Sascha Dimitriewicz and Raphaela Böck, Wombat's City Hostels

03/02/23 • 39 min

In this episode of Ask Us Anything, we talk to Sascha Dimitriewicz and Raphaela Boeck, a father-daughter team at Wombat’s City Hostels, about the past and future of youth travel. Sascha is co-founder of Wombat’s and his daughter Raphaela is currently head of sales for the hostel’s four properties located in Vienna, London, Budapest and Munich.
The Wombat’s philosophy is based on the belief that hostels are ideal places for cultural exchange, that travelling and bringing people together is valuable for our learning and world view.
You'll hear Sascha's founder’s story, which is based on his own youth travel experience backpacking in Australia. We also discuss how the Wombat’s business has managed to grow as a reliable, but unexpected brand in the international youth travel space since 1999. You’ll also hear how Raphaela is thinking about the future of youth travel and hostels and how the two approach their unique relationship as father and daughter at work.
Have a listen... we’ve included some live action from Wombat’s Vienna in this episode of Ask Us Anything.
Recorded February 2023.

Learn more about WYSE Travel Confederation, the international travel trade association for organisations specialised in youth, student and educational travel.

Learn more about WYSE Travel Confederation, the international travel trade association for organisations specialised in youth, student and educational travel.

Previous Episode

Patricia Brunner, International Au Pair Association (IAPA)

In February 2023, we talked with Patricia Brunner, Managing Director of the International Au Pair Association – “IAPA”. Patricia is based in Munich, Germany and has been working in cultural exchange and travel for many years. Before taking on her current role with IAPA, she operated her own au pair agency in Munich.

IAPA and WYSE Travel Confederation together host the annual Work Experience Travel Market and IAPA Annual Conference. “WETM-IAC” as it is known, will take place in Athens, Greece this year from March 18th to 20th. The conference attracts cultural exchange professionals from across the globe for two and a half days of business, networking and education, and as you’ll hear Patricia say “happy moments”.

In our conversation, Patricia explains the most important reasons professionals working in au pair and other cultural exchange programmes should attend the conference. We also talked about some of the major shifts in youth travel and cultural exchange during Patricia’s career, and more recently as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit.
We also discussed what a utopian au pair visa scheme could look like and Patricia highlights a potentially major “game changer” for cultural exchange and youth mobility.
Recorded February 2023.

Learn more about WYSE Travel Confederation, the international travel trade association for organisations specialised in youth, student and educational travel.

Next Episode

Christina Beckmann of Tomorrow's Air

Meet Christina Beckmann in the latest episode of WYSE Travel Confederation's Ask Us Anything podcast.
Christina is one of the creators of Tomorrow’s Air, a sustainable travel venture of the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA). Tomorrow’s Air is a global collective of travel organizations investing in carbon removal technology. The collective connects travel businesses and travellers to climate action through its educational activities and accessible contribution model. ATTA is a trade group bringing together destinations, travel advisors, operators, suppliers and other stakeholders of the adventure travel industry.

Together ATTA and Tomorrow’s Air are supporting WYSE Travel Confederation’s New Horizons survey of international youth and student travel. Christina will explain the positive impact both of their organisations receive through this WYSE research study of young travellers.

You’ll also learn about a major change currently underway in the way we think about climate change action - a shift in mindset from carbon offsetting to carbon removal.

Christina is open, funny and dedicated to her work. It might sound silly, but she is devoted to educating people about air... and finding a new way for travellers and travel organizations to face climate change without, as she says, “travel shaming” and “pious finger-wagging”.

Have a listen.
Recorded June 2023

Learn more about WYSE Travel Confederation, the international travel trade association for organisations specialised in youth, student and educational travel.