YHA - advice for a rookie

[skicat]

Yes I'd definitely second the advice on getting a good pair of earplugs.

That shouldn't add too much to the weight count

[skicat]

The one single thing that stopped me using YHA and SYHA, is that even if you book and pay in advance, you can be fobbed off with no meals or access to the kitchen because there's a school booked in at the same time as you.

I'm not too bothered about access to the kitchen - the last thing I feel like doing after a day in the saddle is to start cooking. It's nice to be able to make a cup of tea though. Generally I prefer to find a nearby hostelry with a reasonable choice of food and ideally some local ale. I appreciate this is not always possible though so being able to fall back to hostel food could be important. I'll take note of your experiences in that department Mick.

[horizon]

Skicat. Sadly there's something about the words 'YHA' in a thread title that brings out the grumpy old men, and threads about the YHA always seem to degenerate into moaning sessions.

There are some important downsides to using the YHA - I don't think it's being grumpy or moaning to point them out. My own out-of-season experience of YHAs in recent years has been superb (I just feel sorry for the 16 year olds on bikes living in a city who don't have Mum and Dad with a people carrier to get them to the Lakes for the weekend. But as I've said on previous threads, I don't run the YHA and I don't run the government department that refuses to subsidise them. Nor however do I make choices for the people who wish not to stay at a slightly decrepid, out-of-the way hostel in southern England by bike for the weekend. The YHA has made some hugely controversial (brave?) choices over recent years and it's bound to get a reaction).

Yes I'd definitely second the advice on getting a good pair of earplugs

That could be one of the downsides but I think you're being too negative on that . But, yes, a dorm isn't everyone's choice and it's worth noting (as someone did above) that two people travelling together on a busy weekend are sometimes better off getting a cheap B&B.

[Slowroad]

I've found it difficult to book hostels and basically gave up on them because schools book them for exclusive use. It's great that kids are getting into the countryside, but it's a shame that they don't get to see that it's an option for adults. However I've recently had good experiences staying at Dutch and German hostels so maybe I should have another go with British ones!

[DaveP]

In the past the Scottish YHA used to have a lot of Basic Grade Hostels, often in remote and attractive areas. Is this still the case?
I'm quite happy with a dry bed and a wash in the stream that you fill the kettle from as long as someone arranges said dry bed and kettle.

[horizon]

a lot of Basic Grade Hostels

It's a whie since I stayed in Scottish hostels but a lot of hostels is what you need if you're doing a walking or cycling tour i.e. moving on. The problem is that the YHA is now geared to staying put which for a cycle tourist isn't ideal. Doesn't mean it wasn't the better strategy though from the YHA's survival POV.

[bogmyrtle]

In the past the Scottish YHA used to have a lot of Basic Grade Hostels, often in remote and attractive areas. Is this still the case?
I'm quite happy with a dry bed and a wash in the stream that you fill the kettle from as long as someone arranges said dry bed and kettle.

There are very few left. The SYHA hostel directory has to be bulked out with "associate" hostels some of which are hostels the SYHA have closed and are now run independently.

[andrew_s]

It's worth casting wider than just (S)YHA.
There are websites that give details of the independent hostels. These may range from former YHAs to pub bunkhouses, or "camping barns"
https://independenthostels.co.uk/
http://www.hostel-scotland.co.uk/

It can also be worth checking hotels. Travelodge works like budget airlines, with variable prices that can be competitive with B&B or YHA if there's 2 of you, and you book at the right time. I'd not suggest it as a basis, but it might bridge a gap. Bikes OK in the rooms, apparently.

[millimole]

I'm with the moaners.
I gave up on trying to use Youth Hostels quite some time ago. I had some poor experiences, both during stays and in the booking process.
I now go for the impersonal reliability of Travelodge and Premier Inn - you know exactly what you are getting, you know exactly where your bike will be overnight (in sight!) and you know precisely what's available for breakfast. With judicious use of both their websites and Trivago they can work out cheaper than YHA - but you do need to have your plans laid out well in advance.


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my iPad using hovercraft full of eels.

[DaveP]

That's a pity - I had hoped that the simplest hostels might have been cheap enough to have survived. I knew that there were numbers of independent hostels these days (thanks for the links!) but there was a certain convenience to being able to use an established network. Sigh.
I can confirm that Premier inns do allow bikes in bedrooms, although at least once we were offered the use of the beer storage room which we gratefully accepted because we were significantly upstairs
I have tended to avoid Travelodge because some of them have a bit of a reputation for reselling your room if someone turns up cash in hand before you arrive. Infuriating if you are in a car and are referred to another hostelry 40 miles away from where you need to be first thing in the morning. Total disaster if you are on a bike at the end of a long hard day.

[mercalia]

The one single thing that stopped me using YHA and SYHA, is that even if you book and pay in advance, you can be fobbed off with no meals or access to the kitchen because there's a school booked in at the same time as you. It happened a couple of times.

Last time was at Welsh Bicknor a few years ago.
I'd paid for a room and an evening meal and a breakfast well in advance.
When I checked in, I asked about what time the evening meal was, to be told I couldn't have one due to the fact that a school was using the dining room and kitchen. I suggested I could get in afterwards, but told NO as the school have exclusive rights to the kitchen and dining room for their stay.

I asked about breakfast, and was told the same thing.

I demanded my money back for the meals, and demanded they tell me where I can eat, and I told them that as far as I was concerned, they were in breach of contract. I was refunded, told the way to the nearest pub that does meals .............. and that was that. They added that the only way that YHA can continue to exist, is through block bookings by schools. It seems that the private person is small fry and uneconomic.

The very last time that I'd go anywhere near a Youth Hostel again.

Has never happened to me, I think these days that would renta-hostel, if they want to have exclusive access to facilities? Its totally out of order - did you complain to the head office? I cant think thats ever been normal policy and they would have been aghast and maybe offered you compensation and taken the warden to task for mismanagement, as thats what it was? I think I would have created a real stink had been me, threatened them with being sued for the reason given, as you had to buy a pub meal and has the inconvenience of going there? The breakfast thing is even worse as means you couldnt get a meal before you left. Shame you didnt record the wardens name to shame him/her


I have related this to a friend of mine who will be contacting them to see what they say and will report back any reply.

[mercalia]

That's a pity - I had hoped that the simplest hostels might have been cheap enough to have survived. I knew that there were numbers of independent hostels these days (thanks for the links!) but there was a certain convenience to being able to use an established network. Sigh.
I can confirm that Premier inns do allow bikes in bedrooms, although at least once we were offered the use of the beer storage room which we gratefully accepted because we were significantly upstairs
I have tended to avoid Travelodge because some of them have a bit of a reputation for reselling your room if someone turns up cash in hand before you arrive. Infuriating if you are in a car and are referred to another hostelry 40 miles away from where you need to be first thing in the morning. Total disaster if you are on a bike at the end of a long hard day.

what makes it worse is the number of hostels where you can camp ( to keep prices down ) has gone down and even then seem to have made it a "special experience" so the prices are not that much lower. Fortunately one hostel near me in London, Tanners Hatch, Dorking is not too expensive and camping is great and the whole place gives you an experience of what the YHA should be like and keeps way the car loads as you have to walk a mile or so thru fields or woods to get there.. hmm maybe I should delete this post as I dont want any of you lot going there and crowding the place

[PH]

I’ll probably also get classed as a moaner.
A decade or so ago YHA was struggling, I stayed in many where the income from the few there wouldn’t have paid the electricity bill. They were not fulfilling the original remit to get children from urban areas to experience something outside of their daily experience, have a better understanding of nature and hopefully of themselves. The Y in the name had become a bit of a joke, in my 40s I was often the youngest person in one.
The changes since then have turned that round, fewer and bigger hostels in areas where there’s plenty of activities for school parties, car parks big enough for the coaches, smaller more modern rooms, wi fi and TVs, onsite catering, exclusive use, activity breaks… All this stuff has increased the occupancy rate and and mostly with young people.
Pointing out that it’s also to a large extent made them impractical for the independent traveller isn’t moaning, it’s just acknowledging that we are the losers. I miss the days when you could just turn up with a reasonable expectation of a bed, when there was a network where a days cycling would give you a choice of the next one, when it was all a bit basic and the cost low, when the others staying were also likely to be independent travellers and the atmosphere was social. In the last 5 years I’ve tried to book myself in to at least 25 hostels, found vacancies at 5 and stayed in 3. That’s how it is.

[axel_knutt]

I stayed at the new hostel in Cirencester the week before last (owned & run by the brewery centre, not the YHA). Someone forgot to tell the management that you're not supposed to spoil hostellers with a nice soft bath towel.

I was impressed to see that they had a drying room, but less impressed when I looked inside and found that it was just a room with a washing machine and a dryer but nothing to hang clothes on other than a few boot pegs. I was even more unimpressed when the warden locked all my clothes inside, went home, and didn't come back in the morning. I had to call the brewery management to come and unlock, by which time I had 10 minutes to get dressed, pack my rucsac, and run for the bus. Wardening consists of sitting in the lobby at 5pm ticking off the arrivals on a clipboard, and giving them a room key and pin code for the front door.

There are storage boxes for two bikes, any more than that will have to be locked to something in the shopping precinct.

The one single thing that stopped me using YHA and SYHA, is that even if you book and pay in advance, you can be fobbed off with no meals or access to the kitchen because there's a school booked in at the same time as you. It happened a couple of times.

I once met someone who had boked and paid early in the year and then had the YHA cancel the booking because they'd got a school party who wanted the whole hostel.

They added that the only way that YHA can continue to exist, is through block bookings by schools. It seems that the private person is small fry and uneconomic.

Many independent hostels are groups only.

[Mick F]

I have related this to a friend of mine who will be contacting them to see what they say and will report back any reply.

Just looked at my records.

It was 5th June 2008.
http://my-grand-tour.blogspot.co.uk

I arrived at the foyer and checked in, asking for an evening meal, only to be informed that I wouldn’t be able to have one as a school party was taking up the dining room. They are not allowed to mix school parties and guests! Anyway, they suggested I ate at the village pub. “Oh no I can’t!” I replied, “They aren’t doing food now, there’s a notice up saying so!” I was told to try the ‘Forge Hammer’ across the river. The warden explained how I could walk along the footpath and over the bridge to reach it.

I wasn’t happy.

I asked about breakfast. I wouldn’t be able to eat until AFTER the kids had eaten, that would be at least 8.30. I blew my top! I explained that I’d already paid for this meal, and expected it at the normal time. They were sorry, but that was the way it had to be, so I demanded a refund and told them where to shove their breakfast!

We parted amicably in the end. They had their hands tied over the school party situation. If it wasn’t for school parties, the hostel would have to close, it wouldn’t be able to make ends meet with real hostellers. I agreed that no-one could make money out of cyclists and walkers any more, and had to branch out.

I didn't complain to Head Office, but you can believe I gave an earful to the warden that evening, and both barrels in the morning.

Actually, I had a wonderful evening meal of a curry at the pub over the river. It was a nice walk too.

I once met someone who had boked and paid early in the year and then had the YHA cancel the booking because they'd got a school party who wanted the whole hostel.

Basically what happened to me.
I always book well in advance, but YHA can shove it where the sun doesn't shine.