Given that Hostelworld’s business is all about tapping into the growing trend among millennials for a “social travel experience”, the coronavirus pandemic has clearly not been great for the company. Its description of the market as “challenging and uncertain” is something of an understatement.
Yet the specialist online travel agent is shaping up to emerge from the pandemic as a fitter, stronger business after delivering “significant improvements in marketing capabilities, user experience and inventory competitiveness”.
The key has been sorting out its IT. It has successfully upgraded its technology platform – a must given the penchant for its tech-savvy customers to book on smartphones – to add payment options, including PayNow, Google Pay and Apple Pay.
It now has a significantly faster website, while the