YHAgroup.org.uk

According to a thread on the uk.rec.youth-hostel newsgroup, the offer of a free cup of tea or coffee on arrival at a hostel is no longer to be made. A memo has gone out to hostel managers stating that “we now, no longer provide free tea and coffee for guests on arrival, other than as part of pre-costed packages”.

Now, this seems a little counter-productive to me. It surely can’t cost a lot of money to provide a cup that cheers on arrival (in fact, if staff are really expected to keep track of and report how many teas/coffees were provided on arrival as opposed to at mealtimes, that probably costs more in staff time than the drinks themselves). In return, YHA presents a friendly, welcoming first impression to its guests. Like that old advert used to say: “you never get a second chance to make a first impression!” Picture the scene:

Warden

Welcome to the hostel. You look frozen, would you like a cup of tea or coffee?

Hosteller

Yes please, that would be brilliant!

Warden

That’ll be 50p then.

Hosteller

Oh.

Is the YHA a warm, friendly organisation eager to attract new people into the fold, or is it just another penny-pinching budget hotel chain looking to get people through the door with apparently low prices and then squeeze every last penny from them with optional extras? I fear we’re drifting towards the latter.

Now, this isn’t an issue that I’d go to the barricades about. After all, you can always make your own cuppa in the Members’ Kitchen if you don’t want to pay for one. I do wonder, though, if YHA’s zeal to “increase the food and beverage spend per overnight” has gone a little far this time?

Last month I reported that the discount offered to hostel users of limited means had been reinstated. I was quite pleased with myself - a couple of members reported the issue to me, I brought it up at Regional Council, the matter was brought up at the Board of Trustees, and the management agreed to reverse the decision. Hey, the system works! Or so I thought…

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As we all know, the YHA’s charitable objective begins “To help all, especially young people of limited means…”. An extensive reorganisation of the Association’s governance is under way to bring it more into line with these beneficiaries, but what are they doing to help them where it counts - in the wallet?

Back in the olden days it was simple: if you were a student, unemployed, disabled or a pensioner you paid the under 18’s rate for your overnights as set out in the handbook. Now it’s a lot more complicated.

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The new handbook’s been out for about a month now, so a review of it is long overdue. Here’s an overview of what’s in it, what’s no longer in it, and what needs to go back into the next one…

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A month ago the YHA published an update on the Governance Review project started last September. It told us that review leader Dr Andrew Purkis “has also started a ‘blog’ on the YHA website to invite wider conversation of the issues online”. Well, he hadn’t started it then, because the website was about to be replaced with a new design, and it’s only today that the dust has settled sufficiently on the changeover for Dr Purkis’ long-awaited blog to go live.

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Last week the YHA launched the latest version of its website. It’s already generated some discussion on the UK Hostelling news group , but here’s my take on “what’s hot and what’s not” in the new offering.

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The papers released after the Coalport meeting give a pretty good picture of the package on offer to affiliated hostelling groups. There is much in it to be welcomed, and the staff at Matlock should be congratulated on listening to some group concerns and acting upon them.

However, there are significant downsides to the current offering too, and even well established groups may be hesitating to sign up under the YHA banner next year. What follows is a breakdown of the main pros and cons of affiliation, please comment if you think I missed anything out…

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The debate about the relationship between Groups and YHA rages on with the groups (us) falling into two or three camps as usual!! Many seem to want to continue a relationship with YHA in which they can have, as regular and experienced hostellers, a say in the governance of YHA and would like to keep formal links with the “parent” body as they see it, with or without the name “YHA Local Group” involved. Others, maybe fewer, still see themselves a PART of YHA so agree with the above but even more strongly. some see themselves as independent, with some of the same aims as YHA (used to have?) but no interest in governance - although they do usually have an interest in countryside hostels and often, a specific hostel.

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Harrow and Wembley Group will not be coming to the Coalport meeting. Their reasons are expressed in an email to Crewenna Dymond from their Chairman, John Palmer, from which this is an excerpt:

We will not be attending as it is too far to come to Coalport for an event that has little value as the YHA does not listen nor need to listen to its local groups. As it does not appreciate the great potential for business advantage to be had from local groups assisting in membership recruitment and retention, it will have to develop in a different direction until or unless it eventually realises the advantages of adopting a Ramblers-like local groups model. We do not mind waiting for the YHA to come back to us in several years time when it realises the competitive advantages we can offer and the value of a test bed for new marketing ideas.

Can we afford to wait for the YHA? Can they afford to keep us waiting? Discuss.