Hostelworld

They removed their phone number "due to covid 19" (which was 3 years ago).

So you email them, only to receive an auto reply telling you that their email inbox doesn't exist any more.

It tells you that you have to download the app to contact them, which is a joke.

So you download the app and fill out their for. It asks if any of the suggested articles solve your query. You say thay it doesn't and send your message.

Then you get an automated response saying your ticket has been auto solved as it contains the word "cancel" and this topic should be solved by reading an article, even though the article doesn't help.

Then it tells you to respond to the message if your message shouldn't be auto solved and needs a response, so you reply and say it needs a response.

Then you hear back five hours later but not from a human, finally, but from the customer satisfaction survey, telling you that your ticket is solved and asking if you're satisfied.

As a Zendesk consultant who helps teams improve their Zendesk experience, this is literally how I would design their CX flow to piss off as many customers as possible. It's actually hilariously bad.

Except it's not funny, as they still have my money and I want it back. Zendesk ticket *******

My hostel didn't accept My booking. I contacted hostel world, and they replied a week later! A month later, I still haven't gotten a final solution. Very disappointing.

I made a reservation, made a partial payment and they never sent me a booking confirmation email. They have my money and they dont respond to my emails.

It is by far the worst booking platform which neither provides good service to the listed properties, nor to the travelers who count on their reliability. Their commission policy, which charges over 20% of the total amount for the booking is consciously hidden from the end customer. NO ONE who books through HW knows that the so-called "deposit" goes to Hostelworld pocket, not to the property. This is totally misleading the customer's awareness where their money go to. From our experience as hostel owners, we were totally surprised when one of the HW managers Anna Necajeva cancelled more than 11 reservations without our knowledge, based on her personal attitude towards us. Another big disappointment is their software which is completely outdated, there is no app for the properties, the password reset procedure takes over 48 hours, which might ruin anyone's business. Moreover, by default one property account adjust its availability not only at Hostelworld, but also at Hostelbookers, Hostels.com, etc. which might lead to a serious problem when a password reset is required. HW Team Leader - Aislinn Sheehan., was totally disrespectful when we addressed to her our complain for an improper customer behaviour, she neglected our case and her arrogance forced us to cancel our partnerhip with Hostelworld.

Booked room in Spain for December trip. Room was canceled by Hostelworld before arrival. 10% deposit was never returned after even after numerous request.

I started booking through Hostelworld many, many years ago. In the early 2000s the site was an excellent resource of independent properties and reliable reviews. Several years back, though, I started having issues with bookings and frustratingly slow responses. They've gone from bad to worse in recent years and I would warn anyone against using their site. They've held $76 in "flexible booking" credit that I've been trying for over a year to use. They keep extending the expiration deadline, which is useless because every property I have tried to book (in Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Dublin, London, La Paz and Bogota--so far), is listed with their new "free cancellation" bookings. (Or, Pay in full/Lose in full, if you prefer zero flexibility.) I emailed them a handful of times over the past year, imploring them to either refund my money (since they have changed their site/booking functionality), OR apply the credit funds to the price of a booking that offers "free cancellation". They have refused every time, growing snarkier with each reply. Absolute garbage service. And while $76 isn't a fortune, on principal, they are just wrong.

They replied within a few hours, very friendly and accurate service. I am very impressed and satisfied with it, will come back again :)

Thus far I have booked four hostels using their website and the bookings are easy to be made. Have no problems with hostelworld. A good experience.

Hostelworld Customer Service Team:
I needed to merge email on account. Within 2 verification emails it was done!
Fast and Simple.
Keep it up!

It was a one off mistake, which I have forgotten and forgive.I will always book my holiday hostel with hostel world.

Booked a hostel on Penang through hostelworld, the hostel simply doesn't exist anymore. Now I'm trying to get my money back...

I had a problem with a voucher, and customer service had it sorted very quickly with some helpful tips for the future.

I booked through them last minute. As I had made the booking (non refundable) I realized it was the hotel that said they had no availability.
The contract stated, no matter what, I had to pay to Hostel World 38 Euro via PayPal and the Hotel would then charge me for the room to my cash card. It also stated that booking was conditional on confirmation by the hotel 24 hours prior.
I sent the hotel an email with the "confirmation" of Hostel World and never received a confirmation.
As my friend was arriving within hours I booked her into other accommodations - last minute and at a lower standard, since no availabilities could be found with my criteria (locality).
I never heard from the hotel, even though a local phone number was provided.
AFTER 24 hours into the stay of my friend my cash card startet to be charged 5 times at 40 Euro. Not the whole amount mind you, but a minor charge per day.
Talking with the proprietors they stated that it was considered as a no show, that I had to pay therefore and the room "JUST" had been rented out! So NO ROOM and NO SERVICE.

The Hotel Anixi Boutique Hotel at Athens will hear from me by legal way. They supported they never needed to confirm!
And... they said literally, that service did not mean or constitute communication with the customer, but only the provision of a room!

IT IS A SCAM!

I am trying unsuccessfully to reach this company, but cannot reach anyone. Terrible service ever. They had stol my money and don't care

Booked at stay at Bposhtel in Charlotte. Looks decent on Hostelworld website. However, once we got there, it turned out to be a literal slum. People were hanging around with hoods up and masks on. In our check in line, the guy ahead of us was drinking whiskey out of a bag. Upon check in, the lady couldn't find my reservation. Turns out they're running two businesses out of the same address- one "hostel" for unsuspecting travelers who frequent hostels and another transient motel/temporary housing type thing for all the folks who were loitering outside. We were asked on our way out something we couldn't understand by a dude who was incoherent. We were also made feel unsafe by all the folks loitering outside. It was more of a slum/prison than something we'd actually pay money for.

Now for Hostelworld. We tried to contact them immediately to inform them of this. The listing on the website and what's actually there are two distinct things. First problem, Hostelworld DOES NOT have a contact number for the US. Fine, we left a detailed email (with images) and finally got a reply two days later. We were not issued a full refund- only deposit- and were told to go back to the property to seek the rest. We left that property as quickly as humanly possible once we had taken pictures as proof of the issue and now Hostelworld were telling us it was our problem to get our money back. Do you think the type of person who runs a "business" like that is going to entertain issuing a refund to 3 solo travelers? No is the answer to that.

Anyway, all I can say is- I see why Hostelworld has a 1.7/5 rating. Please, please, please don't use them. If anything happens with your stay, you'll have ZERO support and accountability from them.

I had an issue that required Customer Service help/support and they were timely, responsive and to the point. Better than I expected.

BEWARE OF VOUCHERS BEING OFFERED IN LIEU OF REFUND; COMPANY WILL NOT HONOR THEM.

Long story short, my friend and I had to cancel a reservation we made through Hostelworld because of Covid, and they offered us a voucher for 150% of our original payment so we thought why not? We eventually were going to book again so it seemed a great option. WRONG.

We booked another hostel recently and our voucher was not used for the booking. So after several weeks and several back and forth emails, we eventually got a straight answer from them telling us that our voucher cannot be used towards our booking, only towards the deposit for the booking. WHAT?
On top of that, we were still charged $20 for the deposit which was apparently supposed to be covered by our voucher and they told us that we would be refunded that $20 and it's been several weeks and still no refund.

As well, they set an expiry date for the voucher so it has to be used up within a certain time frame, which is ridiculous considering the voucher is for roughly $200 Canadian so we'd have to book a minimum of 10 times just to use up the remaining balance.

So now we are out about $150 for the original booking and no way to use it up before it expires. I honestly cannot belive they're allowed to run their business like this.

Save yourself the trouble and book directly with the hostel to avoid nonsense like this in the future.

Hostelworld is the primary website I use to find places to stay around the world while I am traveling. The customer service is very helpful.

Currently I don't know of any other service that exists which centralizes listings and reservations for hostels, so Hostelworld has definitely been waaayyy more helpful than any other hotel/accommodation booking site. Even on other sites that do list hostels, usually the listings are few, prices high, and availability limited. I like being able to look for results based on price range but also via distance to a city center (via kms or via a map). The Hostelworld criteria for rating hostels you've stayed in, coupled with the brief reviews, have also been very useful for getting a good idea of what kind of place you're looking at, apart from official writeups and photos. While there are times you can get a slightly better deal for a particular hostel by booking directly on that place's own website, Hostelworld also frequently offers promos for discounts on booking or free cancellation, which evens things out if you frequently book hostels.

Why hostels via Hostelworld instead of a place through AirBnB? I realized that as a solo traveler, it is hard to get an accommodation for a comparable price and comparable value if you're by yourself. If you want something comparably cheap, you will probably end up with a room in someone's actual home residence, but in my experience, rooms like that have been rather homely, plus you can't just arrive/leave whenever you want, which can be tricky given that you don't always get flights/trains at "reasonable" hours. I'd book on AirBnB if I was traveling with at least one other friend or was with a friend group because then you could get your own place, probably one spruced up nicely for renting out and separate from the owner's residence, so no problem with privacy or coming and going at odd hours.

Good services and solved the problem an any time but There is a little delay in responding to the message problem

1.)repetition:I booked via hostelworld a hotel/hostel in Honolulu,after a long procedure which I described in an earlier review did I want to cancel.I had seen more negatice rezensions that positive after looking again.2.) After 4 days of contact and treals+errors am I still unable to cancel.I get always with their system the answer:" we received your request".Many times different people respond but until now am I unable to cancel. Their support does not help at all and untilnow after 10 requests did I not receive any real answer or cancellation.In 1 review did I read that " hostelworld" did not return the money.So I must add it looks like "hostelworld" is not really capable of helping or solving the problemand a question" not interested"? Every answer looks like a response but it does not really refer to my problem.Additionall their side say" Sorry we are not able because our side does not function!" Question: why does hostelworld has a support info when it does not help at all? I cannot add any images ecause the download function does not transfer to this side. I worked today many hours, I am really upset because it cannot be only me-it looks like the support of hostelworld is not efficient,sorry to say that.

Response is good and efficient. However, there should be a centralised helpline for all the hostels maybe country wise

Hotel Taj Plaza is on a heart throbing location just 600 mts away from Taj Mahal. The view of Taj from the deluxe rooms and the terrace is magnificent.
No Hotel symbolizes the grandeur and hospitality of the historic city of the Taj Mahal more than Hotel Taj Plaza. Set in a prime location and on a walking distance from the symbol of love Taj Mahal. This hotel is a familiar and distinctive landmark. Its architectural contours set it apart from the glass and concrete conformity of other hotels.
Hotel Taj Plaza is well Standard 'Budget' Hotel in Agra city at prime location near The Taj Mahal. Hotel Taj Plaza equipped with all modern luxurious Hospitalities. It has 5 minutes walking distance (Only 600 meter) from the great TAJ MAHAL. Hotel Taj Plaza offers 24-hour elegant & panoramic view of the TAJ MAHAL & also a real & fantastic view of the TAJ MAHAL in sunrise, sunset & moonlight from the Hotel Taj Plaza Rooms & Roof top Restaurant. The special Taj touch has further enhances the intrinsic advantages of the Hotel.