Case Study: Hostelworld achieves faster in-app chat launch with Sendbird

Hostelworld brings travelers together worldwide with Sendbird

Hostelworld, the Dublin-based online travel agent for hostels and adventure tours, wanted to transform its mobile app into an all-in-one travel and social platform. With 80% of users seeking chat functionality and many solo travelers wanting to meet others before their trip, the company needed a secure, flexible messaging experience without diverting resources from its app redesign. Hostelworld chose Sendbird’s Chat product to avoid the time and complexity of building chat in-house.

Sendbird implemented basic chat in just four weeks, helping Hostelworld launch much faster than if it had built the feature itself. The solution supported one-to-one and group chats, privacy and GDPR compliance, and scalable performance for global traffic. Sendbird also provided the customizability Hostelworld needed, and the team expects the platform to handle hundreds of thousands of monthly active users during peak season, with support for 3,000+ member group chats already in place.

Hostelworld

Jelena Vukadinovic

Head of Mobile Product and Growth