[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Once considered a \u201cbummer\u201d, now hostels are modern and designers home away from home. How the communication strategy has changed with the hostels\u2019 evolution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
\nIn the\u00a0popular imagination, the hostel is still conceived\u00a0as a\u00a0\u201cbummer\u201d: when people in their forties think about\u00a0hostels they remember the travels they made\u00a0when they were twenty, and they\u00a0were the least favorite kind of accommodation. True, they were cheap, but also\u00a0dirty, uncomfortable, often disreputable\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the\u00a0last choice before the sidewalk.<\/p>\n
Today\u00a0hostels are completely different because of their offer and services, but also\u00a0the kind of experience you can live there, which is more than just a rickety\u00a0mattress to sleep on. Hostels often have rich and well-furbished common spaces,\u00a0a kitchen and a place where you can socialize or play, there\u2019s always an\u00a0Internet connection and the hospitality offer is often combined with a bar\u00a0service and events. The complementary services are so rich that they make it a\u00a0unique overnight solution.<\/p>\n
There are\u00a0currently two main overnight alternatives: on the one hand there are hotels,\u00a0surely a more luxurious, clean and well-recognizable format, where it\u2019s\u00a0often\u00a0hard to socialize; on the other hand there is AirBnB \u2013 that can make you feel\u00a0at home without being a real local, because they don\u2019t facilitate meeting\u00a0new\u00a0people. The hostel is a mid-way solution, with accommodation facilities and\u00a0services (now there are not only shared rooms, but also double and single\u00a0rooms) where socializing is easy. In a time when socializing mainly happens on\u00a0digital platforms, people who choose hostels know that they\u2019ll meet people\u00a0from\u00a0all over the world in real life. We often say that it\u2019s strage if someone\u00a0approaches you in a hotel, while the opposite is true in a hostel \u2013\u00a0socialization is\u00a0something that can really make the difference in your holiday.<\/p>\n
One of the\u00a0most persisting idea that survives in the collective imagination is related to\u00a0the price, but even this element has changed: the wider quality offer in\u00a0terms\u00a0of products and services has inevitably led to an increase in prices, which is\u00a0compensated for by the experience. The hostel average guest is,\u00a0commercially\u00a0speaking, one of the most sought targets: young, educated, connected, big\u00a0spender.<\/p>\n
The Hostel\u00a0World campaign featuring Charlie Sheen stresses the importance of a new hostel\u00a0storytelling that highlights all the changes that took place\u00a0throughout the\u00a0years. Many hotel chains are now converting to hostels, funds are acquiring\u00a0small hostel chains created in the past ten years \u2013 investments\u00a0are now going\u00a0in this direction. There\u2019s a professionalization in a field where the people\u00a0involved are usually travel lovers who, at some point in their life, have\u00a0decided to turn this passion into a job. The increase in investments has\u00a0required a professionalization and hostels now feel the need to communicate a\u00a0strategy \u2013 a campaign such as the one by Hostel World with a famous testimonial\u00a0would have been inconceivable five years ago.<\/p>\n
To present\u00a0itself, a brand needs to use the classical communication strategies as well as\u00a0new technicalities. It has to be like a media \u2013 in the\u00a0mare magnum\u00a0of\u00a0posts on Facebook and the many ways to acquire traffic, the best solution for\u00a0Ostello Bello is to produce content: once defined the placement, now the goal\u00a0is\u00a0translating that placement into communication initiatives. Ostello Bello can\u00a0talk about many subject, both from the point of view of people who work there\u00a0and\u00a0have a good knowledge of the brand and the city, or changing the\u00a0perspective and using the point of view of its guests.<\/p>\n
In\u00a0particular, the contact with the guests can help live indirectly the feeling of\u00a0traveling, a moment when everyone is more curious, open and ready to interact.\u00a0Ostello is the place where the stories of many people meet and different\u00a0cultures melt \u2013 even locals know that going to the Ostello Bello bar feels like\u00a0being\u00a0abroad even if you\u2019re just a couple of meters from home.<\/p>\n
The Ostello\u00a0Bello experience can be turned into content both user-generated or created by\u00a0ourselves. This way we can keep a brand coherence without the\u00a0prohibitive cost\u00a0of a placement campaign.<\/p>\n
To reach\u00a0this new placement we have built a network of professionals coming from the\u00a0publishing, video production and events world, with whom we have\u00a0started to\u00a0create a qualitative narrative: we abandoned the tourist guide tone of voice\u00a0and focused our stories on the experience of people who really live the\u00a0city\u00a0and can suggest not only the most historically interesting attractions, but\u00a0also the sources of entertainment.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re open\u00a0to the possibility of realizing projects with brands that share our values,\u00a0useful from a strategic point of view, and with a similar placement, creating\u00a0content based on the available resources. Getting in touch with our guests\u2019\u00a0experience allows brands to use Ostello Bello, its audience and its guests for\u00a0commercial aims, without any intention of turning OB in an advertising\u00a0platform.<\/p>\n
Our final\u00a0goal is to make Ostello Bello leave its walls: we\u2019re confident about the\u00a0originality of the project and the power of its fundamental values and we want\u00a0to try and use our audience and our communication territory to make something\u00a0new. Ostello Bello could organize events and become an ambassador of\u00a0interesting initiatives for our target: today people from 18 to 40 make up the\u00a090% of it.<\/p>\n
The plan of\u00a0content production proceeds in parallel to the institutional communication:\u00a0Ostello Bello is now six years old, it counts 200 employees between\u00a0Italy and\u00a0Myanmar, a five year Strategic Business Plan with very ambitious goals. From an\u00a0amateurish dimension we have become an entrepreneurial reality\u00a0talking to\u00a0institutional speakers, so it\u2019s important to present our industry in the right\u00a0way.<\/p>\n
Ostello\u00a0Bello is the first Italian hostel chain to have an internal communication team\u00a0and it can become a leader in the Digital Transformation, which means\u00a0asking\u00a0ourselves how the digital tools can enrich the hostel experience, making it\u00a0more efficient and sustainable.<\/p>\n
Every year we host about 75 thousand people only in Milan, we have access to many interesting data about tourism and young people attitudes. Behind our project there\u2019s a very innovative approach regarding touristic themes \u2013 innovation for us is making life better for people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_row_inner content_text_aligment=”center”][vc_column_inner][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner content_text_aligment=”center”][vc_column_inner][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People choosing to eat vegan often eat at so-called \u201ccruelty free\u201d places, where the real cruelty comes with the bill. We believe in a place free from (human and animal) sacrifices, and we believe so also thanks to a place like Alhambra, probably the only vegan restaurant in Milan where a generous dinner (with wine) costs around 15\u20ac.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3423,"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3155\/revisions\/3423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ostellobello.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}