YHA Selling a Third of its Hostels

[I like Skol]

As a bright young teenager, we did a week long Scottish trainspotting trip that included visits to Glasgow, Fort William, Kyle of Localsh, Inverness and Edinburgh amongst others (I'm sure I have missed some stopovers). All done by train travel and youth hostels. Fond memories (Isle of Skye before the bridge!) but I know that in today's world the same trip would be done without the YHA.

 

[Low Gear Guy]

Hostels are expensive these days - several times I've tried to book a night at Bath and it's been nearly £100 for a private room. How does that compete with Premier Inn? It can't.

Last time I stayed in Bath the quoted prices for Travelodge etc. were higher than YHA for the same date. The hostel had the benefit of drying room. To access the drying room required a visitor to ask in reception to be reluctantly loaned a key to an unmarked locked room. I had previously been in the middle of the Somerset Levels in the storm of the month.

Hostels do benefit from drying rooms and self catering kitchens but the marketing rarely mentions these.

 

[Mike_P]

.

I stayed in the Oban one before climbing Ben Nevis with my son. There were some 20 or so Australian miners who were there to do the same. Problem was they were out on the town the night before for beer and curry.

Sometimes communal rooms have their downsides

My overriding memory of YHAing in the 1980s was an Aussie who declared he was retiring and then carried on talking for ages. IIRC YHAs I used were Shrewsbury, Bala, Ffestiniog, Llanberis, Bangor and Chester on a cycling tour of North Wales and Aberdeen, Inverness, Crianlarich, Stirling and Ayr on a Scottish rail rover

 

[PeteXXX]

If you want a basic Hostel, no idea if it still exists, but Mr A's in the Arab Quarter of Old Jerusalem was more basic than a basic place in the mid '70's.
Shared facilities (there were barely any anyway!) were the order of the day.. I doubt it would have passed any kind of inspection..

Exceptionality cheap, though!! 😂

 

[Jameshow]

Last time I stayed in Bath the quoted prices for Travelodge etc. were higher than YHA for the same date. The hostel had the benefit of drying room. To access the drying room required a visitor to ask in reception to be reluctantly loaned a key to an unmarked locked room. I had previously been in the middle of the Somerset Levels in the storm of the month.

Hostels do benefit from drying rooms and self catering kitchens but the marketing rarely mentions these.

Don't leave your brooks saddle in the drying room overnight DAMHIK!! Ouch!!

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon,

I just went and had a quick look at the YHA annual report and it all became clear. https://www.yha.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/PDFs/annual-report-2022.pdf

They've got 13 employees costing them around a £1m in salaries, in other words it's a hotel chain, a proper business that manages to retain charitable status.

Add to this the 500ish FTE employees, which Indeed, a very big recruitment site, estimates at

Bye

Ian

 

[Jameshow]

Good afternoon,

I just went and had a quick look at the YHA annual report and it all became clear. https://www.yha.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/PDFs/annual-report-2022.pdf

They've got 13 employees costing them around a £1m in salaries, in other words it's a hotel chain, a proper business that manages to retain charitable status.

View attachment 696300
Add to this the 500ish FTE employees, which Indeed, a very big recruitment site, estimates at
View attachment 696301
Bye

Ian

Is that a particularly high renumeration for a CEO / FO etc of a 500 head company?

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon,

Is that a particularly high renumeration for a CEO / FO etc of a 500 head company?

Clearly not and this is the argument that councils, universities etc. use completely avoiding the issue that the roles are completely different.

As the CEO, a pompous title given the role anyway, came from a County Council https://www.yha.org.uk/about-yha/executive-team it not surprising that there is a well paid management layer and this on the same page.

Surely they are not saying please give us money to pay my salary and at some point the question of is this a business or a charity? needs asking.

If the YHA wants to drop its charitable status then what it does with its own money would be its own affair, of course if it did it would lose a lot of its goodwill.

Tricky to go much further as we will end up in NACA territory.

But look at this on the volunteering page, my bold
Volunteer Painters (Experience Required) - YHA Youlgreave - June to December 2023
YHA Youlgreave are looking for professional painters to support them in renovating the hostel.
Painting will mainly be across bedrooms, bathrooms and corridors.
Experience is essential- We're specifically looking for volunteers who are industry/ex-industry, professional painters.

or on the donations page

Having £100 and £250 as implied normal amounts is pretty brazen, that is still a lot of money for a lot of people.

Bye

Ian

 

[Dogtrousers]

Tricky to go much further as we will end up in NACA territory.

Yeah, and as I know zip about the hospitality/accommodation business I'll stick to misty eyed musings about sheet sleeping bags and eccentric wardens

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

When my daughter was young my daughter was born my ex and I went somewhere on holiday with her
We were looking for somewhere to stay and tried the YHA hostel - they had a family room available

but it was significantly more expensive that the local hotels!!!

so we ended up at a Premier Inn

weird

 

[presta]

Hostels do benefit from drying rooms and self catering kitchens but the marketing rarely mentions these.

Drying rooms are becoming a thing of the past. Nowadays you're more likey to get a a walk-in cupboard with a washing machine & drier at £2 a throw, with no sink, and little or no space for hanging clothes.

Roomy kitchens are being taken over for other uses too, with a pokey broom cupboard serving the function instead. (eg York)

 

[wiggydiggy]

Winchester was one of the very first hostels in the country[.]

This one? https://youthhostelsguide.com/hostels/view/185

I've stayed there for a few nights 30+ years ago, very interesting building that straddled the river. I have a VHS tape that someone did on their home video camera, really need to convert that to a modern format.

Rear garden, surrounded by water this and great place.

 

[presta]

This one? https://youthhostelsguide.com/hostels/view/185

I've stayed there for a few nights 30+ years ago, very interesting building that straddled the river. I have a VHS tape that someone did on their home video camera, really need to convert that to a modern format.

Rear garden, surrounded by water this and great place.


View attachment 696344

Yes, it was a nice little hostel. Gone now, like lots of others.

 

[grldtnr]

Yes, it was a nice little hostel. Gone now, like lots of others.

That was Winchester City Hostel, an old water mill, a very character full building, I stayed there enroute to the South to see the Eclipse 24 yes ago, probably one of the last to stay before it was closed, a simple YH in the middle of Winchester.
That's what I miss about hostels, you can keep your modern knock off Quasi premier inns or Travelodges, if you really want to feel it's an adventure, then that was the way to do it

Incidentally, I have now cancelled my membership, seems Stoopid paying for something you cannot use, besides which there is very little benefit for membership, a paltry £1.50 discount!
Yes ,things change , but it was up to the trustees to change too, rather than chase the dollar!

 

[presta]

I stayed there enroute to the South to see the Eclipse 24 yes ago, probably one of the last to stay before it was closed

I stayed there on 8th & 26th June 2001, it closed in September 2005.
Interesting YHA archive here.