MARKETING ANALYSIS OF HOSTELS ROLE AND IMPORTANCE IN THE HOTEL SERVICES MARKET

Abstract

The article presents the research of marketing and socio-economic factors of operations of hostels and analysis of the current state and trends of their development in the market of hotel services in Ukraine and globally. In recent years hostels have been developing successfully in many countries and are becoming one of the most popular lodging facilities for budget travelers. The main difference between hostels and classic hotels is the sale of beds instead of rooms; flexible pricing; availability of public areas for meeting and networking of guests. A marketing analysis of the hostel market in major regions of the world has shown that Asia is dominating by far the market, followed by Europe and South America. Regions that are confidently showing revenue growth in the hostel market are Southeast Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Asia. Authors determine the rating of the world’s largest hostel networks. Over the past three years, the top five have remained unchanged: A&O, Generator, Meininger, St Christopher’s Inns and Safestay. Development of the hostel industry is becoming a fast-growing business, generating significant cash inflows. It’s forecasted that revenue of global market for hostels will grow to nearly $ 6.4 billion in 2020. Hostel market has more online penetration that such shopping categories as hotels or vacation spots. Marketing research has confirmed that unique selling point for the hostel is convenience for the client: entry without keys; fast check-in and check-out services through mobile applications; creating any opportunities that allow guests to spend less time focusing on their stay; the ability to keep in touch with guests before and after your stay. It is emphasized that nowadays the functional structure of hostels has undergone a transformation where design hostels with private rooms are gaining the most popularity. Looking at the needs and preferences of clients, most hostels offer a number of additional services, sometimes quite unusual. In Ukraine, the hostel presence does not exceed 1.5%, and classic hotels retain an absolute dominance in the market of hotel services. Due to the lack of proper control and regulation of hostels’ operations by the state and municipal bodies, there are significant discrepancies in data for the hostels’ operations, as a considerable part of them continues to be in the shadow. The activity of non-profit partnerships (associations, unions) in the development of hostel movement in Ukraine is also weak. Another aspect of the problem under study is the low awareness about Ukrainian hostels among foreign travelers, because Ukrainian hostels are poorly represented in international online booking systems.Marketing research has found that despite the accumulated experience, most Ukrainian hostels do not carry out marketing activities neither for clients and nor for their own staff. In order to maintain their market position, these hostel companies need to make marketing efforts to improve business processes, find additional opportunities to reduce costs, and improve the quality of service. Priority areas for the development of hostels are the improvement of hostel technology, the introduction of new types and forms of services, which will better meet the needs of customers.