Two weeks prior to where I was going to stay I was contacted by the hostel I had booked for - they told me that they had terminated their relationship with HostelWorld for various reasons and that HW should have been in contact. I was told that my reservation could not be upheld through HW and that I would need to rebook my reservation directly through the hostel. The email from the hostel was the first - and still is the only - time I ever heard about the termination and that the reservation would not be able to be upheld. Had the hostel not contacted me I would not have known at all. Furthermore, when I tried to contact HostelWorld they only answered my initial email. They asked for a forwarded email that I had received from the hostel and then never replied to me again. I sent many emails over the span of a week without any response at all. I also tried calling the number on their website to contact them and was continually met with 'The number cannot be dialed at this time', for some reason. The number never worked and I could never find another number to use. Overall, I have seen the horrible customer care that HostelWorld provides. They clearly ignored my attempts to resolve the issue and showed blatant disregard for my questions and for me as a person. I will definitely never be using this company again and will be making sure that no one I know uses it either.