When I was a child I remember my parents taking me and my sister to Germany, Ireland, etc and all over western Europe. I also remember staying in "Family rooms" in hostels along with many other families with young children. They were very nice, cheap but peaceful places. Do these still exist?
It seems hostels are no longer geered toward "youth" and families, but to drunk college kids. I recently had the awful experience of staying at a hostel (we won't name names) in France where there were drunks coming and going all night long. Not to mention it sounded like there was a party going on in one of the rooms with music so loud, none of us could sleep. I understand the desires of the young adult
(I was once one too), but please, get a private hotel room where you wont be disrupting peoples sleep. Have some common courtesy!Ok, that was my vent. Really, do "real" hostels still exist?
What do you think?
16 years
LOL! There seem to be a lot of definitions what a "real" hostel is. I assume those drunk college kids in Paris thought their hostel was a "real" one, too.
That said, I think there would be great potential for family-friendly budget hotels. Apparently, they don´t exist.
16 years
The TT thread has some more posts:
"Maybe I'm way off. I just remember (late 70's to mid 80's) that youth hostels were generally occupied by "youth". Youth meaning: 0 to 18."
Maybe they expected an HI/YHA hostel, but ended up at an independent hostel where people were drinking...
It's an interesting thread to me because I've never worked at a hostel that allowed anyone under 18 (without a parent and in a private room).
16 years
YHA hostels (which is all there were then) in the late 50s and 60s were mainly for individuals or small groups who were actively interested in the countryside. They also took "school journey parties" who were either well or badly behaved. They would never have a group booking the whole hostel.
Almost all the hostels were in the countryside or in small towns and cities such as Keswick, Lincoln, Exeter. You were not allowed to travel by private vehicle (ie you parked your car out of sight of the hostel) but public transport was better then. I travelled on my own before I was 18, and certainly in groups or pairs from 14. But that was only in our own country.
Scotland allowed vehicles from the early 60s. I remember feeling a bit disgusted, on a cycling tour of Scotland in 1963, carrying all our stuff, when a family spread a TABLECLOTH on the good honest hostel table!
Then in a gradual process, they transformed such as to take families, and gradually increased their presence in the main cities. Gradually since then, they became more and more commercially minded, and moved towards being, yes Klaus, family-friendly budget hotels, with family rooms as well as dorms, and encouraged meals by making their kitchens worse, and set up little tables in the dining rooms to encourage privacy, which families always want (well, hoteliers and YHAs think so!), and because youngsters always want TV, placed a big TV in their common room to reduce interaction. The old-fashioned wardens who loved their hostel (although sometimes they ruled it with a rod of iron), turned to helpful but rather remote managers who stayed at their desks.
I first stayed at an independent hostel in 1992 (in Brugge), and I remember being struck by how friendly and sociable everybody was.
Until the mid 2000s the YHA maintained "small hostels" run by enthusiast volunteer wardens which kept the old-fashioned ethos and were very friendly. But these do not fit the current business plan, in that they can make a lot more money by selling them, so there's very few left.
16 years
LOL! There seem to be a lot of definitions what a "real" hostel is. I assume those drunk college kids in Paris thought their hostel was a "real" one, too.
That said, I think there would be great potential for family-friendly budget hotels. Apparently, they don´t exist.
I am currently trying to open a budget minded lodge for families in Santa Monica, Calfornia. I also will gear it towards young travelers who dont want to be in a hostel filled with drunks who are making too much noise. So, will let ya know when its opened. :}
15 years
I wish more hostels were less "party dirty hostels".
Our main idea when starting Kapake was to raise standards and relax!!!
I do know, party dirty are making a buck though!
15 years
I first stayed at an independent hostel in 1992 (in Brugge), and I remember being struck by how friendly and sociable everybody was.
Which one was that? :)
15 years
Snuffles.
I stayed at the Lybeer's, but visited all hostels in the city and I remember Snuffel well. They are very kind indeed. The place was very relaxed and well done, one of the best ones in Bruges! :cool:
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