Workshops
- European Hostel Meeting 2009 – Dresden

Ecology: “Save costs and the environment in a few easy steps” with Jason Borthwick from the Deepdale Backpackers and Camping

What can be done in hostels to reduce the environmental impact? What is a “green” hostel? What could everybody do, what is easy to achieve, what is more difficult, what's the price? How do you communicate your eco-friendliness to your guests? Jason Borthwick will show you on the example of Deepdale Farms what everybody can do in a few easy steps.

Website Boosting: "New Trends in SEO and the Influence of Social Media" with Josh from www.hostelmanagement.com

Common mistakes on hostel websites and how to avoid them | trends in SEO -- what is out of style, what is a myth, and how social media is changing SEO | examples of some relatively simple things hostels could do to improve their SEO | how to use a hostel blog as part of the overall SEO campaign

You may send your URL for some live analysis in advance: office@lollishome.de

Marketing: “Successful positioning in saturated and stagnating markets” with Ernst Brümmer from Treugast Consulting

Many hostels have to face it: More and more other players are on the market. Big chains are expanding; hotel chains are moving into the hostel market, online booking portals made it easier to open a hostel. The whole sector is becoming more professional and the number of new hostels is growing much faster than the number of tourists. What can you do to survive in harsher market conditions?

Uniqueness: "Create an ambiance – differentiate your Hostel" with Erik & Gevorg from Envoy Hostel

As you know all hostels have their own personality and that can be their point of difference and USP to other hostels. Do you already focus on this? Erik & Gevorg will present you what they do to be different, e.g. they created a regular program of activities that offer entertainment both for fun and also activities reflecting local culture/ traditions etc. What can you do to to make guests feel more at home and connected to your hostel (who often end up staying longer!)? We can all learn more about how to improve on this so this is a great way to get more inspiration.

Presentations:

A look beyond Europe: “The hostel market in Australia and South America” with Peter Ovenden from Global Gossip and Juan de Dios Ortuzar from Hostal Caracol in Chile(enquired)

We always try to learn from other hostels in Europe. But what happens in other parts of the world? Let's try to look beyond our own backyards. What is the general situation in Australia and South America? How are the prices, how is the competition, how do they work with authorities, what are guests expecting, how is this changing, what marketing do they use, what organisations do exist, what do they expect for the future, what are the trends, what is being discussed within the hostel scene…

A look into the future: “How will hostelling be in 10 years?” with Romain Viennois, St. Christophers Hostels, Carolyn Zukowski, Hostel Krumlov House, Oliver Winter, AO Hostels, Jim Zielinski, The Bulldog Hotel, The Bulldog Hotel, Lori Gardiner, Nomads World, Australia

If you want to stay successfully in business, you need future prospects. All of us have to deal with a changing market, with rising expectations of our costumers, with an altering business environment. Five hostel managers will give you their very own views into the future.

A look on here and today: “The situation in the tourist sector in Dresden” with somebody from the Dresden Tourist Board.

Dresden is Nr. 5 for visitors in Germany. How is the situation, where do guests come from, why do they come and how big are the different age groups? What is the situation in the youth sector? How does the Tourist Board work with the hostels? Some figures to present Dresden from the tourist marketing perspective.

A look on GOMIO.COM:

Representatives from GOMIO.COM review recent and upcoming developments with the portal as well as all the options available when adding your hostel to this portal.

Best Practice:

Small hostels: “Off the beaten track - a disadvantage?” with Cathrin Eszbach, PentHouse Backpackers

Many hostels open in remote or rural places, in small towns and unknown locations. What can you do to attract travelers going there? How do you promote your hostel and your town? This Best Practice round tries to encourage you to share experiences and tips about strategies of running a hostel in unknown places.

Pest Control: “Bed Bugs in Hostels and the right counteraction” with Dr. I. Körber, Berlin

Who doesn't know these little insects. Displeased guests, a bad reputation and the chance to spend a lot of money to get rid of them, all this is the guilt of this plague. What can you do for prevention and what is the best way to eliminate them? What are good strategies of communication to the costumer? Despite we’ve won Dr. I. Körber as she is an expert, we also want to discuss your experiences, how to avoid and how to win the fight against them.

Pricing: “Why are price levels in comparable cities so different?” with Jörg from East Seven Hostel Berlin, Pawel from Momotown Hostel Cracow and somebody from the Sir Toby’s Group from Prague

Hostelowners from different cities will give us a quick overview on the prices in their city. Why do they differ? What is the situation, why is it the way it is, how did it develop? Do we have an influence on it? On the example of top tourist destinations we want to find out about this mystery. What’s the number of guests and what’s the number of beds and how did this change? Can we see differences between new and old hostels, smaller and bigger ones?

Finances: “Beating the economic crisis - Increasing revenue and cutting costs without cutting quality” with Robert Coghlan, Hostels of Sicily

This Best Practice round doesn't need a speaker - it needs you! What extra service do you offer? How big is the part of your income which is not generated by selling beds? What are your experiences, what should be included in the price, what should be extra? What can you do to cut your costs? Share your experiences and learn from others how they save money on costs and increase income with extra revenues.

Fireside Chats:

And, just in very small groups, without a microphone and limited participants we will arrange fireside chats to give you the possibility to start something new in the hostelling scene:

“Comparable figures for hostels” with Gottfried Obermair, Yoho Hostel

Is there a need for benchmarks? What are the characteristic numbers for hostels? What is the difference to hotels? How can we get reliable data?

“Open Source Reservation software – a solution?”

There are many commercial reservation software brands on the market. But every hostel wants something different. Unfortunately it’s impossible for a company to cover all your needs. In other words, an "off-the-shelf" package designed for every medium-sized hostel cannot be fully satisfactory for any specific hostel.
Would it be a possible approach to start an Open Source Reservation Software? A free software which everybody can use and duplicate and develop to be tailored to everybodies’ needs?