Backpackers have for years been searching for the missing link between the two most important things at the heart of travelling: finding great places to stay and meeting great people.

Whilst finding a hostel and checking if it is clean or has private showers is easy online, such functional basics don’t really get the heart racing. What travellers have not been able to do so easily is choose accommodation based on who is staying there, stay in touch with the new (and old) friends and find out what their plans are so that they can easily meet up again. 

Now at last it is possible with the launch of Hostels on the hugely popular social networking site Facebook.  It finally gets to grips with the people element by integrating friends’ hostel bookings into their information online so that their friends can check where they’ll be and organise to meet up with them.

The idea for Hostels on Facebook came from Chris Guzowski, a 22 year-old traveller and entrepreneur from Sydney, Australia - who created the application to provide everything a backpacker needs in one place, including the ingenious connection between hostel bookings and personal blogs.

“What has been missing in the information-overloaded world of the web so far is an easy way of knowing where your friends will be, so you can hook up with them” says Chris.

“What we’ve put together at Hostels on Facebook means the last missing piece of the travellers puzzle is in place. There is now no need to go to more than one site and then email or call friends to track where they’re heading next, because all the information you might want is provided by Hostels on Facebook. So many people are already using Facebook every day, this is simply extending its functionality for the backpacking world.”

The site lets travellers log any past, current or future stays at hostels around the world and proudly show their friends how far and wide they’ve travelled. Further, travellers can easily and in a fun way rate hostels, read and write reviews as well as make bookings and blogs - whilst effortlessly sharing all this with their friends. Individual Hostels will soon also have the ability to add their own photos and information about their events, parties and social calendars.

“The site is really by travellers for travellers - I wish there was something like this available to plan my previous travels - it would have been so much easier and saved so many organisational hassles!”

Hostels on Facebook gives travellers access to more than 9,000 hostels around the world and they can make instant reservations with no booking fee!

Finding the application is easy by going to Facebook (www.facebook.com) and searching for Hostels. Facebook users simply add the application and can drag the ‘green hostels’ icon further up their application list or go direct with this URL: http://apps.facebook.com/hostels

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