YHA UK Hostels in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales
Introduce Your Hostel
Hi all
I run a stunning range of Hostels in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales situated amongst some of the most stunning scenery here in the UK.
Yorkshire Dales here ----> http://bit.ly/aIm8K4
Lake District here ----> http://bit.ly/amZKRi
I would like to connect with people in the international backpackers market to share ideas and views.
Please be aware my views and opinions are purely my own and not that of the YHA England and Wales.
- Comments
14 years
Thank you for clarifying your original message. I agree with you that many of the YHA's hostels are among stunning scenery. But what do you mean by "I run..."? The YHA runs these hostels. If you are not representing YHA, are you employed by them? Or do you run a website that links to them?
I run the site www.uktrail.com, which is directed to international backpackers and features all hostels in those areas. For hostels registered with Hostelbookers, I offer visitors a booking service. I have asked the YHA if I could set up a similar arrangement with them. The YHA are clearly not interested, as they did not bother to reply.
14 years
I think to appeal to the international backpacker market you have to offer a a range of activities for them. Backpackers now see a hostel as much more than a place to sleep, but also as somewhere that will have such things as local pub crawls, themed nights in the hostel, video (DVD?) nights, perhaps walking tours in outdoor areas. They will also expect that such activities will be either free or with a really modest charge. You also need to concentrate on the facilities in the hostel. They will want such things as free wifi, probably free internet as well (or very cheap), things to facilitate a good atmosphere in the hostel, such as musical instruments, video games and such. When deciding on these sort of things it would be a good idea to ask any backpackers you do get exactly what they want - either face to face or having a questionnaire that they can fill in. You can also use the pages here to get ideas, and one good resource is to go over reviews of hostels on hostelworld - look for those things mentioned in a positive light - these are the experiences that stick in the customers mind.
The hard part (in my experience) is that the YHA is a member based organisation, and a lot of the members do not want any of these activities that attract young backpackers. I'd go so far as to say that if you have backpackers standing on the chairs in the dining room singing Bohemian Rhapsody whilst drinking strong liquor, you'll have a number of complaints to national office in the next few days. Even less noisy activities will not fit in with what some of the membership want. The other problem is cost. Backpackers don't want to pay a lot for activities/ facilities, and national office don't want to give out money to fund things - especially things that they personally don't like. Obviously I have no idea what your arrangement is - if you have some places that are "quarantined" and set aside for this purpose, and a budget to go with it I could see how it could work.
Probably the most important thing is to have the people working there who are positive about attracting backpackers - obviously fellow travellers fit into this niche. It must be more than a few beanbags, a playstation and a "funky" picture. Youth orientation by committee rarely works! Good luck.
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