Ah, the wonders of A/B testing. I was fortunate enough to come across a B version of their testing, and wow, what an improvement! You can paste "http://t.hostelworld.com/?home=1&test=b" into your browser and see for yourself. It might not work for every hostel; it could be implemented regionally and may not be compatible with hostels that have older, smaller photos. But just to be safe, there are some page images below. I was looking up a mate's hostel, "CabanaCopa Hostel," in Rio de Janeiro and was surprised by the layout. It was way more modern, responsive, and well-contained. The booking process only takes two pages, and all the info was laid out and easy to find.
Design-wise, one could say that they drew some inspiration from HostelRocket, and content-wise, they might be taking hints from Booking.com. Whatever the source of this inspiration, keep up the good work! It's about time the pages had a reasonable facelift, just like the index page did not too long ago. It plays nicely with their new branding as well.
What does this mean for you? Well, if you have many modern, high-resolution images, you'll be ready for when this site, or another similar one, is implemented for your hostel. If you don't, well, get to it, buddy! The new photos can't take themselves. Booking.com and Expedia also play nicest with properties that have many high-resolution photos. So you are only doing yourself—and your guests—a favor. Take a look and see for yourself. Click the images for a closer look:
Unfortunately for Hostelworld, I did not make a booking, so the analytics and conversion rate for the B test could be off. Oopsie.