Hostel booking mistake cost me $80 extra last week

I spent 6 months booking hostels through the same site without ever checking the property's direct website. Last week in Lisbon I walked past my hostel and saw a sign saying 'book direct save 15%'. Sure enough their own site had my twin room for $68 a night instead of the $88 I was paying. I rebooked the remaining 3 nights and saved $60 instantly. Has anyone else noticed how badly the aggregator sites mark up smaller hostels?

3 comments

3 Comments

leewood1d ago

That "gotta make money somehow" line is exactly what I wonder about with the really tiny hostels - do you know if the smaller places are forced into bigger cuts because they can't negotiate like the big chains do?

nancy_king291d ago

Funny enough @leewood, but sometimes the bigger kickback isn't even the booking fees. A lot of these tiny hostels pay extra for "premium placement" or boosted listings just to get seen, which jacks up their costs way more than the 15% you think you're saving. So that direct booking savings is basically the hostel clawing back money they're bleeding just to stay visible on the aggregator's front page.

simon_carr1d ago

Figure the aggregators gotta make money somehow but 15% seems steep when you're already hunting for budget options. Kinda makes me wonder what cut they're taking from the really tiny places.