Vancouver World Hostel Conference – December 12 – 14, 2011
The World Hostel Conference is designed to foster the development of the youth accommodations sector of the travel market by bringing together hostel owners, managers, trade associations, software providers, and booking portals from around the world to network and discuss matters related to the hostel industry.
This year’s conference will feature technology for hostels (and how best to leverage it), reports on the hostel scene in various cities around the world, how to improve operations at hostels, regulatory issues facing hostels, and many other relevant matters related to the industry.
Overview of Program Schedule:
The following is a general overview of the program schedule for the conference:
| Monday | December 12th |
| Time | Activity |
| 14:30 — 18:30 | Registration at HI-Vancouver Central |
| 18:30 — 21:30 | HI—Vancouver Central Tour & Opening Networking Reception Sponsored by Hostelling International-Canada-Pacific Mountain Region |
| Tuesday | December 13th |
| Time | Activity |
| 8:30 — 9:00 | Registration at Vancouver Convention Center (continued) |
| 9:00 — 9:15 | Opening remarks by Michael Tumminia of GoMio.com |
| 9:15 — 9:45 | Presentation “Ten years of hostel conferences: Then and now” Presenter: Ludo Verstraete of St. Christopher’s — Bauhaus Hostel, Bruges, Belgium (via Skype) |
| 10:00 — 10:35 | Presentation “Achieving Maximum Results from your hostel” Presenter: Mike Haney of Newcastle Limited (Owner of Chicago Getaway Hostel), United States |
| 10:40 — 11:20 | Presentation “Making ‘Cents’ of Transactional Social Media” Presenter: Crystal Henrickson of Yelp.com, Canada |
| 11:25 — 11:55 | Presentation Report on the Hostel Scene from around the World Presenters: Maria Argyropoulos-Minos of USA Hostels on San Diego, California Gal Mor of Abraham Hostels & Abraham Tours on Israel |
| 11:55 — 12:40 | Presentation “Managing Multiple Online Channels in Hostel groups” Presenter: Brian Manning of CMS Hospitality, Australia |
| 12:45 — 14:00 | Lunch break. |
| 14:00 — 14:25 | Presentation “The Ideal hostel rating system” Presenter: Josh Cohen of HostelManagement.com, United States |
| 14:25 — 14:45 | Presentation “Inside an American Hostel — Ten years in Charleston, South Carolina” Presenter: Vikki Matsis of Notso Hostel, United States |
| 14:45 — 15:00 | Coffee break |
| 15:00 — 15:35 | Presentation “How to pillow talk with your Destination Marketing Organizations (or tourism organizations) once you have them in bed!” Presenter: Gary Poliquin of GO Backpackers Hostel, Canada |
| 15:40 — 16:20 | Presentation “Are you putting all your eggs in one basket? Manage your online marketing budget to succeed” Presenter: Manuel Vallés of Internet Advantage, Spain |
| 16:25 — 16:45 | Presentation Reports on the Hostel Scene from around the World Presenters: Magdalene Wan of Matchbox The Concept Hostel on Singapore Tim Charter of SameSun Backpackers on Vancouver, Canada |
| 18:30 — 21:30 | SameSun Backpackers Tour & Welcome Reception at the Beaver Lounge, SameSun Backpackers Sponsored by SameSun Backpackers and Molson Beer |
| Wednesday | December 14th |
| Time | Activity |
| 9:00 — 9:45 | Presentation “Efficient Hostel Management – A Complete Software Solution: Streamline Processes, Save Time, Increase Revenue, and Drive Profitability.” Presenters: Andreas Stolz of ASSD, Germany Tracy Walters of ASSD, United States |
| 9:55 — 10:35 | Presentation “How to use benchmarking to evaluate performance and maximize revenue” Presenter: Fergal McCarthy of HostelBench, Ireland |
| 10:40 — 11:35 | Presentation “Social Media, Passion, & Travel” Presenter: Aaron Nissen of Think! Social Media, Canada |
| 11:40 — 12:20 | Presentation “Innovations and Trends in Online Travel” Presenters: Michael Tumminia of GoMio.com, United States Jason Baker of Digicate.ca, Canada |
| 12:25 — 12:55 | Presentation “Unlocking the Mystery of Social Media Distribution in Travel” Presenters: Jeff Thomas of Appnostic, United States |
| 13:00 — 14:00 | Lunch. |
| 14:00 — 14:45 | Presentation “Selecting and Retaining Great Staff & Best Practices for your Hostel” Presenter: Jim Kennett of Northwest Portland Hostel, United States |
| 14:45 — 15:00 | Coffee break |
| 15:00 — 15:30 | Presentation Reports on the Hostel Scene from around the World Presenters: Dan Rose & Max Poppel of the Crash Pad Hostel on Chattanooga, Tennessee Carles Gras of Equity Point Hostels on Barcelona, Spain George Finn of HI-NY on New York, United States |
| 15:45 — 16:45 | Panel discussion — Regulatory Oversight of the Hostel Industry Moderator: Maria Argyropoulos of USA Hostels Panelists: Vikki Matsis of the Notso Hostel in Charleston, SC Rob Cryder, Hostelling International-Canada-Pacific Mountain Region Tim Charter of SameSun Backpackers. Oriol Badia of Equity Point Hostels Gary Poliquin of GO Backpackers Hostel Aaron Chaffee of HI-USA |
| 16:45 — 17:20 | Presentation “Building a Green or Purpose Built Hostel” Presenter: Anthony Arts, Founder, Planet Traveler Hostel, Toronto, Canada |
| 17:25 — 18:00 | Presentation “Who is the Indie Traveler? and How Hostels Can Target Them” Presenter: Olivia Raymer, Product Manager, BootsnAll Travel Network |
| 18:15 | Bus Ride to the Granville Island Brewery |
| 18:30 — 22:30 | Tour of the Granville Island Brewery and sample some of the finest lager in the world. Sponsored by GoMio.com |
For more information, please visit: http://www.gomio.com/conference2011
