YHA CLOSURES

[pga]

YHA CLOSURES

Just when I thought we were in for a quiet spell, having seen off the Forestry Commission sell off threat for a period, comes the news of eight more youth hostels to close. Many of us were active in previous campaigns against closures and we did win some victories, eg Thurlby. The new YHA leadership seems unable to grasp what the problem is - providing hotel standard accommodation in big cities with full meals service is not the answer. The YHA was founded for people of limited means to explore the countryside not for the wealthier to go clubbing in big cities.

Keep the hostels simple - don't provide meals - a team of fully qualified catering staff often produce a handful of meals, hardly economic.

As for providing links on cycling and walking tours forget about it. Even hostels on the Coast to Coast Walk and Pennine Way have gone, eg Keld.

The most disappointing thing about the whole affair is that the YHA was given money to compensate for it losses during the Food and Mouth epidemic, which the YHA blamed for its troubles, but the YHA failed to claim this, for reasons unknown to me.

I joined the YHA in 1953 and am appalled at the state it is in. In the meantime you might be better off buying a tent and sleeping bag.

[horizon]

In the meantime you might be better off buying a tent and sleeping bag.

pga, you have my complete suppport. We have discussed the YHA extensively on here, unsurprisingly because it was accommodation for touring cyclists. What the YHA might be forgetting is that it allowed young people to travel independently and safely from hostel to hostel - no other form of accommodation is designed to do this. It also allowed young people to experience a variety of historic properties, another thing that is lost in the new hostels.

In support of the YHA however I would say that they are caught up in a Travelodge-style hell trying to cater for a shifting market that no longer wants to do what the YHA was originally set up for. That it keeps any hostels going at all is somewhat remarkable.

Another change is that lightweight camping equipment has transformed cycle camping and, while it doesn't cater for the spring and autumn, does provide inexpensive and flexible accommodation. You even get a room of your own!

[rualexander]

The whole YHA and SYHA business models are fatally flawed.
They have been beaten at their own game, particularly in Scotland, by the independent hostel network, of which there are now over one hundred and fifty in Scotland and over two hundred and fifty in England & Wales.
http://www.independenthostelguide.co.uk/
Unfortunately, the nature of independent hostels is that they cannot provide the consistency of standards that the SYHA/YHA provide/provided.

[horizon]

Unfortunately, the nature of independent hostels is that they cannot provide the consistency of standards that the SYHA/YHA provide/provided.

Exactly. The YHA was actually a miracle.

[thirdcrank]

When I was a young person of limited means YHA,SYHA, YHANI, An Oige, and whatever they called the organisation running les auberges de jeunesse, did me proud. It's sad that young people - and I'm talking about 13+ for me - no longer have that opportunity to branch out and explore a bit of the world using generally reliable accommodation. That wouldn't be possible today if there was a YHA in every street (not to be confused with Strete ) It was increasing traffic combined with child protection policies which put the kybosh on that.

That means that the youth aspect can only be what used to be called 'school journey parties' (SJP in the handbook) and families. The organisation was always going to be different when families were targeted because they don't want to be split up in dormitories and, by all accounts, schools now expect exclusive use. Either way, the lone independent traveller is going to be a nuisance - except as the target for use it or lose it appeals.

I can only remember once being turned away from a YHA, and that was by one of the grumpiest old gits in the land at Burley Woodhead - it was full because a local association had booked the place for a dance. (All in cars in the days when they were prohibited ) Some people report bookings being cancelled, just because of a later booking by a party. All 'perfectly legal' of course, but hardly the way to win friends and influence people.

It's all a bit reminiscent of the CofE or the Co-op: trying to forget past glories but without much idea of the future, and protected by a valuable property portfolio from a sudden demise. The alternative looks to be lingering but eventually just as final.

[Bill D]

I agree with Thirdcrank's point about risks. With health and safety legisation and the eagerness of many citizens to make claims against organisations perceived to have money, allowing (young) people to use hostels, kitchens etc whilst being only loosely supervised (or not supervised at all) is a legal nightmare. If I were the YHA's lawyer I'd have to advise them to allow only professionally supervised groups to use their traditional 'self catering' hostels and to run all the others as hotels, or close them down.

[gagagiste]

Having been a life member since the late 1950s I sadly agree with all thirdcrank has said. I manage the odd bednight here or there each year, but am put off by young families travelling in massive 4x4s, the children being badly behaved and clearly from their apparent lifestyle there parents could afford hotel accommodation. Fortunately from time to time there are youngsters, often from overseas, who still have the old hosteling spirit and attitude, but they are few and far between. Then there the hardened few like myself, doubless rated as a miserable old whatsits! What really annoys me is the fact that two local hostels (yes, there are two within seven miles of where I live) advertise in the local paper for volunteers to do the sort of jobs that at one time rated as "duties". What was wrong with the old system? It fostered a sense of being responsible for the hostel; why should local residents volunteer to do things for an association that has nothing to do with them? Usually, especially in rural areas, there are far more important services that need volunteer help than the YHA.

[Vorpal]

What has changed?

I have to admit I don't use them much, now, as I have a young family and I hadn't thought of youth hostels as a good place to stay with a young family.

When I was using YHA/SYHA facilities regularly (10 - 20 years ago), they were full of university-aged people from all over the world, with a reasonable proportion of those from the British Isles, and a scattering of walking or cycling groups and older folks or families.

I did use them mostly during summer holidays.

[Steady rider]

2009 accounts
http://www.yha.org.uk/Images/YHA%20(Eng ... nd%20Wales)%20Limited%202009%20financial%20statements%20with%20sigs_tcm8-12953.pdf

the YHA approach does not help, low, medium standard facilities running at a low cost is best for providing a network of hostels. In the 1960's with school groups taking over hostels, was a change in direction.

[swansonj]

I have to admit I don't use them much, now, as I have a young family and I hadn't thought of youth hostels as a good place to stay with a young family.

Actuall, that's the main thing I think they are good for now. I wouldn't use them as the basis for whole tours as I did 20 years ago. But we started taking our children to hostels when they were about 5. A family room, a members' kitchen (where they still exist), the likelihood of other families, a building with character, and a scenic location still make many hostels a good way of having a cheap (as in, cheaper than a hotel) and just slightly adventurous fixed-centre break with a younish family.

[iviehoff]

Unfortunately, the nature of independent hostels is that they cannot provide the consistency of standards that the SYHA/YHA provide/provided.

Fortunately, independent hostels are able to be economic because they have the flexibility to match their business operation to the circumstances, instead of tying themselves up in a set of consistent standards.

If you recall, I first met you in a hostel in Pucon, Chile, that was a rather nice hostel precisely because someone had used their imagination instead of adhering to a set of consistent standards.

When you have an owner-manager, he is acutely sensitive to what is good for business, and devises his operation to match. In an earlier world, where finding out about things was much harder, the YHA had a strong marketing advantage because of its network, and could get away with being inefficient.

Hotel chains are common, and they do indeed tend to be successful precisely because they apply the same business model repeatedly. They tend to be very uniform indeed. But the YHA had a diverse set of businesses, to which a common business model did not easily apply. It is sensible for YHA to try and focus on a more uniform business. In some cases, the more eccentric hostels have become owner-managed, and subscribe to the YHA as a franchise.

Currently the YHA has a deficit and has no choice but to liberate cash from its estate. It makes sense for it to sell off stuff that does not match its core business model. We can be nostalgic about the old days of eccentric and variable hostels, but it is simply not sensible for YHA to see that as its core business model. Those hostels are now better provided by the independent sector, and I am actually happier to go to an independent hostel for that.

[horizon]

Currently the YHA has a deficit and has no choice but to liberate cash from its estate.

No, but the nation had a choice. But we chose to invest in other things - Trident, motorways, a war or two, the London Olympics. The YHA uniquely had a network of different buildings with common standards accessible to people on low incomes. It had a culture to support this combination (volunteering, bequests, hostel duties etc). There is a large number of people who can say today that it was the unique combination of the qualities of the YHA that changed their lives. This isn't nostalgia, this is a recognition of something that has been lost not becasue it couldn't be afforded or is no longer relevant but because it wasn't properly recognised, understood or valued.

[pga]

Spot on Horizon. The YHA has been an important part of my life for nearly 60 years. Have used hostels all over the world - great experiences, eg Japan in the 1960's, but the best was Thurlby in its early days, when most came by bike, before improvements were made to cater first of all for families and then, when that policy did not work, for rent a hostel.

[gagagiste]

pga is right, Horizon is spot on! Pity we are a dying breed.

[thirdcrank]

I've always assumed that the YHA's adventures in retailing and playing at being travel agents created a huge black hole for £££.