U-Turn on Limited Means Concessions
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…
The latest Network Bulletin sent out to Hostel Managers contains the following section:
Pricing and Concessions
YHA will no longer offer concessions to members who are students, single parents or on low income from 1 October. We aim to offer all our customers the best possible price. Non-members will continue to pay a supplement (£3.00 for adults or £1.50 for U18’s)
This instruction now supercedes [sic] the note from Duncan Simpson dated 14th August.
Some managers have already stopped offering concessions in good faith based on previous communications and the introduction of the new pricing strategy, and this instruction aims to ensure that we all deal with the withdrawal of concessions in a consistent manner.
Any complaints from customers about the withdrawal of concessions should be reported to Natalie Mann, Head of Contact Centre, to ensure that the process of change is carefully managed and that we keep an oversight on the levels of concession refused.
We should explain carefully to any customers asking for concessions that:
- We offer the best possible prices to all with a particular focus on young people
- We support young people through our Breaks 4 Kids fund, which has been expanded sixfold this year
Alan Hopley, Director of Marketing and Corporate Affairs
Unlike the first time this was tried, YHA have remembered to remove the page describing the discounts available from the web site. Never mind, it can still be found in the Internet Archive:
Concessions for Members
YHA is happy to offer members who are young people, people of limited means, carers, or those aged over 60 years a concession of up to £3 on overnight prices.
Just bring along the relevant evidence and id if you’re a member and belong to one of the following groups:
- Students and young people not travelling as part of a group. You’ll need to show a valid ISIC, Euro<26, NUS, Connexions or a valid student identity card from their university.
- Adults not travelling as part of a group, who claim Unemployment Income Support or Job Seekers allowance.
- Disabled people claiming Disability Living Allowance, Disabled Persons Tax Credit and Severe Disablement Allowance.
- Carers who are in receipt of Carers Allowance.
- Older members over the age of 60 who are in receipt of Pension Credit.
One Parent Families
Our family rooms come at a range of prices, but the price is always lower for single parent families.
The timing of this decision could not be more bizarre. Just a few scarce weeks ago the Board proposed, and the AGM unanimously passed a motion stating: “This AGM calls on all parts of the YHA community to renew their commitment to the YHA’s charitable object”. The management have chosen to renew that commitment by charging people of limited means an extra three quid a night.
How one earth could they justify such a decision? There was no public statement about it at all, board members I’ve been in touch with were mystified, so I asked the YHA press office. Press officer Paul Fearn was able to enlighten me:
I’ve checked things out and you are correct in that YHA has ceased offering concessions for members who are students, single parents or on low income from 1 October. This is has been carried out for three main reasons:
- There has been a switch to a new flexible pricing policy within YHA which is aimed to ensure that all customers get the best possible prices we can offer at all times.
- The concessions were clumsy and complex, were not widely understood by customers and proved tricky to administer. For example, how do you get proof someone is a single parent?
- In a concerted effort to operate more closely in line with the YHA Charitable Object – which begins to help all, particularly young people of limited means – we are offering more and more financial assistance to young people from low income households through Breaks 4 Kids. This fund has been increased six-fold in the past 12 months and pays for up to 50 per cent of the cost of accommodation and food at YHA locations, ensuring these youngsters can join their friends on group trips.
I have to say, I find these arguments unconvincing. The YHA has offered concessions to its less well-off members for as long as I can remember. Why should the introduction of a supposedly “flexible” pricing policy make them “tricky to administer”? Surely you’d expect the opposite. Similarly, the concessions have only become “clumsy and complex” following the obfuscation of prices resulting from the new policy. In the old, inflexible days it was perfectly simple: hostels had two prices – full price and child/concession price. That was really easy for the hosteller to understand, and I don’t suppose it was all that difficult to administer either. If the new system really can’t cope with the idea of concessionary rates, let’s go back to the old system!
Now, Breaks 4 Kids is a wonderful initiative, I yield to nobody in my admiration for it. However it’s not the be-all-and-end-all of the YHA’s mission. It’s not enough to subsidise a few kids going on school trips, and then to screw as much money as possible out of everybody else. What about those children who don’t (for whatever reason) get the chance to go on a school trip? What about those who go, love it, and want to go again on their own? The YHA’s object is to help people “by providing Youth Hostels or other accommodation for them in their travels”. Note that – travels – that’s multiple trips though which you might develop “a greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside, and appreciation of the cultural values of towns and cities”. Breaks 4 Kids can only open the door to that kind of process, it’s not the whole deal.
Whatever the merits of this decision, I’m equally dismayed by the way in which it has been made and publicised (or rather not publicised). The only indication of this change in policy has been the quiet removal of the concessions page from the web site, and a few paragraphs in an internal document that members will not see (or at least they wouldn’t have done if I had not leaked it above!). YHA management clearly hope that nobody who was not entitled to these concessions will notice or complain about their passing. Well, sorry gents, but I’ve noticed and I’m complaining about it!
If, as a reader of this site, you feel the same way, you have a ready made opportunity to make your views heard. YHA Regional Councils will be having their AGMs over the next few weeks. Representatives of the Board of Trustees and of the management team will be there, why not go to quiz them about this issue? (Heck, why not go anyway?!). The meetings are taking place as follows:
- Northern Region AGM: 20 Oct in Newcastle
- Central Region AGM: 20 Oct at Lee Valley YH
- Wales AGM: 10 Nov at Conwy YH
- Southern Region AGM: 10 Nov at Bristol YH
Remember to take your YHA membership card along if you want to be able to vote.
Many tourist businesses and organisations offer a concessionary rate to those that need them, why should a charity specifically aimed at people of limited means fail to do so?
Related Pages
Powered by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
What do YHA mean by ‘Young People’? Do they mean school children, in which case the Breaks for Kids scheme is a good idea BUT it should not be the only way for disadvantaged youngsters to be able to afford hostelling. If YHA mean under 26 years of age, then this also includes the students (and possibly job seekers or even single parent families) who are now being denied the discount – in which case YHA is clearly contradicting itself by saying it helps young people… but at the same time not helping them!
YHA also state that flexible pricing “…is aimed to ensure that all customers get the best possible prices we can offer at all times.” – if you check the pricing at hostels you will find that some good offers are available, sometimes less than the advertised ‘From’ rates – however you will see that these offers are at times when the children / students should be at school / college, etc and so are not available to them. Also these prices increase for the weekend business back to or above the ‘From’ rates.
An up and coming potential threat, especially to those of limited means, is the probalilty of more hostels going to B&B inclusive pricing – whilst I appreciate that YHA has to make money to continue, taking more and more from its current customer base is not the answer!
hi,
is there any new news regarding this issue. i guess i will discover whether they have put the concession back in place today when i try to book a stay today. i have been hostelling since 1999 and due to the nature of my work i spend alot of time out of work. so i have used and needed the concession many times. in the last 3 years the yha has put overnight prices up by large percentages. no longer does a nights stay go up by around 50p per night, they now go up by 2,3 or even 4 pounds per night from one year to another. in 1999 a full adult stay at buttermere yh cost £9.15p. in 2008 the price will range from £19.95 to £21.95 per night. even taking into account that that now includes breakfast it is still a massive increase in the space of 9 years. people on a low income would rather self cater for breakfast and save 3-4 pounds off the night stay but dont have that choice.
so now we are losing the £3 concession on top of these massive price hikes? an explaination or perhaps excuse could be that the yha claims to have financial problems. if so it is down to being badly run because all the hostels i have stayed at have been mainly full most of the time. also take into account that if a 10 bedded room has 10 adults paying say £15 each then that is alot of money for one room. it is more than what alot of hotels ask for one room.
i normally have two long weekends and one week away at hostels each year. due to the high cost of staying at a hostel nowadays i may have to axe half of that because i simply cant afford to stay at youth hostels as often anymore.
I am a carer for a child whose disability means that she would be incapable – ever – of going on Breaks 4 Kids. The discount meant a lot to us, as we are (yes, you’ve guessed it) of limited means. When I read in this column that the discount for carers had been reinstated, I contacted YHA and yes, they confirmed that it had. I asked that they put the information back on their website because it’s bl–dy embarrassing trying to explain to a hostel manager over the phone that you get three quid a night off, having them question it, and then having to point out where it is (or isn’t, depending on which way the wind is blowing) on the website. They told me the details relating to the carer’s discount would go back on. A few weeks back I went to book an Easter break and, guess what – nothing on the website. Rather than feel like I’m applying for parish relief again, I looked elsewhere … and discovered I could get four nights in a chalet at Pontins with the children for LESS than it would cost to stay in one of the YHA’s super, improved, exciting, expensive, hotel-like youth hostels!
A PS to yesterday’s post: Have just discovered that the YHA is now putting a cardboard slip into the handbook reading “We no longer use the pricing bands in the Accommodation Guide. Instead we have introduced New flexible pricing. This means that you can find out the best rate at any time for any YHA accommodation by contacting us centrally” – and then there is the website reference and the 0870 telephone number.
How is one supposed to differentiate between an expensive hostel and a not-quite-so-expensive hostel when planning a trip? Not only is there now no way of finding a hostel when you’re on the road, but there is no way of finding out how much the YHA is likely to sting you for unless you telephone them on an 0870 number. Clearly this is meant to increase the amount of incoming telephone calls, for which they will receive an ever-increasing amount of ‘0870 money’! I would suggest that all members say they are non-members when booking hostels, and only when the price has been stated say that they are actually members and would like the £3 discount, please.
I look back fondly to the days when hostels were graded Simple, Standard, Superior and Special and a price given for each category – and when there was a little map showing the hostel location quite clearly. AND it was often difficult to get in to a hostel because it was so full of YHA members. So much for the YHA’s claim that membership was a bar to people going hostelling – people stopped hostelling because the YHA alienated its core market! Now the handbook omits vital information such as location and price to make space for puffery and marketing-speak.
Sorry I have gone a bit off-topic here but I cannot believe that the YHA is being so greedy as to stop the discount for carers.