Austrian Eco Label Umweltzeichen

As an ecologically orientated business we take our responsibility towards the environment very seriously and are constantly trying to improve ourselves in order to provide a beautiful, healthy and worth living world for future generations.

It is important to us to actively include our guests into our ecological policies and goals and to demonstrate the actual meaning of environment conservation. Our mission is to continuously be active in, and improve the conservation of our environment.

Since 2005 we are proud holders of the Austrian eco label “UMWELTZEICHEN” for ” WOMBATS THE BASE”

Umweltzeichen

The wombats CITY HOSTEL BUDAPEST will be the biggest wombats so far with 461 beds in 112 rooms with bathrooms ensuite. We think it is one of the most splendid hostels you’ll see in a long time – and one of the most affordable ones, too. Because great quality and design should not affect our well-established value for money budget prices.

The Location couldn’t be better: a very short walk from Deák Square, the city’s main transportation hub where all three metro lines stop. We’re in the middle of the bohemian 6th district, with lots of unique nightlife venues and all the sights of the Pest side of town within easy walking distance.

To get a first picture of the new wombats CITY HOSTEL Budapest, have a look at the renderings below. First real pics will follow as soon as we got the construction process done. We hope to welcome you this summer in Budapest – rooms can already be booked on the wombats Budapest website.

Lobby

Breakfast Room

Lounge Area

Bar Outside

Bar Inside

But as you can never know what could happen in the future, we recently took a first aid course at the aid organisation “Green Cross”. 16 of our Viennese hostel employees learned all the essential things to do in case of medical accidents. See the pictures to get some impression…

For all of us participating in the course it felt good to improve these important skills. And it feels even better that our hostels are even more safe than before – from “very safe” to “super safe”

Thanks to the guys from the Grünes Kreuz for their support and the great lessons!

The first session starts next Friday the 23rd March. Besides lots of great international party people there will be an ass kicking range of contemporary electronic music from Austria’s DJ scene: sweet Classic House from ‘Mesca’, massive breakbeats from ‘DJ Clash’ and ‘Wanek:D’ as well as deep dubstep and minimal beats from ‘TJM’.

It all starts at 9 p.m. in our “The Lounge” womBAR in the Mariahilfer Straße 137. There will be one clubbing each month – more info on the flyers. See you there and show us how you party!

…well, it’s rather not wombats itself but our lovely receptionist Benjamin-Zsolt Zombori: his music project “Bensh” is nominated for the Amadeus Austrian Music Awards. Due to massive radio airplay of three singles and their recent album release “Clues” they have been selected for the category “FM4 Award”.

Vote for Bensh!
Help the wombats community and support Bensh by giving them your vote on the radio FM4 website. Big thanks!

Bensh or Bensh?
“Bensh” is both the artist name of Benjamin and the name of his band, consisting of Bensh, Sion Trefor and Sevo. They play topnotch “cosmopolitan” noisepop, mixing influences from many of the most eclectic places in pop Bensh has travelled in the last six years: from the Austrian Alps to the United Kingdom, from Japan to Germany to Iceland and back through Europe.

So Benjamin is a real traveller and that’s what brought him to wombats: He’s now working at the reception of our wombats CITY HOSTEL “The Lounge”, which is a good balance to the music work in the studio. “I just love the contact with people from all over the world at wombats,” Benjamin told us. “Guests and employees are meeting each other very open and friendly. And it’s great fun.”

For more info visit the Bensh website and facebook page.

And here’s my favourite song from Bensh:

Here’s a small selection of pics from our carnival parties, themed as „Sexy Nurse“ and „Toga-Party“. But beware: The people on the pictures are experienced carnival professionals – don’t try this at home. Anyway, we would love to see you at our carnival parties next year!

Find more pics on our wombats Facebook Fanpage!

Lars, happy and proud, with one of the awards

For the hostel business the “Hoscar” is the same as the “Oscar” for the movie industry: the world’s most prestigious awards. It stands for “Hostelworld.com Customers Annual Ratings. This means, it is voted by more than 1 million customers a year, who book their bed via Hostelworld.com and rate their hostel on criteria like character, location, staff, cleanliness, fun and security. For the Hoscars 2012, more than 25.000 hostels and low budget hotels all over the world were eligible…

…and yesterday was the great day – Hostelworld.com held it’s big Hoscar 2012 Award Ceremony in Dublin. Lars from the wombats Holding was there for us… And he was really thrilled and proud, as wombats won – believe it or not – 8 (E-I-G-H-T) Hoscar Awards:

• WINNER “No.1 Extra Large Hostel Worldwide” wombats CITY HOSTEL Berlin
• WINNER “Most popular Hostel in Munich” wombats CITY HOSTEL Munich
• WINNER “Most popular Hostel in Vienna” wombats CITY HOSTEL Vienna “THE LOUNGE”
• WINNER “Most popular Hostel in Berlin” wombats CITY HOSTEL Berlin
• No. 3 “Best Large Hostel Chain Worldwide” wombats CITY HOSTELS
• No. 3 “Extra Large Hostel Worldwide” wombats CITY HOSTEL Munich
• Nominee for “Best Extra Large Hostel Worldwide”  wombats CITY HOSTEL Vienna “THE BASE”
• No. 10 “Large Hostel Worldwide” wombats CITY HOSTEL Vienna ”THE LOUNGE”

© Doris Schreyvogel

Budapest is one of the most upcoming and most awesome city for travellers: So many historical sights, the beautiful Danube in the centre, a great nightlife and countless things to do. That’s why we are veeeeery proud to announce that a new Budapest hostel will open right in the centre of the city.

And it will be big time: 112 rooms with 461 beds! However, there will be loads of work until we can welcome the first guests. Right now the building is a 4 star hotel and we want to turn it into a 5 star hostel in pretty ‘wombats style’ until June 2012 (this will be the expected opening date).

The wombats founders Sascha and Marcus are happy to enter the future wombats building

And that’s the plan: Outside, we will leave the face of the building as it is (it’s beautiful). Inside, there will be grave changes, as we want to give the rooms a whole new design. And there will be all the goodies you know from our other hostels, for example a big womBar as place to meet other travellers, chill out or make some decent party.

For more information just have a look at the official website of the wombats CITY HOSTEL Budapest or our Facebook page. You can already book your bed for your stay in the Hungarian capital. We will be happy to welcome you in Budapest!

As wombats, for some years now, is supporting projects of the “Kindernothilfe” around the world, we think this anniversary is a good opportunity to present the organisation to our womBlog readers. Therefore we asked the “Kindernothilfe” secretary Luzia Widibal for an interview. She told us about the cooperation with wombats, about travelling as a luxury good and what travellers can do to support the people in indigent regions.

Hi Luzia! Since when are you cooperating with the wombats City Hostels?

Hi. It was in 2008, when Doris from the wombats contacted me and asked for cooperation. The idea was that every hostel sponsors one of our projects to achieve an enduring support. The wombats projects are situated in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe, mostly helping orphans and kids in situations of grave poverty.

How do your projects help children fulfilling their basic needs?

Firstly our projects have two focuses: Securing nutrition and medical aid on the one hand and education on the other hand. Beyond that we plan to improve regional structures and the incomes of the families. This causes permanent improvements for the whole life of the growing child.

Travelling is something that we, central Europeans, take for granted, something that many of us do from our childhood on. But isn’t it more like a privilege or a luxury good? Something that’s not available to all children around the world?

Indeed. Children in poverty have totally different needs. They strive for regular nutrition or medical aid, for them it is a privilege to attend a school. Travelling is something that comes rather on the top of the “pyramid of needs”.

Tourists often spend their holidays in poor regions of the world, but without getting in contact to the local people and their poverty. What can a traveller do to support the local people and communities?

Foto ©Doris Kucera

It depends on what kind of trip and aid you choose. Basically it is always good to travel off the beaten track and avoid “classic” touristy places. This way you visit more indigenous places and support the local communities through your travel expenses.

Another important point is to show responsibility and respect to the people, the culture and the environment of the country you are visiting. Beyond that you can help by supporting aid organisations that are working in the country you travel, for instance by taking child sponsorship.

Is it also possible to support projects personally? Can travellers work in projects of the “Kindernothilfe”?

Sure it would be possible, but it’s probably not reasonable. The “Kindernothilfe” always aims to work with local partner-organisations and employees. This proved to be the best way to improve the local communities in the long run. Therefore, a short-term collaboration of a traveller would just take away tasks from the natives. But it’s always possible to visit projects; we also like to help travellers to find projects along their travel route!

Everyone in Europe is currently talking about the economic crisis. How does the crisis affect the willingness of people and corporations, to support aid organisations or donate to charity projects?

In times like these you see who is serious about supporting the poor. The “Kindernothilfe” has the advantage that many of are projects are based on permanent child sponsorships. These donators have a special relationship to the kids and know much about their life conditions. Therefore they know how hard the crises affects people in economically weaker regions and are willing to support them.

That’s why I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters!

The guide offers great opportunities to discover Vienna: Travel and sightseeing information by Footprint and Marco Polo travel guides help you with your first steps in the city. The integrated offline maps help you find your way around, via ‘Augmented Reality’ you can get real time information about the sights you are looking for. Travel tips and recommendations from the tripwolf community show you the places to be for nightlife, culture, shopping, eating and much more. And if you love a place, just take picture or write a quick review and share it with other travellers.

Sounds good? Than just get the guide at your next wombats stay! It is available in German, English, Italian, French and Spanish. And: it’s absolutely easy to get – just follow these steps:

1. Download the free tripwolf App in the Apple App Store or Android App Market (just search for “tripwolf)
2. Search for Vienna
3. Choose the option “Coupon” and enter the wombats Coupon code (you get it at the reception in all wombats hostels in Vienna)

You can do the complete Download via the WLAN in the wombats Lobby, once you have it on your mobile, you can use the guide offline (which means no roaming charges, hurray!).

To get an overview of the guide, just look at this tutorial video:

Well, that’s all folks – happy downloading and have fun discovering Vienna!