How to book a hostel | Book direct and save money

Book direct to support hostels and save money

Each bed that a hostel sells on a booking site today is subject to commission fees from 12% to as high as 25%. Hostels don’t want to pay this fee. In fact, a lot of hostels would rather give the money back to you, the traveller, in the form of lower prices per-bed if you book on their own website than through an booking site.

Supporting the hostels

Here’s one more reason to book direct – because commission fees are now so high, more hostels are choosing to list fewer bed or room options online than they do on their own website to avoid paying large sums to the booking sites.

This means that booking directly through a hostel’s website or by email will not only be cheaper, but your likely to be offered a wider range of availability and options.

Best price guarantee

To encourage direct bookings, some hostels now operate a best price guarantee that will match the lowest price of your stay to any found elsewhere online. This guarantee is offered clearly by Generator Hostels and Smart City Edinburgh, who encourage you to email them if you have found a cheaper price elsewhere online and they will match it.

Smart City Hostel Edinburgh have also produced the following great poster to give you more insight:

Make sure to let me know if this helps you save money on your travels!