HostelWorld.com - www.hostelworld.com

Two weeks prior to where I was going to stay I was contacted by the hostel I had booked for - they told me that they had terminated their relationship with HostelWorld for various reasons and that HW should have been in contact. I was told that my reservation could not be upheld through HW and that I would need to rebook my reservation directly through the hostel.

The email from the hostel was the first - and still is the only - time I ever heard about the termination and that the reservation would not be able to be upheld. Had the hostel not contacted me I would not have known at all.

Furthermore, when I tried to contact HostelWorld they only answered my initial email. They asked for a forwarded email that I had received from the hostel and then never replied to me again. I sent many emails over the span of a week without any response at all.

I also tried calling the number on their website to contact them and was continually met with 'The number cannot be dialed at this time', for some reason. The number never worked and I could never find another number to use.

Overall, I have seen the horrible customer care that HostelWorld provides. They clearly ignored my attempts to resolve the issue and showed blatant disregard for my questions and for me as a person.

I will definitely never be using this company again and will be making sure that no one I know uses it either.

regularly check this site. never have found a price remotely close to adverts. from £9 ad i regularly find cheapest at £60 per night for a hostel!! then my own site is flooded bt their nonsense. AVOID. try skyscanner and thomson airways. do not know how to get rid of this pest

Avoid Hostelworld!!! I decided to write you adding my experience because I want complain about online hostel booking but I’m a tourist and I don’t know very well the best way to do it in USA.

I booked online a hostel in New York last July (I have the receipt you can read below) but when my plane arrived in NY (during the evening) I phoned to the hostel and they simply told me than there aren’t rooms! I didn’t find any other rooms that night (was a Saturday night in very high season period)except very expensive hotels so I decided to sleep in my car with my husband and my son but it was not a great experience and it could has been dangerous.

We were charged 20% ( 280 Euro) Booking Fee form HostelWorld ( ‪‎Hostelworld‬,‪ hostelbookers‬, Hostels, bedandbreakfastworld, backpackeronline, ‪scout24‬ owned by Web Reservation International.

I hope you can help me and send this letter to competent organizations. Terrible ever. Don't book through hostelworld.hostelbookers.hostels,scout24 ....... All branches of the same positions tree web Reservation International

Room and dorm descriptions, whats included with the booking and whats not, are only displayed on "mouse-over" of the room type, not in the property information, in a very clear way. Although, it is good to have this kind of interactivity with the webpage, where there is a significant change to room descriptions, this could be mentioned as part of the property info.

I made bookings for 4 nights (23 Jan - 26 Jan 2015) for a double room, which included Air-con and breakfast. The 5th night when I made a booking for 27 Jan 2015, there was no indication that the room on offer had changed to a NON-AC, No breakfast room, in the service provided, extra fee, cancellation policy, pre-payment policy and any important info in the hostel's " Property Information", “Service Provided”, " Cancellation Policy" and "Things to note (as the hostel sets this out online).

After booking, I was told by the hostel that they had changed the type of room offered through hostelworld, and that I needed to pay extra for A/C and breakfast. The hostel switched-off the AIr-con in the room repeatedly. I e-mailed hostelworld but had not received a response. so, used the Hostelworld online chat feature (available on Hostelworld Website). The customer services staff member agreed that the hostel is unable to charge for breakfast as the property information says "Free breakfast will be served with your room booking".

The property info also says "Our double room and the single room has A/C. Our dorm room is without A/C, but has a good fan". HostelWorld staff member said, the hostel did not indicate they provided "free air-con". Implying that they were entitled to charge for AIr-con. But what about the bookings for 23 Jan - 26 Jan where they did not charge for Air-con. What she said just dosen't make sense.

Be careful when dealing with Hostelworld. Also, always check with the hostel before arriving. HostelWorld bookings don't always make it to the hostel on time, you may need to print/e-mail a copy of the booking to the hostel.

Customer support is not good. The e-mail I sent yesterday has not been responded to. I have heard a wait time of approximately 2.5 weeks for an e-mail response and non-existent telephone support.

HostelWorld I suggest the following as your tagline (strapline) or advertising slogan: Best go elsewhere.

we have been booking through hostelworld for years now, really good comparison and booking site.

I never had an issue so I really can't tell about customer support but I loved all accommodation booked by this site! Would recommend it anytime!

I made a reservation for a superior twin private ensuite at Veeniola Holiday Homes through hostelworld.com on Sept 16th, 2014 for Dec 31st, 2014. I never heard from the hotel on my reservation. So, I wrote to them on Oct 6th and again on Oct 10th in vain. Finally, On Oct 17th, I called the hotel to ask on my reservation when I was told that the facility is overbooked which I asked to confirm on email. I received a message stating "we have made arrangements to provide you honour your reservation by accommodating you in another property of same standards, in the vicinity"

On Oct 18th I wrote to hostelworld.com for a refund as I am not interested in alternative options provided by the hotel and I am highly disappointed that I was not informed that booking is not confirmed. My request ID number: 977146 is pending with hostelworld.com since then and no one has bothered to contact me. Not sure how this place is gathering good reviews. Its awful to do business with them.

I wish I 'd read your post before I booked with Hostelworld!!! I booked a room at the Alcazar Hotel in Guadalajara through Hostelworld and paid a deposit online. When I arrived they had no record of my reservation and said that they don't work with any online agencies. Luckily, they had 1 room left and were nice enough to honor the discounted rate that I'd paid for. Hostelworld can only be contacted by email, there are no phone numbers on their website. It took 2.5 weeks for them to answer my email and then they have offered me a credit for next time when I use Hostelworld. Yeah, right!!! I've started  proceedings through my credit card agency.

Irish

Hosteworld.com,Hostelbookers.com,Hostels.com,BedandBreakfastworld.com, Backpackonline.com, Scout24.com are all branches of the same poisonous tree - Web Reservation International

I've booked a hotel in China. Price was much cheaper than on other sites.Next day I've received the e-mail from the hotel.They said that couldn't confirm my reservation. Then I called to Hostelworld and ask to book another hotel or to return my deposit. A lot of bla-bla-bla from their side. No another booking, no money back

So I booked a hostel in miami with hostelworld, got to the hostel and they had no confirmation of our booking and were fully booked. So I rang hostelworld. No reply, I rang them about 5 or 6 times with no reply. There was one saving grace about that night, and that was the fact that the owner of The European Guesthouse in Miami was one of the nicest people I have ever met and he couldn't do enough to help us out. Any way we finally managed to find a place to sleep that night. So I sent them an email to explain the situation, the short story is, 4 weeks later I still haven't been reimbursed for the service they failed to provide and so I will be getting in touch with trading standards this coming week. A good man once said that a problem in business is just an opportunity in disguise, if they had been courteous and efficient in dealing with my problem then I would be here praising them and helping other people feel secure while using their services. But they didn't, so I'm not. So I say to anyone who books through them from now on, good luck but if I were you I would use another company.

If you look into the company you will see that i am not the only one who has had money cheated off him but to stop any bad publicity they delete bad reviews.

When you book trought hostelworld.com, it integrates you (as you agree the site conditions) in a kind of club. But you are using the site to make a mere hostal reservation! The forced membership for who made a reservation trought hostelworld.com.

It keeps all your recordings! Bookings, cancelations, future bookings, and show to the "myworld community" where did you go!

I find it abusing and unacceptable.

Also hostelworld do not pay any taxes for the countries to where it make the reservations. In my opinion hostelworld is mainly interested in getting the 15% commission when we book But it has also some interest in keeping you as a member. Under european laws it is ilegal and the site would be removed within European Union.