SXSW is arguably the biggest event of the year for social media – so good luck finding a place to crash if you put off booking a hotel, hostel, or even calling dibs on your friend’s couch for that matter even though there’s still a month and half left until just about everyone flies out Austin. But thanks to WeHostels, you might be in luck.
WeHostels, a mobile app that helps you find a hostel around your destination, is offering up 49 last minute beds, and a few remaining private rooms at the Firehouse Hostel only several blocks from the Austin Convention Center. The hostel is located in SXSW central:
Why is WeHostels doing this? WeHostels founder Diego Saez-Gil is announcing a new feature called Hot Trips, and he’s starting the program with SXSW.
WeHostels has been offering just location-based hostels until today, so Hot Trips is a new way to think about booking your temporary stay. It’s ultimately about finding places to crash around major international events that WeHostels users are probably going to be attending in the first place. Okotberfest, the Reading Festival, and Coachella to name a few are some of the major yearly festivals that WeHostels’ Hot Trips will support. But what’s unique about its Hot Trips service is that like the 49 beds that WeHostels has reserved at the Firehouse Hostel, WeHostels will reserve a limited number of beds around these major festivals so the platform’s members can get guaranteed booking, granted they’re able to snap up the deal fast enough before other users. It’s a great way to travel on the cheap if you’re bouncing from festival to festival, event to event.
“All these massive events generally bring thousands of visitors to the cities where they are being held, and therefore accommodations generally run out very fast, unless you are ready to pay for a luxury hotel,” says Diego Saez-Gil. “So we wanted to make it very easy for the members of our community to plan their trips to these events and find affordable accommodations to stay.”
If you’re heading to SXSW but hesitant about hostels, there’s a pretty good chance that the early adopters of Hot Trips are fellow techies. Firehouse Hostel even calls its place a “Hackers Hostel” during SXSW, and provides free Wi-Fi, free breakfast, and a co-working space thrown into the mix, so you can get to meet other guests.
If you’re interested in booking a bed at Firehouse Hostel with WeHostels, here are a few more details: Beds start at $50 a night, and to book one you’ll have to of course download WeHostels. You better get on this deal quickly before the beds fill up.
