PLIBA Hostels Launched on the Mobile Web

PLIBA Hostels Launched on the Mobile Web – World’s Largest Hostel Booking System for Mobile Internet Users

First mobile internet booking solution for budget accommodation allows anyone to book from 10,000 hostels via a mobile phone without having to make a call.

Mobile Internet Booking providers PLIBA today announced the launch of the world’s first mobile booking portal for Hostels, with an impressive choice of over 10,000 Hostels from every major city in the world. By browsing a mobile phone to the portal at PLIBA.mobi anyone with a GPRS or 3G phone can book budget accommodation simply and quickly on all wireless networks worldwide.

PLIBA (’Please Let It Be Available’) allows unlimited user generated items to be added to the list of services available for booking on the mobile Internet. PLIBA Hostels is the first move into larger partnerships for PLIBA, following the successful launch of hundreds of other services typically added by individual service owners themselves. The other services (e.g. pizza delivery, taxis, restaurants) have generated a loyal user base and the choice of services on the PLIBA increases daily.

Frank Cavanagh, PLIBA Head of Communications said, “We’re seeing many repeat visitors who started off by booking one service and then by looking around at other services they also found others to book, and some added their own services such as studio recording time at their university or part time guitar lessons, all of which is increasing their activity on the portal. By adding a global youth service such as PLIBA Hostels we’re expecting many more new users; backpackers traveling in remote parts of the world and who would otherwise have left it to chance by turning up at the next town and looking for budget accommodation can now make their reservation from the back of an elephant in India or from a canoe on the Amazon without having to tackle the local language or find an Internet café, they can just browse to PLIBA on their phone. They’ll go on to find other uses for PLIBA, perhaps making a reservation for a rail ticket for their onward journey, and if they can’t find what they want they can recommend a new service through PLIBA. We see this snowballing from both a userbase and service perspective.”

With over 1 billion cellphones already Internet enabled there are now more Internet connected handsets than PC’s, and PLIBA offers a great service for everyone from backpackers to travel providers wanting to sell them flights around the world.

About PLIBA
PLIBA develop applications for the mobile Internet. The flagship product, PLIBA Open Booking Engine, powers the world’s 1st user-generated booking system. Currently available in English and German versions, further language versions will be introduced shortly. To see the booking portal, go to http://pliba.mobi (designed for your phone, but will work on a PC). Hostel data is provided by Web Reservations International Ltd.

About dotMobi
dotMobi is the global registry for the .mobi top level domain. Appointed by ICANN, dotMobi is backed by leading mobile operators, network device manufacturers and Internet content providers.
Investors include Ericsson, Google, GSM Association, Hutchison, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefónica Móviles, TIM and Vodafone.
dotMobi is also a sponsor of W3C’s Mobile Web Initiative.