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Welcome to the May newsletter from the European Hostel Cooperation. There was
no newsletter in April because our monkeys with typewriters were putting together
the review of the 4th European Hostel Meeting in Prague (which you can see
at www.gomio.com/conference), but the newsletter is back, and there are some
interesting things in here, so read on!
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New Hostels Opening
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As the summer season comes upon us, there are some more hostels opening around
Europe, and we know about some of them! Remember, if you are opening a new
hostel, or if you know of new hostels opening, let us know and we can make
the announcement in the next EHC newsletter.
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In Barcelona, the Albergiunn Hostel has opened on the c/malcior de palau, near
to the Estación de Sants... the website is minimal at the moment but there are
some photos of the house and other information for readers of Spanish. You
can check it out at www.alberguinn.com.
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The team behind the A&O Hostels in Berlin opened their new hotel in Munich in
January, and are moving beyond Germany later this year when they open their new
house in Prague. To see the new place in Munich, as well as all the other A&O
Hostels, check out www.aobackpackers.de.
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Coming soon to Budapest, on the 15th June to be exact, is the Grand Hostel Buda,
which will open its doors on the Hûvösvölgyi street. The website
is currently under construction, but there will be details and pictures of
the hostel coming soon at www.grandhostel.hu.
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The Kismet Dao Hostel in Brasov, Romania, now has a new sister, the Kismet Dao
in Krakow Poland. You can check out information on both hostels on their website,
which is at www.kismetdao.com.
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...and a Renovation
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The Hostel Huetteldorf in Vienna has completed a large scale renovation
of their house during the first few months of the year, and they asked
us to put the news in the newsletter. To see some pictures of the new-look
Hostel Huetteldorf, visit their website at www.hostel.at.
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A Lonely Planet Booking Engine?
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Some hostels have let us know that they were contacted by the Lonely Planet who
told them that they want to start their own booking engine by the end of the
year. According to the first plans, which please note are based on verbal information
and still need to be confirmed, the Lonely Planet will approach and list only
those hostels that are included in their guide books. Of course, this is all
in the planning and development stage and things may change before anything
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German Youth Hostel Association - An Update
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If you cast your minds back to last September, you might remember that in the
EHC newsletter then we reported on the legal trouble some German independent
hostels were having with the German Youth Hostel association (DJH) over the
use of the German word ‘jugendherberge’ (youth hostel), which the DJH claimed
was copyrighted by them.
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We have an update on the situation from Peter Weissbach from the German Backpacker
Network. There have been a number of court cases involving the DJH and individual
hostels over the use of the term, with mixed results, and a meeting between
the DJH and the backpacker network was arranged to discuss the issue.
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The DJH and the Backpacker Network agreed that the DJH will do some more research
into whether their trademark is in danger if they allow independent hostels
to use the term, and they also assured Peter that they will not start any further
action against hostels in the courts without first informing the board of the
Backpacker Network. However, they also insisted that they will stick to the
strategy of copyrighting terms as a means to defending their market position.
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We will keep you informed of any further developments on this issue.
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Hostelling In the Media: Der Spiegel
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Related to the issue above comes an article from the Der Spiegel news magazine
in Germany, about this whole debate between the DJH and the independent hostel
sector, entitled ‘Target Group Backpack’.
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The article explores the world of DJH hostels and independent hostels, and the
debate over the use of the term ‘jugendherberge’. There are interviews in
the article with Oliver Winter of A&O Hostels in Berlin, as well as Hans-Martin
Schwarz of the Jugendherberge Berlin-International.
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The figures that Der Spiegel includes in its article, about the hostel market
in Berlin, are interesting. For example, 4000 ‘private’ hostel beds have come
onto the market since 1998, as well as the fact that private hostels have an
occupancy rate of 60-80%, compared to 90% at the DJH hostel.
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The points surrounding the debate about the German word for ‘youth hostel’ are
interesting. The DJH claim in the article that ‘jugendherberge’ stands for their
standards of quality, fair prices, order, and the philosophy of the youth hostel
movement. The counter argument, from Backpacker Network Germany is that this
trademarking is unfair as this is the only translation offered for youth hostel
when overseas visitors look up the term in the dictionary.
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It seems as if the solution to the debate will come in the form of research.
If it can be proved that the public at large associate the term with the DJH
then in all likelihood the trademark will remain. If, on the other hand, it
is seen as a term that describes hostels in general, then this could mean the
end of the trademark, and, in the words of Der Spiegel, the ‘start of a backpacking
revolution’...
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For those of you that can read German, the article is available online at:
www.spiegel.de
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NomadsWorld Cooperation
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The EHC was approached by the Nomads in Australia and New Zealand recently, who
asked if we were interested in a ‘content swap’ between our two newsletters
and press releases. So we agreed! Nomads has more than 70 hostels in Australia,
New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands.
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Wellington, New Zealand, which will open its doors in the Kiwi capital
city in June. This is all part of Nomads’ plans which should see 5 new
properties opened throughout the year.
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Nomads promised to keep us informed of other developments ‘down under’ that might
be of interest to us in Europe, and when we hear something that might be of use,
we will include it in future newsletters. You can check out the Nomads site at
www.nomadsworld.com.
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Changing Tourism Trends from the United States
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A survey by TripAdvisor, that we discovered on HotelMarketing.com, has found
that 67% of Americans travelling to Europe this summer are changing their plans
due to the weakness of the dollar. This does not mean that they are not coming,
rather they are altering where they stay and where they eat to meet the restrictions
on their budget that the exchange rate creates.
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The quote from the vice president of TripAdviser was that "Americans travelling
to Europe this year will have to be better prepared, more creative and savvy
than in recent times to effectively manage their travel budgets," and interestingly,
one of the suggestions given out in the TripAdvisor forums for better value European
travel was to stay in hostels, and visit eastern Europe, which hopefully could
be good news for hostels and other budget accommodation in that region.
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You can read the whole article online, by going to:
www.hotelmarketing.com.
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Use It - Belgium
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During the hostel meeting in Prague, the guys at the Snuffels Hostel and
the Hostel Lybeer in Bruges both told us about the Use It tourist information
service in Ghent and Antwerp. We think these guys are doing a great job
so we thought we would put a little note about them in here.
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Basically Use It is a tourist information office that is designed with the backpackers
and young travellers in mind. As well as the information office they have a
website with all kinds of information such as parties, events, cheap eats and
cheap sleeps, which is all aimed at a younger or budget clientele.
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Use It started in Copenhagen in 1972, and also now has offices in Oslo, Rotterdam,
Ghent and Antwerp and other locations around Europe. A non-profit organisation
that aims to look after the same type of people that we do in our hostels should,
we think, be applauded!
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For more information about Use-It in Belgium, check out: www.use-it.be
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A Message to Pass on to Your Guests...
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Now we have some information that may be of interest to German hostels to pass
on to their guests, or in fact, any hostels that have guests who are on their
way to Germany. The well-known supermarket chain LIDL starts selling train
tickets for the Deutsche Bahn in all its branches on Thursday May 19th, 2005.
2 Tickets belong to one ‘Block’ and cost you a total of 49,90€ . The tickets
will be sold in the LIDL branches till May 28th 2005.
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Tickets can be used for any ride (one way) within Germany. It doesn’t matter
if you go from Berlin to Hamburg, or from Flensburg to Munich. Before getting
on the train, passengers need to write their name, destination and the date on
the ticket. And that’s it... The ticket allows 2nd class travel on any journey within
Germany until October 3rd, 2005. For a couple of trains (such as the ICE Sprinter
or the DB Night Trains) a supplement needs to be paid, but in general this is
an excellent value offer for cheap train travel in Germany.
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So, if you have a hostel in Germany and there is a LIDL market near by, or you
have guests heading on from your hostel to Germany, let them know about the
offer.
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Easycruise Starts Sailing
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We mentioned this in a previous newsletter as well. The new ‘no frills’ cruise
line, Easycruise, from the guys behind Easyjet and Easyeverything internet
cafes has started sailing in the Mediterranean. This news might be of interest
to those who own hostels along the route, as the target audience of the Easycruise
is more budget-minded young travellers.
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The cruises are aimed, according to the company, at ‘independent-minded’ travellers
in their 20s and 30s. The prices are around 25 euros a day, and the bright orange
ships will be docking at Nice, Cannes, St Tropez, Monaco, Imperia, Genoa, and
Portofino.
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You can get more information about the launch of the Easycruise in an article
at: www.hotelmarketing.com
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Hostelworld Interface for ASSD/GOMIO.COM Software
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Some interesting news for those hostels using ASSD reservations software, or
the ASSD-based GOMIO.COM software. The interface to the Hostelworld booking
engine is finished and is ready to use. What this means is that your software
can connect directly with the Hostelworld system, which means you can upload
and download allocations and bookings automatically, and you can handle your
allocations from the software.
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What this means, if you are also a member of GOMIO.COM and use these softwares,
that with the two interfaces you can handle allocations and bookings for GOMIO.COM
and Hostelworld in one place and all updates (i.e. a walk-in or telephone booking)
are updated automatically.
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It can be installed by either ASSD or GOMIO.COM, but what you need to do is get
permission from Hostelworld to use it. This comes in the form of a password,
so you need to get in contact with the person you deal with at Hostelworld
to do this. A number of hostels are using this already, and if you want to
ask some of them how it is all working, let us know and we will put you in
contact with them (for example the Hostel Alessandro in Rome).
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New Shareholders for the European Hostel Cooperation
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The allocation of new shares in the EHC is ongoing, and we are really happy
with the response that we have received from a number of hostels across Europe.
The process should be completed by the time of the next newsletter, and once
the process is completed we can let you know more details of the new shareholders
in the European Hostel Cooperation.
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We are really happy with how everything is going, and that the basis of the European
Hostel Cooperation will become broader as more hostels become shareholders.
We would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to all those that expressed
an interest in becoming shareholders in the EHC.
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New General Manager for the European Hostel Cooperation
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Also new at the EHC is that we have a new General Manager. As many of you know
this job has been done since the company was founded by Andreas Becker. Now
that the initial setting-up period is behind us Andreas is ‘stepping back’ from
this role (although he’ll still be with us here in the office). Andreas will
remain Managing Director of the European Hostel Cooperation and a member of
the board of directors.
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The day-to-day running of the company will be taken over by Katrin Schoenig,
who has been appointed by the EHC Board to the position of General Manager,
and whom many of you know. The rest of us in the EHC team would like to congratulate
Katrin on her new job, promise support, and look forward to the new regime.
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4th European Hostel Meeting in Prague
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In case you missed it, we sent out the email after the hostel meeting in Prague
with a link to the review, which is still online along with some funny photos
from the meeting itself as well as the two parties that bookended the intellectual
bits. You can read the review online at www.gomio.com/conference.
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Following the success of this years meeting, in terms of so many people from
Eastern Europe attending, we have decided that next year will also be in a
central location such as Prague so that as many people as possible can attend.
What we haven’t decided is exactly where, so if you have any ideas, please
let us know. Also, for those of you who where in Prague, any suggestions as
to how we can make the meeting better for next year, please let us know.
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As always for these things, the email address is info@gomio.com.
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Tsunami Appeal
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Those that have been following the newsletters in recent months will know
that we had an appeal for the victims of the tsunami in South East Asia,
with our chosen destination for what we raised a re-development programme
in Sri Lanka that was proposed to us by Mathias Schwender of the Sir Toby’s
Hostel in Prague.
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Mathias will be in Sri Lanka over the next few weeks to oversee the spending
of the donations, take some pictures, and produce a report as to how the money
is being used to help the rebuilding process in Sri Lanka. When he returns
we will be sending the report to all those hostels that took part in the appeal - many
thanks once again! - and will provide a summary of the appeal as whole in the
next newsletter. So keep your eyes open for that!
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A Note on Newsletter Content
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Well, we hope that you enjoyed the newsletter. This is just a little note
to let you know that we are always interested in content for the newsletter,
and if you have something that you would like to share with the rest of the
hostelling scene in Europe please send it in and we can include it.
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If it is a media article it doesn’t have to be in English, we will include an
English summary and the link (as with the Der Spiegel article in this months
edition), and anything else that you find that you want to share just send it
in and we’ll have a look! The newsletter is looked after by Paul in the office,
so anything of interested then send it by email to paul.scraton@gomio.com.
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Of course, we at the European Hostel Cooperation love to hear from people whatever
the subject, and the full contact details for the EHC are as follows:
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The European Hostel Cooperation GmbH
Johannisstrasse 2
10117 Berlin
Germany
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Telephone: +49 (0) 30 2462 8500
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Email: info@gomio.com
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So that’s your lot folks. The next instalment of EHC news will come winging its
way into your inbox in June, so, until then, best wishes from your European Hostel
Cooperation team.
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