Youth Hostels

[tyreon]

Anyone know any radio or tv programmes about Youth Hostels? Documentaries? Their demise?

I know them to still exist...but numbers still falling. I guess thru-hikers or cycle tourists(not camping)now use Travelodge or some such. The plus thing about YH was that you got to meet a variety of travellers with different modes of transport and itineraries with mixed ages and sexes. The hostellers could be interesting folke and there could be interesting chat: it could be like a odd fellows club. I guess most know the downsides. By experience and research, most cheap stay hotel experiences seem situated outside towns,interlinked motorways or such...so that getting to the hotels is 'awkard'(by bike),and set in visual semi industrial deserts. Once in your room there seems little incentive to come out,so its as like being hermetically sealed in a cell. YH and their folk seemed more varied and individual than what now comes to out of town generic hotels...tho spotting guests between self closing doors is a rare occurrence.

What happened to all the money from the sale of Youth Hostels? Where did it all go?

How goes the the Independant Youth Hostel scene? Still active? Cost comparisons? How goes modest stay one or two night moving on touring accommodation to Europe stays?

Back years,myself and my wife never booked in advance for our journeys stays as we travelled on: we just arrived at places and found places to stay. Now we havent the legs...or the willpower. Before we could cycle on or was prepared stay up all night. Now it would kill me. Are more people moving about these days with less accommodation being offered. Places can be booked well in advance.     

[WorldTourer]

Hostels may be facing some stiff competition these days from AirBnB, but hostels remain a choice of accommodation for backpackers all across Europe, Central and South America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia. Just look at what is available on Hostelworld, the main listing site that backpackers use.

Of course, few hostels today use the term "youth hostel", because they don't want to potentially limit their customer base. Also, if one is a cyclist, it is always best to contact the hostel in advance. Not only are there hostels that are unwilling to provide any secure place to leave the bike overnight, but there are even hostels that don’t allow bikes at all. For example, if they are in a block, then their lease may forbid their guests from bring bicycles up lest they scuff the walls in the stairwell.

[mickeg]

Lots of hostels were out there pre-covid, not sure how things will look in the future.  Their business model included people being in close proximity.  We will have a better idea a year from now if they survived the pandemic or not.

I mostly stayed in HI system hostels.
https://www.hihostels.com/

There are some independent ones out there too.  You might find some of them here:
https://www.hostelworld.com/

I stayed in three different hostels on my last bike tour (pre-covid), but tour was primarily camping.

[leftpoole]

Is it still that one has to share rooms with unknown people?
If so-horrible. The appeal of a tent  (excellent choice) or a solo Bed and breakfast room sounds wonderful in comparison!

[PH]

I used to use them by preference, the cost was minimal, it wasn't hard to string enough together to make a tour, the buildings were often very individual and sometimes quirky, the hosts were mostly pleasant, the facilities (Laundry, drying room, kitchen, bike storage) were often better than any alternative...
it changed with the Foot & Mouth closures, I know it was struggling before, but that disaster caused a complete re-think.  If you look at the map now, there's clusters in popular tourist places, the National Parks, historic cities... and not much between.  I gave up about ten years ago, it became impossible to link enough together, the prices shot up, the exclusive whole hostel booking made many unavailable to individuals.  I could mix it up, but to me it makes less sense, if I'm carrying camping gear I may as well use it.
Occasionally I'll stay in a YHA as part of a group, on a fixed base long weekend with a club.  On my own I'll either camp, or hotel (Usually Tavelodge or Premier Inn), though I have looked at some private YHA rooms, where I'd maybe treat it as a hotel.  I've tried a few independents, they vary between fantastic and dreadful, unless someone has given me a recommendation, I won't take the chance.

[mickeg]

I mentioned above that I stayed at three hostels on my last bike tour.

The first, which was also the last for that trip, I wanted to stay indoors for my first few nights on an international trip.  That gave me a bit of time to buy groceries, get my bike assembled, do a little sightseeing, get a road map, and acclimate to a different time zone.  And in a hostel you are meeting other travelers that may have similar interests.  When you stay at a hostel you can be as social or as anti-social as you like.  And at the end of my trip, gave me a bit of time to pack up my bike, and relax before heading off to an airport in the morning on the day of my flight.

One hostel I stayed at on that trip was far from any good campgrounds, stayed there for one night, it has a very convenient location.

And the third hostel, I was looking for a place to camp over a holiday long weekend when all the campgrounds would likely be full, thus I expected to need reservations in advance.  But, I looked at the forecast first and saw five consecutive days of rain (it actually became six consecutive days of rain).  There was a hostel in a city with some tourist sites, so instead of camping in the rain for three nights, I stayed at a hostel.  Did some sightseeing, did some laundry, dried out some of my gear, etc. 

Over the years I have camped at some campgrounds that I would not return to again, but every hostel I stayed at is one that I would happily return to again.

That said, my experience is based on pre-covid conditions, I have no clue what the future will be for hostels, if they do not revert to something like their old operation I might not be so positive.

Photo below, the courtyard at the main hostel in Reykjavik where I started and finished my bike tour in 2016.  I would happily go there again.

   

[WorldTourer]

I don’t think COVID spelled the end for hostels in general, just an unlucky few. I have traveled a bit within Europe these last months (I have been fortunate that borders were open to where I wanted to go when I wanted to go), and I have noticed that many longstanding hostels are already bouncing back.

I still stay in hostels often for cost-saving reasons. Hostels were a good place for social interaction when I was younger. At the age of about 35 I noticed that my input to conversations in the common area was no longer wanted. The predominantly younger crowd already viewed me as not one of them. In fact, if you look at general travel forums popular with young backpackers, people commonly describe being creeped out when a solo male traveler 30+ decides to stay at their hostel; older male travelers don’t need to actually be weird or threatening, they are just creepy and disconcerting by default. So, these days I don’t socialize much at hostels unless I meet another older traveler like myself, or another cyclist.

[PH]

I still stay in hostels often for cost-saving reasons. Hostels were a good place for social interaction when I was younger. At the age of about 35 I noticed that my input to conversations in the common area was no longer wanted. The predominantly younger crowd already viewed me as not one of them.

I've only used a couple of city hostels outside the UK, for the UK YHA - if you take out the school parties, 35 is probably below the average age!  If they ever did cater for the young and short of funds it was before my time, they're largely populated by the well off middle classes who like the idea of roughing it while at the same time complaining if the wi-fi isn't the fastest... OK, showing my own prejudices
This used to be one of my favourites, Badby a small village on the outskirts of Daventry, right on the village green, just a couple of dorms, little (If any) car parking and certainly no coach park.  No particular tourist reason for it to be there, but some lovely cycling in the area and a pleasant day ride for me from home, long gone of course, doesn't fit the current business plan.  I'm not surprised, the half dozen times I stayed there it was never more than 30% full.
Badby YHA by Paul, on Flickr

[mickeg]

... Hostels were a good place for social interaction when I was younger. At the age of about 35 I noticed that my input to conversations in the common area was no longer wanted. The predominantly younger crowd already viewed me as not one of them. ...

I am 67, so I try to avoid those that are well under 35, as I find them quite boring.

[Rouleur834]

I am 67, so I try to avoid those that are well under 35, as I find them quite boring.
[/quote]

+1

[Matt2matt2002]

I am 67, so I try to avoid those that are well under 35, as I find them quite boring.

+1
[/quote]
+2
But there are more of us oldies around now.
And pretty soon we'll be near the majority.
Let's hear it for The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the three day week, the miners strike, polio, proper winters & summers, etc.

Best
Matt
A '53 model. That's 1953!

[PH]

I try and avoid boring people (in both senses) but haven't had much luck doing so on an age basis.

[tyreon]

Selfish,I know,but it was always good to get into a hostel with only yourself in residence. That,or just two other folk! You had the kitchen,common room,sleeping room...all to yourself. I like it that way with cinema and swimming pools too!

Like others here,I guess I am more inclined to be interested in people my own age: I am interested in their comings and goings and oftentimes backstories. Still,I like to see young folk around...just as long as theyr'e not noisy.

I always liked the more Nazi regimes in hostels(if I can say this here with humour): rules and regs(given some latitude),rule out any ideas of parties,would-be guitar players or loud past 10pm group talk some such. There's peace in dicatorships

At one point I had thought of volunteer management in some of the outta-the-way YHs,but by the time I was ready to volunteer the hostels were closing.

I guess there's young folk(and older folk)out there still doing YH and touring...its just that I have grown somewhat older!

My last stay in YHs was in Australia where there's still some old folk that use them between long trips. Then there's always a fair number of young European folk about: by average young German ladies.

I cant begin to comprehend staying in the hostels in using the Compostella route. Too crowded. Best use a tent. And I think I am past it now. But I would like to see the walkers and the cyclists...arriving and departing.

I dont know now how I came across B+Bs in small towns. I think I used to look on town hall noticeboards,or see them coming into towns...or ask passers by. I wonder if the folk who ran them have gone: their children wouldnt want to do the job? It was of its time.

[Mike Ayling]

Similar here Downunda. A lot of closures of the smaller hostels.
They used to have franchised operations originally called associate hostels, then they dropped the word associated but the same places/operators. I don't know whether the franchise fees were getting too high but there are very few now.
When I was a Venturer Leader in the nineteen nineties we did a cycle tour  in Tasmania through a chain of hostels 50 to 60 km apart. All gone now.
The trend now in Oz is for large (100 beds or more) in the Capital cities and the major tourist areas. Plenty of double/twin rooms, many with en suite and 6 to 8 bed dorm rooms. If we can't get an en suite room we tend to give the hostels a miss as I have to "drain the dragon" at least twice a night.As a couple we never  had any problem interacting with the young German ladies but I can understand that a single male could be viewed differently.
Mary and I stayed at Halls Gap (a big tourist area) and Port Fairy (franchise hostel also in a tourist area ) on a bike tour that we did about five years ago. Search for me at Cycle Blaze. It might be called "Using our free train tickets"
We now prefer caravan park cabins which have en suite and cooking facilities for our tours.
Re school parties. We were at Canberra YH A once and our room was next door to an eight bedder and some of the little scrotes spend a long time jumping off the top bunks onto the floor creating a lot of thuds making it impossible for us to get to sleep. Anyway in the morning we bailed up one of the teachers  who dragged the miscreants before us to apologise. I don't know what sanctions were involved but in my day a cane would have been involved.

Mike

[PH]

Re school parties. We were at Canberra YH A once and our room was next door to an eight bedder and some of the little scrotes spend a long time jumping off the top bunks onto the floor creating a lot of thuds making it impossible for us to get to sleep. Anyway in the morning we bailed up one of the teachers  who dragged the miscreants before us to apologise. I don't know what sanctions were involved but in my day a cane would have been involved.
Mike

In the UK, either due to paranoia or whatever the safeguarding regulations are, schools take over the entire hostel. That wasn't always the case, but it's a good few years ago that it changed.