The Ideal Hostel?
Writing in the Lonely Planet blog, Mark Broadhead is musing on what facilities a modern hostel should have. He reckons that…
In an ideal world, every hostel would…
- Be clean
- Have no more than 4 beds per dorm
- Have en suite bathrooms
- Be safe, with personal lockers
- Have an outdoor and indoor communal area, preferably containing a ping-pong or foozball table
- Pick me up from the airport or bus/train station by minivan
- Have a large communal kitchen
- Have a small bar at nights serving cheap local beverages
- Have a laundry room
- Have private bedrooms (for those tired of dorms)
- Have a swimming pool (if necessary)
- Have computers with internet access
- Have free wi-fi
- Be run by some friendly local staff
- Be close to (or in) the city or in an interesting suburb/national park
- Have someone on reception 24 hours a day
…and, finally, it should charge (at the very most) half the price that a night at a nearby, respectable, budget hotel would cost.
It’s quite a list, and one directed more at the international backpacking hosteller than the domestic hikers that we represent, but it’s food for thought. YHA are currently engaged in a process of “segmentation” – deciding what facilities different types of hostel ought to have, though they don’t appear to have asked the membership what they’d like.
So, now’s your chance, what do you think should be in an ideal hostel? What do you think should be in all of them?
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And before anyone asks Self catering kitchens and secure cycle storage on on the must have list for all hostels.
From the bits I’ve seen it’s mostly about how extensive a meals service e.g. cafe (i.e. no set meal times), full meals (but at set times), breakfast and evenings only, self catering only; or should beds be made up for you or do you have to make your own; all day opening or more limited. Nothing very contravsersial and I can’t see anything leading to a lowering of facilities available in any hostel.
It’s more about making sure that users have a better idea of what to expect at any particular hostel e.g. they don’t go from London Central (24 hr a day etc) to Telscombe and be disappointed to find that a) you can’t get it until 5 pm and b) it’s self catering only.
“they don’t appear to have asked the membership”. I must totally disagree. Southern England Regional Council spent a good few hours in one meeting at YHA Arundel in 2009 discussing and feeding back what should and should not be in each segment. That is exactly what regional governance is for. If Central England Region (or others) did or did not do this is a matter for their regional officers, you should ask them Chris.
i agree with 1,7,14,15 and 16 and none of the rest listed. in my opinion they should relook at pricing as i think they are starting to charge more than they should. the flexi pricing certainly should go. they should also bring back the concession for people with limited means. they should provide a full meal service and have a self catering kitchen. remote hostels should sell some basic none perishable food stuffs at least, things like tinned food. black sail and buttermere used to do this and then stopped. the purpose is obviously to blackmail people who have forgot something into buying the hostel meal. this happened to me once at buttermere.i refused to be blackmailed and went to the pub instead. regarding beds i would like them to either return to the sheetbag bedding or have the beds ready made. i say this because the new bedding is a pain.
I’m surprised that en suite bathrooms are on the list at all as these are a real pain when sharing with strangers (though they’re OK for families, which of course are now the YHA’s target market). As soon as someone gets in the shower, the toilet is unavailable for everyone else. Without going too deeply into it, the dorm can get rather smelly and noisy. This mad rush to put in en suites and market them as a luxury didn’t cut any ice with me, I’m afraid. There was nothing wrong with the good old toilet and shower block.
Marie – you didn’t read it did you. It’s one bloggers personal wishlist not a policy statement by YHA or any other association.
Yes, I did read it. I was just surprised that Mr Broadhead likes en suites as I have heard a lot of negative comments about them.
i agree that en suites are bad. i have only stayed in a room that had en suite once. as soon as you turn on the light the noisy extraction unit kicks in and continues for a while after the light is turned off. you can imagine how annoying it is for people trying to sleep.
@Karl: I chose my words carefully. We discussed this at Central Region too (that’s how I know it’s happening), but has anything been done to address the wider membership?
I don’t personally have a problem with en suites – they have both plusses and minusses compared to washrooms in my view – but share Mark’s ire towards noisy extractor fans. I found a particularly bad one on a recent stay at Ravenstor: the dorm had a fan which came on (for ages) after you switched off the light – i.e. exactly when you want a bit of peace in which to sleep!
Regional Governance is there for all YHA members to feed into YHA policy discussions – including segmentation. YHA members can vote for regional representatives (or stand to be one themselves) at regional AGMs to work towards the interests of all. Co-option vacancies may be available in some regions right now. Your article is still simply wrong Chris. If you feel your region is not representing all members views you should do something to renew your regional council membership.
“YHA are currently engaged in a process of “segmentation” – deciding what facilities different types of hostel ought to have” – isn’t that exactly what they did a quareter of century ago as their PDMP ( Product Development and Marketing Plan ) ?
Quite possibly, but what’s wrong with doing it again? Judging from the comments of some round here they obviously didn’t get it right last time!
If my memory serves me correctly, many hostels didn’t neatly fall into one usage sector and the scheme proved too expensive and didn’t generate the expected revenue such that it was abandoned long before all hostels had been PDMP’d with many of them sold off so that improvement work could continue to be carried out on the remaining ones.
Anyway, lessons will no doubt have been learnt from then and I’m sure we will all wish the YHA well with its latest process of segmentation.
Different types of hostel???? What’s all this about? Why isn’t this on the main YHA website if you want ordinary members to be consulted, not just those ‘in the know’. I just want a hostel in a place I want to go to (stop closing them down)with the facilties I need either as a solo traveller or with friends: that includes self catering as well as meals, a basic shop that sells foodstuffs not just crisps, chocolates and fizzy pop for the kids(essential for us backpackers and cyclists who don’t want to carry Sainsbury’s on our backs). I’m happy enough to share non ensuite facilities but would be glad to have more bed options – a mix of dorms, doubles (amazing when my husband and I travel together we like to share a bed), twins, quad rooms, the latter with proper beds not bunks – many contiental hostels seem to be able to offer a variety of rooms like this without charging hotel prices. In short recognise that your customers are a mixed bunch who may like the same sort of locations – once you start thinking that only one type of customer wants a certain location you are doomed.
It’s not about different types of hostels but stating what facilities you can expect at a group of hostels. e.g. all day check in might be ok for Central London but not at Alfriston
i agree with red grouse! i wonder why the yha are incapable of the same level of common sense.
You’re not listening are you. It’s not about different hostels for different customers. It’s about making sure ALL customers are aware of the general level of facilities available at a given hostel so that there expectations are more likely to be met.