Has the YHA gone bonkers?

[Cush]

I have just tried to book in at a hostel on the Southwest coast for early September. On the availability page it showed that there was room for a single but on the hostel web page it said there was no availability. So I phoned HQ. I was told that there was a bed in a dorm for a female but not a male BUT there is a double male room for £52 yes thats right £52. Naturaly I declined. Does the YHA know that you can get rooms in Travelodge for as little as £20 and even the top prices are only £45 - £60 and this includes en-suite showers. I did get booked in to another hostel but it means a change of route. Another Hostel on the same trip is charging £22 but the next night I will be in at a reasonable quality B&B in a large city 60 miles away for £25. I think the YHA has lost it's way

 

[samid]

I once paid £25 for a campsite. In my defense, it was the first night of my first tour, and I was exhausted...

 

[andym]

I'm guessing that you were trying to book into a hostel somewhere nice. Was there a Travelodge there - as opposed to at a motorway junction 50 miles away?

£52 is a lot - if the room doesn't have ensuite showers, but the fact that the hostel is booked up almost three months in advance doesn't really suggest that the YHA prices are that outrageous.

 

[funnymummy]

We reguarly use YHA's, I have to book a family room, last stop over inc meals cost £79, But as there arn't many 'hotels' in the middle of nowhereness then that's the price we pay for a nights comfort mid roughing it!

 

[Brandane]

I'm guessing that you were trying to book into a hostel somewhere nice. Was there a Travelodge there - as opposed to at a motorway junction 50 miles away?

£52 is a lot - if the room doesn't have ensuite showers, but the fact that the hostel is booked up almost three months in advance doesn't really suggest that the YHA prices are that outrageous.

No, but what it does suggest is that they are now "Youth Hostels" in name only. In reality they have opened themselves up to the general public (£2 for a daily membership) and have in effect become budget hotels, with prices set accordingly.

 

[hubbike]

YHA has to subsidise far flung hostels with the more popular ones. no one else could have a hostel in glen afric or by loch ossian. On the other hand many hostels are closing now Helvelyn is a lovely hostel and I hear it is going to close...they quite often make a loss.

I'd hate YHA to disappear but I also think that they need to seriously think about who they are aimed at...

 

[Tim Bennet.]

I think the YHA has lost it's way

It lost it's way years ago.

That's why it's selling / sold its hostels at Hawkshead, Derwent Water, Thirlmere, etc, etc.
These are not isolated places well off the beaten track, but in the major centres of the Lake District.
If it can't run those, what hope is there?

 

[Crackle]

I can't decide if it's lost its way. YHA's were always booked up, especially in August. You could never just ring up and get a bed. I often turned up on the hope that someone wouldn't and luckily, nearly always got in.

Many's the time I've been kept awake by some snorer or restless sleeper too, smaller two bed dorms were a revelation when I went hostelling in France and now as a family, having a room to ourselves is great and you still have the kitchen facilities etc... that a hostel provides, plus and it's a big plus, the all day access you now have.

They are expensive though. I baulked at leaving, something like a £150 for a three night stay for me and the kids and the closing of so many has reduced the kind of weekend hostelling tour I might once have done. I like the improved facilities and the modernisation of the archaic rules but I'm saddened to see so many close and shocked at some prices. I have to say though, that quite a few decent independent hostels seem to have sprung up in their place, including some former hostels.

 

[hubbike]

yes that's true. although I think independent hostels will never appear in the more remote spots which are so appealing. perhaps bothies and camping barns will take up the slack there.

Around Scotland bunkhouses generally go for between £10 -£20 (with no requirement to be a member, more relaxed atmosphere and no daft rules about curfews) whereas YHA charge more like £15 -£ 25 for a dorm bed and staff can be jobsworths at times, inforcing rules like they're school teachers.

In edinburgh you could stay in
the YHA £25
the independent hostel £10
or a B&B for £30 (with breakfast, TV, ensuite and friendly landlady)

you pays your money and takes your choice...but I like to have access to a kitchen.

 

[andym]

No, but what it does suggest is that they are now "Youth Hostels" in name only. In reality they have opened themselves up to the general public (£2 for a daily membership) and have in effect become budget hotels, with prices set accordingly.

I was in a 'youth' hostel (in Italy) the other night and I'd swear the average age was somewhere north of 60!

What's wrong with being open to the general public?

Yes youth hostels are competing with budget hotels - i was talking to the person who runs one of the hostels that I stayed at recently who was saying that increasingly people expect hostels to be like hotels. There might be some who are prepared to rough it with bothy/refuge type accommodation but I suspect they are in the minority.

Hubbike

- I thought YHAs in the UK had done away with lockouts?
- the Edinburgh YHA is pretty good.

 

[hubbike]

I had a bad night there with some loud snoring...and it was 25 quid which I don't think is competitive for a dorm bed. I could have had a room to myself and breakfast for £30 in a b&b. more fool me.

I might be out of date with lock outs, but the YHA still has lots of daft rules ...when the kitchen is out of bounds etc. and sometimes their atmosphere is a bit formal and uptight. There are some fantastic youth hostels, and I generally support them but to have a future I think they need to reappraise what they are.

I think the YHA is something far more important than a "low cost hotel" chain. but if they don't put their finger on where they are going wrong, youth hostels will disappear and we won't get them back.

 

[Bodhbh]

For the small amount of time I've been using them, the YHA pricing has mostly been just under B&Bs for 2 people....it's not great value for money, but the main advantage being, solo, is that you can get a dorm bed for 18-25 quid or whatever, rather than having to fork out for a twin room in a B&B. They are not cheap, but generally are up to a certain standard. They seem to be aiming at weekend breaks for middle classes families rather than solo travellers, but whatever, there's other options.

 

[Ticktockmy]

Having been a member of the YHA on and off since the late 1950’s, I have watched the Organisation change quite a lot.
Some changes are for the good, but I feel the loss of the many simple hostels has made the use of the YHA somewhat useless for the walker or cyclist.

My idea of a hostel is the Gatliff Hebridean Hostels on the Outer Hebrides, which are simple, have all the requirements of an overnight stop.

On a few occasions I have phoned a hostel to see if they have spaces, which often they have but because there is a small school party at the hostel, they cannot allow me to stay, never used to be like it, but times have changed.

 

[Amanda P]

I get the impression that the YHA is turning its attention to school trips and the like. They can fill a hostel with one booking, and the hostels that remain are often the ones in towns or cities which a coach can drive up to, and their car parks are rarely empty. Meanwhile, the small, simple remote ones are disappearing.

Funny, SYHA charges less membership, but retains many hostels in out-of-the-way places. The Gatliff trust does too - and I don't even have to be a member to use those.

 

[furball]

SYHA are starting to advertise higher priced 'associate' hostels. In this years booklet, en suite rooms with televisions in St Andrews (I assume these are university halls of residence) are £49.99. I cant see how people who choose to be members of SYHA would be looking for these types of facilities or would want to pay those sort of prices. Perhaps SYHA are looking to tap into the golfing market. I just hope this isn't setting a precedent.