What is a cookie?
A cookie, also known as an HTTP, Web, or browser cookie, is usually a small piece of data sent from a website and stored in the user's web browser while the user is browsing the website. When a user views the same web site in the future, they can retrieve the data stored in the cookie and notify themselves of the user's previous activity.
Cookies have been designed to function as a reliable mechanism for the website to remember its status or activity previously performed by the user. This may include clicking on certain buttons, logging in or logging in of pages visited by the user.
Other types of cookies perform basic functions on a modern website. Perhaps the most important are cookies, which is the most common method used by web servers to determine whether a user is logged in or not, and to which account is logged in. Without such a mechanism, the website would not know whether to send a page containing sensitive information or require the user to authenticate himself by logging in.
Cookies used
The following types of cookies are used in Hostelworld:
- Necessary cookies
- performance cookies
- Functional cookies
- Targeted / Ad Cookies
Cookie Features
We use cookies on our websites, in our mobile apps and in our emails to improve their performance and your user experience. Cookies are used to provide the following features:
- Personalization - for example, remembering the customer's preferred language.
- Session management - to ensure that the user session is routed to the right system within the Hostelworld infrastructure for the duration of its visit.
- Usage tracking - Hostelworld uses the Omniture web analytics / Google Analytics tool to analyze the continued use of the website. This is facilitated by ongoing site upgrades.
- A / B Multi-Variable Testing / Testing - We can show multiple versions of the page to the customer to see which customer's best experience.
- Ad - Displaying ad content depending on geographic location, language, and previous browsing history.
Necessary cookies
We use a variety of cookies that are strictly necessary to enable access to our websites, site-to-site traffic, and demand-by-service. Below are examples of some of the essential cookies we use:
| Service | Function | Example of cookie details | A cookie type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cookie for load balancing | In order to ensure the best possible experience when viewing our websites even during high traffic, we use multiple servers. This cookie is required to direct your session to the correct server. | All these cookies have the prefix "NSC_" | First page cookie |
| PHP session identifier | We use the PHP scripting language to create our website. For the PHP code to work properly, the session ID of the PHP cookie requires presence. | PHPSESSID, psid | First page cookie |
| Payment processing by credit card | We use cookies to facilitate payment card processing when making a reservation through websites. | _k | First page cookie |
Functional cookies
We use functional cookies to allow us to remember your choices. For example, cookies will save you trouble choosing your language or currency every time you access a website and remember your customization options. Below are examples of the types of functional cookies we use:
| Service | Function | Example of cookie details | A cookie type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language of Hostelworld.com | If you indicate that you would like to display one of our websites in another language, we will use this cookie to record this option. | jaz | First page cookie |
| The currency of Hostelworld | If you indicate that you would like to use a specific currency on some of our websites, we will use this cookie to record this option. | Host World currency, Hostels Com currency | First page cookie |
| Liveperson.net |
We provide a service through which you can contact our customer service representative via our website. These cookies allow this service to work.
|
HumanClickSiteContainerID_18146098, HumanClickKEY, HumanClickACTIVE |
Performance cookies
We use other cookies to analyze the use of our visitors' websites and to monitor their performance. This enables us to provide a high quality experience by adapting our offer and by quickly identifying and fixing all the problems you encounter.
For example, we can use performance cookies to track which sites are most popular, which way of linking the site is most effective, and to find out why some pages get error messages. Below are examples of the types of performance cookies we use:
| Service | Function | Example of cookie details | A cookie type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Web Optimiser | A / B Multi-Variable Testing / Testing - We can show multiple versions of the page to the customer to see which customer's best experience. | All these cookies have a prefix „_vis_opt“ | First page cookie |
| Adobe Site Catalyst | Tyto soubory cookies nám umožňují generovat [anonymní] statistiku používání stránek zákazníky. | All these cookies have a prefix „s_“ | First page cookie. (Note: s_vi is a third-party cookie) |
| Google Analytics | To je sekundární služba analytiky používání zákazníka služby Adobe SiteCatalyst. | All these cookies have a prefix „_utm“ | First page cookie |
Targeted / Ad Cookies
Hostelworld and our advertisers use cookies to show you an ad that we think is relevant to you and your interests. Third-party advertisers and partners can analyze the data they collect about your use of the Hostelworld website through first and third party cookies in order to offer you ads on Hostelworld or on other third-party sites.
We also work with advertisers to display Hostelworld ads on third-party websites based on cookies placed during your visit to the Hostelworld website. Advertisers can also use information about your previous Internet activity to customize the ads displayed on the Hostelworld website.
Ad / target cookies can also be used to track your responses to specific ads, helping advertisers to deliver the most suitable ads for the future, both on the Hostelworld website and on third-party websites. Below are examples of the types of targeted / advertising cookies we use:
| Service | Function | Example of cookie details | A cookie type |
|---|---|---|---|
| PPC / Application tracking | When we advertise on external websites, we sometimes pay for these ads based on the number of clicks on ads that users can then visit our website (this is known as Pay Per Click advertising - a pay-per-click ad). We use these cookies to report customer activity on sites, and to track app installs and changes within apps. | Visitor Source, Visitor Count, Cookie_PPCSource, Cookie_PPCSource 30 Days, "LB_PPCSource *", PPC Visits | First Party and Third Parties |
| Google Analytics | We use some of the Google Analytics advertising features and allow third parties to offer you ads when you are on other sites that may be of interest to you based on your use of the Hostelworld site. This is done on an anonymous basis using personally identifiable information. We can also use Google Analytics advertising to see how many times our ads are viewed on other sites to obtain aggregate and anonymous data about the demographic composition and interests of the users of Hostelworld. | All these cookies are marked "_utm" | First Party |
| Commission Junction |
We work with a number of partners who link users to our website. This is an example of one of the cookies we use to track these links.
|
Commission Junction | First page cookie |
| DoubleClick | We show ads on websites that we believe are relevant to our and our advertisers. These cookies can also be used by advertisers to allow third parties to offer you ads when you are on other sites. These ads may be customized based on your use of Hostelworld so that they are relevant to you. This is done on an anonymous basis using personally identifiable information. DoubleClick Cookies are examples of some of the cookies we use in connection with these advertising services. | Id, mc,_drt, uid, pluto2 | Third-party cookie |
| Add this widget | Some of the services on our website are supplied by third parties, such as the "Add" button to share pages from our social networking sites. Third Party Service also sets cookies that track the use of this service and can be used to deliver ads that are of interest to you. | Uid, _atuvc, dt, loc, uit, psc | Third-party cookie |
Managing cookies
If you do not want your browser to accept cookies, you can turn off the cookie option in browser settings. For more information on how to turn off cookies, visit the "Help" tab of your browser.
If you want to opt out of the above Google Analytics features, you can find more about signing out at here.
Hostelworld works with Flashtalking to offer creative ads. Hostelworld can place first-party cookies on your device and offer you more relevant ad messages. To unsubscribe from Flashtalking cookies, please click on here. Cookies are anonymous and do not collect personally identifiable information.
Please note that disabling cookie support may disable the proper functioning of this website and you may not be able to make full use of all of its features and services.
Další informace
Další informace o cookies a jejich používání lze nalézt na http://www.allaboutcookies.org a http://www.youronlinechoices.com/.