Facebook application helps hostellers hook up

Online social networking site Facebook has raised the bar for hostels worldwide by introducing a facility for users to compare hostel horror stories or give a venue a public thumbs-up.

Favoured by backpackers heading off on round-the-world trips as well as by the growing numbers of older people mid-career gap year, hostels can sometimes hold unpleasant surprises for the intrepid traveller.

The Facebook platform supplements a host of online forums where hostels are rated or slated by recent users.

Perhaps the most innovative element of the hostels application is the ability to find out where a friend is staying, helping backpackers with separate travel itineraries to coincide with friends on every continent.

"What has been missing in the information-overloaded world of the web so far is an easy way of knowing where your friends will be, so you can hook up with them," explained site creator, 22-year-old Australian Chris Guzowski.

His hostels application is expected to complement the new TripAdviser Where I've Been application, which lets users mark up top destinations and bond with friends who have seen the same places.