Last Friday, June 26th, we published a feature story on the burgeoning hostel industry which included an overview of several of the major booking sources for hostels worldwide, and the opportunities this travel niche represents for travel affiliates.  We received a lot of positive feedback about the post, as well several comments from our readers pointing out that we didn’t reference some of the other top hostel booking services which also work with travel affiliates.

In particular, several readers suggested we introduce to the TravelDividends community another leading hostel portal / booking site: HostelsClub.com. Toward that end, the following represents a snapshot of HostelsClub.com, as well as information about its travel affiliate programs.

Since its launch in 2001, HostelsClub.com has carved a strong global position in the online hostel reservations industry.  In fact, in some markets, such as in Italy, they are the leading vendor.  Today, their database includes more than 14,000 properties (hostels, hotels and other discount accommodation providers such as campsites) in over 120 different countries.

One of the hostel portal’s customer value propositions revolves around their dedicated team of experienced traveling professionals. This team is charged with identifying and pre-qualifying some of the top rated budget accommodation around the world, which once identified, are summarily highlighted and recommended to travel consumers on the Company’s website.  Another consumer-friendly feature is HostelsClub’s no-booking fee policy; all reservations on its site are free.  The portal also offers guide books to many of the popular destinations and attractions around the world, and publishes an online magazine.

HostelsClub’s travel affiliate program is also quite strong, and according to company sources, currently includes more than 200 affiliate partner sites.  Among the ranks of its affiliate partners are such well known travel brands like TuiFly, GermanWings, Atrapalo and ISIC, as well a number of super-affiliates in Europe, North America and Asia/Pac.

HostelsClub offers a proprietary booking engine, ReservationArea, for private labeling to any travel affiliate, hostel and other accommodation or travel providers. Affiliates can either integrate a customized version of ReservationArea with their website, or link their homepage to HostelsClub.com.  Capable of accommodating 28 languages, some 550 travel related enterprises are using their booking engine today.

To learn more about HostelsClub’s travel affiliate program, visit the Company’s affiliate page on its website; if you are a hostel or accommodation supplier, click here for information about joining HostelsClub’s network.

TravelDividends thanks its readers for their comments, observations and suggestions, and we certainly welcome more.  We believe that open and frequent dialogue among all of the stakeholders in the travel affiliate industry in sites and forums such as ours is critical to our industry’s future success.

If you have additional candidates you’d like to nominate for future profiling on TravelDividends – whether they’re in the hostel industry or any other sector of the travel industry – please drop us a line!