Hostelworld.com has been redesigned with the company’s new brand identity which was created after extensive user research in key markets.London based branding experts Branded and design agency Clinic were brought on board to try to create a universally recognized brand.

The new tagline “Sleep Easy” offers a straightforward value proposition to hostellers, hostel owners and Hostelworld.com staff. According to Hostelworld.com Chief Marketing Officer, Niamh Ni Mhir, it comes from the reassurance you get from dealing with the number 1 hostel website. “Backpackers and youth and student travellers can “sleep easy” in the knowledge they will find a bed for the night and they can rely on real customer ratings and reviews from people who have already stayed there. Hostel owners can “sleep easy” in the knowledge that Hostelworld.com will sell more of their allocations than anyone else both through the Hostelworld.com site and thousands of distribution partners that utilise the Hostelworld.com booking engine, and staff can “sleep easy” in the knowledge they are employed by a successful, innovative and fun company.

Since Hostelworld’s launch in 1999 the website has experience explosive growth. It now features over 15,000 hostels in 166 countries and is available in 23 languages. The site features extensive user generated and editorial content with over 1.3 million user generated reviews from customers who have actually booked and stayed in the hostels they review. Editorial content includes podcasts, pocket travel guides, travel photos and user generated blogs. Recent additions to the site include a travel network that already has more than 500,000 members and a mobile booking interface targeted at backpackers on the move.

Hostelworld.com was one of the first websites to embrace user generated content and Web 2.0 principles and the new site design reflects this with featured members and user recommended hostels now getting more prominence. “Our users were the early adoptors of user generated content” says Ni Mhir. “Typically word of mouth recommendation was very prominent among independent travellers and this has easily transferred itself to the web with over 40% of bookers reviewing their stay and passing on advice to other travellers”

The previous Hostelworld.com site has been the beneficiary of numerous awards including Webby Worthy Awards, Golden Spiders, Ernst & Young and the World Summit Award.
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