central European destinations, activities, events and the latest offers and news from the hostel industry. "Although packed is a free magazine, our focus on high quality content, useful information and good times make packed a resource that travellers won't be able to put down. This is a magazine that will travel through Europe together with readers and their backpacks!" says Dave Long, editor-in-chief. Long coordinates the international "packed" team of freelance travel writers and university students from all over Europe.

“packed” magazine aims to close the gap between detailed travel guides and regional brochures, bringing the industry a full-colour magazine that every independent traveller will want in his/her backpack. Readers can count on packed as a source of infotainment, travellers' secrets and a guide to the businesses that are "on the map".

According to the publisher, the magazine will make print advertising and PR not only affordable but also effective - reaching a potential 100,000+ customers before they choose and book accommodations, destinations, tours, etc. With offers such as vouchers, competitions and freebies, the effects of invested marketing money will become evident. "We will be the low-cost, high-return platform for the industry and you will be amazed by our value-for-money deals", promises Reisecker.”

You can find more information at packedmag.com, and you can contact them at: info@packedmag.com

The World Tourism Organisation – which now goes by the new acronym UNWTO to prevent further confusion with the World Trade Organisation – has published its world tourism figures for the first seven months of 2005. After a year of 5.1% growth over the whole of 2004, the figures for international travel in 2005 show an increase of 4.6% which is expected to fall slightly to 4.2% over the year as a whole. The increase is not as pronounced as last year, although the overall continued increase in tourist numbers is good news for European tourism in general.

The report also suggests that one of the most important factors in the growth has been the rise of low cost airlines. What this has meant is an increase in the number of trips people are taking, whilst at the same time a decrease in the length of each individual stay. In general it seems, people are taking more, short-trips, as opposed to two week vacations.

This information came from an Associated Press article, here: www.usatoday.com/travel/news

In related news to the above, Air Berlin is launching a new UK hub at Stansted Airport, which will connect Glasgow, Manchester and of course Stansted itself, to their destinations all over Europe – which could be good news for those cities that receive Air Berlin flights at the moment. As a transfer hub, this means that passengers can fly through Stansted without having to collect and re-check in their luggage, something that is rare for budget airlines.

The full article on the new routes for Air Berlin from Stansted can be found here: europetravelnews.com

Probably also linked to the increase in low cost airlines is the rise of the British stag weekend to destinations outside of the UK. An article on the CBS News article explores the rise of this phenomenon, particularly with regards to destinations in Eastern Europe. Some of the numbers are staggering: an estimated 1200 stag parties went to Prague last year – an increase of 50% on 2003, and this increase has also been noticed in Tallinn and Budapest.

Many of these places, and especially bars and restaurants there, are starting to ban large groups of men from their premises, and there is definitely an increasing feeling that stag groups are ‘more trouble than their worth’. It would be interesting to hear about this issue from the hostels perspective, and how different hostels deal with the issue.

´ You can read the CBS article here: www.cbsnews.com

The backpacking hippy trail of the 60s and 70s might live again! According to the UN, the newly planned Trans-Asia Railway Network will connect northern Europe with south and south-east Asia. Although the principle aim of the network would be the movement of goods, the UN believes it will also been a stimulus for tourism.

More Information: www.centralchronicle.com

Over the last month we have launched an EHC Services page online, which is a place where hostels and other third parties can get information about the European Hostel Cooperation and GOMIO.COM. It includes information on advertising on GOMIO.COM, the affiliate programme, the credit card booking systems for hostels own websites, and the GOMIO.COM Reservations software. It also has information about the EHC in general, and will be the home of these newsletters as well.

If you want to take a look at the new EHC Services page, go to: www.gomio.com/ehc

For those hostels who are working with GOMIO.COM, you might be interested in a new function that has just been added to the managements system, especially with the holiday period coming up: the Minimum Stay rule

The Minimum Stay Rule is where you can set the minimum number of days that must be booked over a particular day/date. For example - if you want a booking on New Years Eve to include at least two nights, you can select a minimum stay of ‘2’ for December 31st in the management system. This means that the guest must book either the day before or the day after as well. Please note: this is different to a ‘no checkout rule’ - if you want that they cannot check out on a particular date, such as January 1st, and then you need to set a 'No Checkout' rule for that day in the management system

You can find the ‘Minimum Stay’ selection option (as well as the ‘no checkout’ rule) in the ‘Settings’ section of the Management System. There is also a help text online to explain in more detail how it works. As always, if you have problems with the management system, do not hesitate to get in touch with one of the team in the EHC office.

´ As we move into the winter season, the office hours for the EHC Head Office in Berlin have changed. The new office hours are Monday to Friday from 9am until 6pm, Central Europe Time. As always, outside of this time a member of the team is available on call, and you can find the number on the answer-machine on the normal office number. Full contact details for the EHC office can be found at the end of this newsletter.

As announced in a previous newsletter, the 5th European Hostel Meeting will be taking place on the first weekend of April in Krakow, Poland. Planning is well underway, and we will be starting the registration process early in the New Year.

Following the success of the format in the 4th European Hostel Meeting earlier this year in Prague, we will once again be using a series of workshops, so people can choose which topics are interesting for them. There will also be the chance to exchange flyers, and of course, socialise!

The workshops that have been arranged so far include; Eco-tourism and backpacking, Quality in low budget tourism, Public Relations and hostels, and a discussion on yield management versus fixed prices. If anyone has a topic that they wish to be raised, or are interested in hosting a workshop, then please get in touch with us in the office.

And that’s that for 2005! All that is left for us to say is Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and we hope you all have a great holiday season. Thanks to everyone that has supported and worked with us in 2005, and here’s to a happy and prosperous 2006.

European Hostel Cooperation Head Office
Johannisstrasse 2
10117 Berlin
Germany
Telephone: +49 (0) 30 2462 8500
Fax: +49 (0) 30 2462 8501
Email: info@gomio.com

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