Is it time for a rebrand? Current branding makes no sense anymore and hasn't for 30 years
Old people's hostel? 🤔
Senior's hostel?
Recalling-your-long-lost Youth Hostel?
Is it time for a rebrand? Current branding makes no sense anymore and hasn't for 30 years
Old people's hostel? 🤔
Senior's hostel?
Recalling-your-long-lost Youth Hostel?
The SYHA has for a long time been officially called "Hostelling Scotland", although everyone old enough to not be a youth certainly still calls it SYHA and their properties "Youth Hostels"!
In the olden days, you HAD to arrive on foot, bicycle, canoe or horse.
Surely train or omnibus was acceptable? Actually I don't think I've ever driven to a hostel except when we had booked it out completely.
they weren't all horrible chores, although I suspect if you annoyed the warden you may have been more likely to get the toilet jobs! I do some stuff with a group of young people who sleep on church/village hall floors etc. They are all enlisted to clean the place before we leave. I've never once heard a complaint, and actually I think they like the experience.You also had to do a horrible chore before leaving
and the hostel was completely closed between 10:00 and 17:00... Not very 'customer' friendly.
If that reduced your staff and heating costs by 1/3 and thus the charges by the same would that be the end of the world? Especially if there was any kind of shelter where early arrivals could hide from the weather (I seem to remember being able to arrive about 4pm)
I first went to a hostel unaccompanied with a friend at 14/15 - I assume that would now be a safeguarding nightmare.
You also had to do a horrible chore before leaving
I remember that. [/shudders at the memories]
and the hostel was completely closed between 10:00 and 17:00... Not very 'customer' friendly
To be fair, most hotels you can't check in before 3pm. They might be "open" in as much as there's a bar area but you can't access your room.
To be fair, most hotels you can't check in before 3pm. They might be "open" in as much as there's a bar area but you can't access your room.
You can if you are staying for multiple days and you are already checked in.....on the old hostel model (and maybe even now in some cases - not sure) if you were staying for 2 nights you had to make yourself scarce for most of the day. Not always an issue but if it was belting down....
I've stayed at the Gairloch Hostel a few times with work (school group) booking the whole place out and the cleaning expectation at the end of our stay was pretty much a full fat change over -clean of kitchen in fridge, vacuum all rooms and strip all beds, sweeping down hard floors and outside and porch/boot room, check and wipe down shower and sinks and scrub down toilets.
To be fair, most hotels you can't check in before 3pm. They might be "open" in as much as there's a bar area but you can't access your room.
You can if you are staying for multiple days and you are already checked in.....on the old hostel model (and maybe even now in some cases - not sure) if you were staying for 2 nights you had to make yourself scarce for most of the day. Not always an issue but if it was belting down....
I've stayed at the Gairloch Hostel a few times with work (school group) booking the whole place out and the cleaning expectation at the end of our stay was pretty much a full fat change over -clean of kitchen in fridge, vacuum all rooms and strip all beds, sweeping down hard floors and outside and porch/boot room, check and wipe down shower and sinks and scrub down toilets.
The Gatliff Trust hostels in the Western Isles remind me of old 70s hostels. Cheap. Basic. No booking allowed.
Last year I was at Howmore there were a couple of dozen people in and only one group arrived by car.
The price of modern SYHA hostels I,ve been to if there was a Travelodge alternative for a few quid more I'd be there instead.
Youth Hostel is a misnomer nowadays. The majority (especially those in honeypot areas) are cheap hotels for 40-60 year olds on a boozy weekend that involves a bit of outdoor activity.
In terms of actual youths who have got there unaccompanied, I think I've seen one group at Hawkshead once. It was noteworthy because they were the exception.
Anecdotal more than anything, but my daughter (now 24) and her BF used to use them a couple of years ago and pretty sure she'd meet other young folk - she actually ended up working for them at Matlock HQ. They tend to wild camp more than anything now though.
Currently walking the WHW, not sure if she's staying at any YH's along the way, I'll ask
From memory (not totally reliable as I did the WHW in 1982...), there were SYHA hostels in Rowardenan, Crianlarich and Glen Nevis. There was also a hostel in Glen Coe - miles off route so we camped at the kings House. I don't know if these hostels are still SYHA (or whatever it's called now) or have been sold off. The first two were typical hostels and fine. Glen Nevis was run by a horrible Nazi and very unfine. I know he's no longer there as I've stayed a number of times since whilst winter climbing on the Ben and the Warden was 'normal'. However, I've not stayed in Glen Nevis Hostel for a few years so it may have since been closed or sold.
I'm one of those people who takes groups of youths to youth hostels. For the past few summers, the organisation I volunteer for has taken a few 4 person rooms at Aviemore SYHA for a mountain bike resi for teenagers and adult leaders.
Maybe Aviemore is an outlier, but it's been mix of people - families, younger travellers and older folks from the UK and abroad. The young people get to mix with people of various ages / nationalities when preparing breakfast / dinner and in the common room. That's a big part of the trip tbh. The staff there have been great too - even when one of the group wandered off with the bike shed key for a while...
Glen Nevis hostel is well nice these days. Wish I stayed there rather than a shitey hotel in town last time I was in FW.
As others have said, I stayed in a YHA a couple of times last year, at 44 I was probably the youngest staying there, most people were in their 60's I'd say!
They're mostly to be considered as budget low frills hotels these days, but reliably consistent so you know what you're getting... Locations are usually a lot more central to town than anything else approaching their price point too, which can be handy.
Compared to some of the hotel chains I've stayed at in the past, if the budget is tight, I'd rather book a YHA more often than not as long as I'm getting a private room that is...
I've a soft spot for YHAs.
I remember using them on school trips (Whitby) and road trips with mates (Edinburgh, Glen Nevis). And also as a place to dry out gear when wild camping (not a phrase I used then!) on long walks like the Dales Way (Grassington?).
I once stopped in at St David's (Whitesands) YHA when I was driving around Wales in my early/mid 20s. All my camping gear was soaked through so I decided to stop under a roof for the night.
An old couple were caretaking and the fella showed me around. When I signed in he said "It's just you and a load of women tonight, you might get lucky!"
I did. And we've been married 20 years.
(I should probably mention to the OP that if you sneak someone into your dorm because it's empty, there is the possibility that Welsh-speaking ramblers will arrive in the dead of night sleep in the other bunks and then leave again before dawn, saving you all any embarrassment)
@reeksy You've reminded of a dorm faux pas of mine. As a yoof, needed the loo in the middle of the night. Blacked out dorm full to the gunwales with kit scattered everywhere. There was always limited kit room in dorms. Navigated my way passed all the trip hazards and snory men in bunks, strained the greens then returned. Got a bit disoriented on the return and as I was getting into my bunk, a very deep voice said 'what the **** do you want?'...😆
a group of 5 of us had a few nights 'bikepacking' the other week, 2 nights in the Port Charlotte one on Islay and 2 night in Lochranza, on Arran. Port Charlotte was one of the best we have used, very helpful warden, clean and tidy rooms, nice layout and good common space, felt almost like a basic hotel. Lochranza, where we have been before is a depressing smelly building in a state of poor repair.
I'm not sure that their model is going to last, the breakfasts haven't changed in a decade or more, and the pricing isn't anything bargaintastic compared to other offering now available.
Not to mention that our group's average age was nearly 60 and we were younger than many in either hostel. Fully agree that their model may not survive given the lack of youth, youth hostelling. A real pity as they are often located in places chain hotels would never operate.
So, thought I'd give an update on this as I started the thread. TLDR - it was really bad.
Arrived at Harrington Hall and all looked good, nice bar, outdoor area looked good, happy days. However, once I got to the room things took a severe downturn. Now I want to preface this that I did not expect luxury, I did not need anything more than a clean room and a plug socket. That was it.
The room was tiny, I reckon it was about 8ft square, if that. There was no plug socket (reception told me that some rooms just don't have them). But the worse bit was the state of the room in general. Mould on the walls and window, a rotting window frame and it looked like, bar changing the bedding, nothing else had been cleaned in years, it was filthy. It was also full of flies. And it was ridiculously hot, and as the window frame was so warped and rotten I couldn't open any more than an inch or 2 to let some air in or some flies out.
So after a chat with reception to ask if there were any other rooms available (there weren't), or if there were any other options ("no, that's the room you booked), or if they could help in any way (they couldn't) I cut my losses and left.
10 mins on the internet and I found a room at a very nice, if slightly old and aging spa hotel near Matlock. This wasn't The Ritz either, but it had a very helpful fella on reception, was clean, had no mould or flies, a window that worked and plug sockets. They also provided me with a fan as the room was quite warm. What's more is that it cost £10 less per night than the room in the YHA (with the proviso that I booked it 30 mins before I checked in so I accept the price may have dropped to fill the room).
So yeah, not a great experience, and I can't think of any reason why I would book a room in a YHA when I can get vastly better facilities for the same or less money.
That's a bit crap Lunge! I hope you complained...
Vastly different to my own experience of YHA's, but there we go... The rooms I've had have all been huge, very clean and well prepared, not lacking in plug sockets and all quite a bit cheaper than anything else I could get in the area...
That's a bit crap Lunge! I hope you complained
I did. And the response wasn't really as good as I hoped it'd be. Certainly didn't change my view or make me more likely to book again.
That's a real shame. The one thing Hartington Hall does have going for it is the location and it's a lovely building.
I guess like many of those sort of YH - old building converted while trying to retain period features but also comply with modern H&S - the cost of doing a good job and maintaining it all is too much for YHA to cope with.
However your tale does reinforce my previous view that a YH would be an absolute last resort accommodation for me.
That's an awful state of affairs. We've had a few YH stays in tired accommodation but nothing that bad.
Though I'd be interested where you ended up as a last minute deal - near Matlock could be convenient for a couple of nights away!
Though I'd be interested where you ended up as a last minute deal - near Matlock could be convenient for a couple of nights away!
@morecashthandash, https://newbathhotelandspa.com/
A little tired and perhaps passed its glory years, but perfect good and the staff were brilliant.
That's great thanks.
But the worse bit was the state of the room in general.
Sorry to hear that, will you write to yha?
I had a similar experience in a hostel that closed shortly afterwards for good, it was an experience my wife still reminds me of 😬
diy catering in well equipped communal kitchens
That’s pretty much the format these days, there will be a couple of staff to run the place, but whereas previously there would be other staff taking care of catering, it’s all self-catering now, to keep costs as low as possible.
A very close friend of mine has worked in hostels all over the country for years, up in Kendal and the Lakes, South Wales, Devon, and the last one she worked in was Talybont-on-Usk, up until the end of last season, and they’re now self-catering. Which suits her, because her mum is now at a point where she needs someone helping her at home.
I stayed at a YHA in Derbyshire recently camping.
I was surprised how good the facilities were. I was also surprised that at 51 I was quite young compared to most 😂
it’s all self-catering now
Some have gone that way, I'm guessing those in quieter or less popular locations. Many others still have restaurants or dining rooms providing cooked meals if required.
There is a huge range of facilities of varying ages and condition across the YHA estate. We've stayed in some excellent modern ones, and some pretty basic but adequate older ones.
