Hostels vs. their websites...

[davidva]

So I'm researching different hostels, reading all the reviews, etc, and I'm wondering if, for the most part, most hostels are as good as what their pictures make them out to be? I'm thinking that if a hostel looks horrible, is unclean, etc, then it probably wont advertise with pictures. But then again, I don't think any hostel would put anything other than its best pictures up. I just like to have an idea of what a place looks like before I sleep there for a few days. So for those of you who have booked online...have most websites been fairly truthful?

[WillTravel]

I think both some hotels and some hostels have problems being honest with their pictures. They might show the best room in the place, but not the worst. You can get a better idea, most likely, by reading all the reviews you can, keeping in mind some might be "planted". Some site:
GuideforEurope.com (the front page of this site has some hostel reviews)
BugEurope.com
Hostelz.com
Hostelworld.com (keep in mind that on this site hostels can erase their written negative reviews, but not the numerical reports)
TripAdvisor.com (more hotel-oriented, but some hostels too)

By reading reviews and looking carefully and with some luck too, I've avoided any bad hostel or hotel experiences.

[crystal]

Totally agree with Will
I was going to book the 'perfect' hostel from their website but then check out some reviews on this site and fast changed my mind

[chelle84]

I am wondering this also - its hard sometimes to go off the review though because one person says it is fantastic but the next has a completely different opinon, which do you go for in a case like that??

I know of a hostel in my home city that states it has a "luxurious lagon" style pool (which BTW is an above the ground rusty pool that no one would dare swin in!!). Also said it had an intenet cafe but had 1 old comp that you had to pay waaay to much to use and it hardly worked. (If you are ever coming to Aus remind me to find out the name of that hostel for you so you don't have to stay there!)

Has anyone come across anything that bad in Europe?

[me]

what, you expect truth in advertising? not likely, especially on the web.

[davidva]

me said:

what, you expect truth in advertising? not likely, especially on the web.

Not particularly. It's just that when I read enough positive reviews of a hostel to bother looking up their website, I want to know if the photos/statements/whatever are THAT misleading. I know I'm not staying at the Hilton, but I'll be damned if I get tricked into sleeping with rats, either. (not saying that a lot of hostels have rats...)

[pointofnoreturn]

Has anyone tried out hostelbookers.com? They have several hostels that aren't found on hostelweb and display prices far past the current season whereas HW doesn't display it. It's questionable....

[speedbird]

I've actually gone ahead and used Hostelbookers.com for about 10 hostels so far for my Spring 2007 Europe trip and so far so good, but until I get to the hostels themselves... it's tough to say right. But no complaints about the system they use or anything like that.

[pointofnoreturn]

speedbird said:

I've actually gone ahead and used Hostelbookers.com for about 10 hostels so far for my Spring 2007 Europe trip and so far so good, but until I get to the hostels themselves... it's tough to say right. But no complaints about the system they use or anything like that.

I'll have to ask you again in a few months won't I?

I noticed hostelbookers.com do have several hostels not featured on HW.com so I was a bit wary about that site, not to mention that they still featured dates when HW didn't....

I might use them for a few cities - not all - on my trip.