Tere!

Around one month ago, I was supposed to go to Louis Tomlinson’s concert and for vacation using the annual leave. However, whole Europe got panicked because of the newly found coronavirus called COVID-19, which led any events postpone, flights and busses that go across the borders cancel and/or require those who planned to travel (abroad) to rebook the transport. 

Besides, there is one more thing you may care about when planning a trip is an accommodation. This time I speak about what previously happened, what the hostels that I booked or Hostelworld did under this circumstance and what I learnt from this experience.

★ What happened previously?

First of all, I’m gonna give an account about the previous events. You may also read what happened here, where I mentioned that I got everything re-ready for Louis Tomlinson’s concert in Stockholm on the weekend, 13th to 15th in March. 

In more detail, after the organiser announced the postponement of the concert, I contacted the hostel that I was supposed to stay at and Air Baltic so I changed the flights, rebooked the hostel (without any additional fee) and have kept the ticket valid for the concert on the changed date.

Therefore, I won’t write anything about those points above. As stated in the article, the problem was the trip in Europe that I was supposed to go on by using my annual leave. Firstly the bus-reservation company announced that the buses were cancelled so I got the refund of my tickets. Then I rebooked the flights on Ryanair and easyJet though I had to pay for some as the tickets in summer were more expensive. However, it wasn’t that easy to deal with the accommodations that I was supposed to stay at.

★ All the reservations for accommodations were done via Hostelworld

I contacted all the hostels that I booked but everyone said:

You have booked a bed via Hostelworld. Please contact them first.

Sorry. (?)

Then I messaged Hostelworld but I’d got no replies from them for a while. Eventually I sent them messages three times and finally got a reply after the week that I was supposed to take as my annual leave. Since the reason was COVID-19 this time, they refunded to me as “Credits” on my Hostelworld account.

I had four reservations made on Hostelworld at that time, but I got the refund of all of them. Hostelworld’s Credits are something like money that I can use only when making reservations on Hostelworld, which had some prerequisites.

It may sound like they had a restriction or something, but it’s not like that. Nothing better than actual money, and yet I quite appreciate their decision. 

★ What did I learn? 

I kind of like Hostelworld as I can view where I stayed like a collection, I’m used to the platform, and there’s no problem in a regular occasion. For these reasons I want to continue using Hostelworld personally but one hostel or two told me:

If you book a bed directly on our website next time, it’ll be easier.

The biggest reason why I use Hostelworld quite often  in addition to the items above is because I easily can find a lot of cheap hostels. In my opinion it sounds like it would cost more given that I book a bed not via Hostelworld but directly on their website… (And I super like viewing my collection.)

Perhaps from the next time I might use Hostelworld, seeing the prices on the hostel’s website at the same time. Maybe.

By the way, the hostel in Zagreb that I booked charged me around 10€ though I didn’t cancel. I emailed them three times but still no reply. (I haven’t given up so I’m still dealing with it.)

Aitäh! 🙂