The Web Web

Updated the photos and info for Piratas on Hostelworld yesterday, and presto! There they are on hostels.com, as well as boo.com; we'll get to that in a minute. Emailed our Hostelworld contact, who sends us messages when there are online bookings, and requested our status be changed to a "Hostel", and that our name drop the word "Sun". So we will be "Piratas de Ipanema Guesthouse", but registered on the sites as a hostel, which I think is the way to go.

Evan booked us through Hostelworld mid-March, and after his scheduled stay, received an email asking him to rate the place. So, he did. Except that his rating does not appear on Hostelworld, it appears on a sited called boo.com. Boo has its own booking engine, but has imported the photos I uploaded yesterday onto hostelworld, and seems to have a connection from which it acquires the email addresses and booking data of hostelworld customers.

Phil emailed me today from Argentina, reporting that he has written us a glowing review, but won't make it back for the big futbol match in June. He booked through hostels.com... but where is his review? Its not there, its not yet on Boo... what's going on?

Internet travel booking seems to be going through a smoke & mirrors faze, the same is true for Hotwire and Orbitz, right? In 10 years, you cannot imagine so many "companies" pretending to be competing when in fact they are one in the same. Who will streamline it? Why, Google will, right? That seems to be the big step the company's taking, from connector to facilitator.

I like the idea of market competition. Its this effort at illusion that troubles me. How can Boo access all of the info without actually being in cahoots with Hostelworld? What is Boo providing that Hostelworld does not? Its confusing, but I need to get a handle on the situation. For now, seems Hostelworld is the gateway, one-stop inputting.

Turning my attention this afternoon to guide books and our own website.