Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to identify the best hostel practices and trends, and to evaluate and discuss how they are keeping up with the present demand created by the Millennials market. Design/methodology/approach -Methodological approach is based on two complementary qualitative methods: ethnographic participant observation and netnography. Portuguese hostels are the target of this study, as they are considered some of the best in the world. First, a fieldwork was conducted in three top-rated hostels in Lisbon, aiming to immerse in hostel's environment. Then, 300 online reviews were analysed to identify what customers value the most in those services. Data interpretation was done through a content analysis crossing supply-demand perspectives.Findings -Results indicate that, while staying in a hostel, the Millennials want to: meet people, engage in activities and events, have local experiences, feel comfortable/at home, get good value for money and enjoy the convenience. In return, hostels play an important role in hospitality industry by pleasing the Millennials, by offering: central location, an interactive atmosphere, functional facilities, well-planned design and decoration, a set of activities and events and personal treatment. Originality/value -This paper is one of the few to describe Millennials' travel behaviour towards hostels' services.

Purpose This paper aims to unveil the factors that contribute to a positive hostel experience by electing key features and describing their nature from a customer perspective. Design/methodology/approach The study uses an exploratory, empirical approach, applying netnography to collect information about guests’ experiences from the five selected top-rated hostels in Europe and Latin America. A content analysis of 500 positive reviews was conducted exploring the critical features of service experience in hostel sector. Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro were selected for this study as they are among the destinations that have received top-rated hostel awards. Findings The findings reveal that a hostel experience carries a more symbolic than utilitarian meaning, especially in relation to its social dimension. Results indicate that a hostel stay is positively enhanced by ten key features, namely, staff, supplementary services (e.g. social activities), facilities, location, atmosphere, guests’ interactions, cleanliness, design and decoration, value for money and safety. Staff, supplementary services and facilities were the most mentioned hostel features, which emphasizes their potential to create a favourable environment for social interactions. Research limitations/implications Findings are restricted to a limited sample size and geographical area. The main limitation of the study lies, though, in the lack of studies concerning the specific context of hostels within a service experience approach. Practical implications Some hostels renounce low-quality stigma to establish themselves as a “cool” type of tourist accommodation. Offering a stay based on good value for money and social atmosphere, these establishments are shaping the industry’s future by both redefining the contemporary hostel’s image and attending to modern travellers’ specific needs. Given the increasing importance of hostels to tourism, this study provides information to scholars and industry practitioners who are interested in understanding how service experience can be enhanced in the hospitality industry. Originality/value This paper is a preliminary in-depth examination of factors that positively influence a hostel stay from a customer experience perspective. Thus, it provides insights into service experience management for the tourist accommodation sector.

This paper aims at examining how overtourism and tourismphobia are being approached as emergent research topics in current tourism literature. It conducts an analysis of 154 documents, indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and Scopus databases. The study follows a quantitative and qualitative approach, with the support of VOSviewer and HistCite softwares for a descriptive content analysis. The analysis focuses on highlighting important aspects in terms of the most frequent publication sources (authors and journals); co-citation, as well as dimensions and research streams; methodologies used; results obtained; and implications for future research. The literature review unveiled that the concepts of overtourism and tourismphobia are usually related to destinations’ development, negative impacts, and tourism policies and regulation. Results show that, although tourism excesses and conflicts have been studied for long, ‘overtourism’ and ‘tourismphobia’ have become usual terms, mainly within the past three years. Even though the adoption of the terms can be considered by some as a ‘trend’, the in-depth analysis of the topics shed light on how ‘old’ concepts can evolve to adapt to contemporary tourism issues. Further studies are needed in tracking the evolution of these topics and their implications on the future of tourism.

Purpose Ecogamification can make a positive impact on Tourism. With this in mind, the present study aims to examine specific stakeholders – those positioned at the upstream side of gamification process – and their perspectives concerning not only the benefits, but also the challenges of (eco)gamification. Design/methodology/approach The study follows a qualitative-exploratory approach and bases its results on the analysis of 10 in-depth interviews conducted with buyers and providers from the emerging Portuguese tourism and tech markets. Findings Results shed light on key benefits of ecogamification, including its potential to promote “green” behaviour, transmit complex information through entertainment, reward users for good practices, improve engagement and help avoiding overtourism. Simultaneously, there are important challenges to overcome, including the lack of investment, resistance to new technologies, low eco-consciousness of tourists and distraction from issues that matter. Further, findings show that ecogamification takes on different and specific roles for buyers and providers. Research limitations/implications The research limitations are mainly related to the sample size. Practical implications An effective ecogamification process depends on the integration of the supply and demand sides and, at the same time, on the responsibility of different stakeholders (providers, buyers, players) across the value chain, through a broad logic of B2B2C. Originality/value This study contributes towards a better understanding of ecogamification in tourism, through the eyes of buyers and providers and also provides insights regarding the role of these specific stakeholders and the relationship between them.

This chapter (i) explores the connection between short-term accommodation growth and overtourism in two major Portuguese cities, Lisbon and Porto, where this growth has been most notable; and (ii) makes a comparison with the medium-sized city of Aveiro, where the tendency to be governed by tourism-focused growth has recently emerged. The chapter examines whether the overtourism phenomenon emerged as a consequence of the short-term accommodation boom, or if overtourism led to expansion of this accommodation type, in the context of urban tourism in the three Portuguese cities.