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Family Hostels

The Ideal Hostel

Josh started this discussion 16 years 4 months ago

There is some talk on the Web about "family hostels". Hostelbookers mention family hostels here and here. This is a list of Hostelbookers "popular family-suited hostels:"

Hostel Meyerbeer Beach, Nice
Lybeer Travellers Hostel, Bruges
Stayokay Vondelpark, Amsterdam
Andonov Family B&B, Bulgaria
Sydney Beachhouse YHA, Sydney
Meininger City Hostel & Hotel, Vienna
Hostel Heart of Tuscany, Florence
Meininger City Hostel & Hotel, London

Hostelling International has a page about family hostels that says:

"...what makes a good family hostel? Many hostels feature special "family rooms", often with en-suite facilities. There are also comfortable lounges, gardens, play areas, activity programmes, barbecues and even swimming pools - plus cafeterias, laundry and drying facilities too. "

The hostels I've worked in typically discouraged families from staying there. Two of the hostels were basically "18 years old or older", especially in shared dorms.

What do you think?

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Scotch Argus

16 years

I think for ourselves families are a real potential source of business. If you're a bit off the tourist route it can be hard to attract the young backpacker crowd. If somehow one of the party crowd end up here they are often shocked by the lack of pub/nightclub/fast food/anything to do. But we are rurally located and getting away from it all is supposed to be a draw.

I think if it's done right then families can really benefit from a hostel's facilities. If you stay at a hotel with kids you often end up stuck in your room - there may be only a bar there which might not make kids welcome. Kids love coming to a place with a common room/ dining area etc that they can run around in - and still be able to kick a football around outside while the parents can supervise.

I guess the problem can be one of the short season - usually co-incides with school holidays only. Most families we get in seem to enjoy themselves though - had one extended family in an 8 bedded dorm last night, they had a ball. Though I didn't vacuuming the carpet this morning!

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santa klaus

16 years

It depends what sort of family you talk about, i.e. what age the kids are.

Mine are 2 and 4 - most downtown hostels where space is scarce arenot really an option. The children need space.

We have stayed in a YHI hostel in Stockholm - it was good for us and there were many other families. I could read in the faces of the backpackers how uncool they found all the children running around. :D

I´m not sure if I would stay in a hostel on the countryside, because farmstays abd B&B´s are usually very cheap too. I would if there was nothing else available but then when you travel with family you usually plan that far ahead so there´s always something available.

I don´t think families are a significant potential for hostel.

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Scotch Argus

16 years

I can only speak for the UK, but if you're a family on a budget you can save a lot by staying in a hostel. A B&B will cost about £20-£25 per person in this area. If you can get one for £20 that willl be £80 for 4. A family room for four should be around £50, sometimes less. The next problem is that they're almost invariably doubles and twins - sometimes triples - so you may be split up. You get breakfast of course which is an advantage, but you'll have to go out for dinner, which is going to cost £15 - £20 for fast food or £40 or more for a restaurant. If you cook in self catering facilities at a hostel your food bills are significanly lowered.

I guess it depends on your budget, but I think there are great opportunities for family business at hostels. Personally I wouldn't imagine taking kids to a party type hostel in the city, but the smaller rural ones can be a real adventure for the kids - as well as getting them interacting with people from all sorts of countries.

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santa klaus

16 years

I see your point.

I don´t have much clue about the accomodation situation in rural UK.

We (= me, the Mrs and the girls) have been in Spain, Italy and Sweden recently. We always stayed on farms, where we had a separate house with two bedrooms, a kitchen with laundry machine, in Sweden even with own sauna and motor boat! The price per week for these houses was around € 300 in Italy and Spain, € 550 in Sweden.

So - even the luxury version in Sweden was not more expensive than a hostel family room in the UK.

Of course staying in a rural hostel is a cool adventure for children from a big city, but be honest: it can´t beat real animals and watching how they are fed, milked, ... and slaughtered! :D

The YHI hostel in Stockholm was good because it was not right in the center, but in a park with a huge playground, it had underground parking and a huge courtyard where the kids could play, too. All of that is nice for families, but at best irrelevant for anyone else, so I wouldn´t build a hostel around any specific "family needs".

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Scotch Argus

16 years

Certainly for a weekly stay here in the UK you could do a lot better than a hostel - a 6 bed self contained chalet down the road from here would be £300 a week in the mid season - June etc - gets more expensive in July August. Would be cheaper than staying in a hostel for a week for sure. Most of the families we have would be 1 or 2 nights - they're usually British or from other western European countries travelling about for a couple of weeks.

I agree farmstays are an excellent option for a family - the only problem I've had with them in Italy was that they aren't always all inclusive - we had electricity, gas and a cleaning surcharge added on when we left - probably just inexperience on our part. Related to another hotel thread started today, I really hate it when charges are added on at check-out - to me the price you are quoted should be the price you pay.

From a business point of view I think it's just a matter of addressing a market you wish to target. We're a hostel, but if we relied just on tradional young backpackers we wouldn't be very busy. Most of them don't make it far out of the cities except on organised tours around here.

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santa klaus

16 years

You´re right about the surcharges, they make me mad, too. Cleaning surchargs are pretty normal though.

As long as the kids are still so small, we rather stay at one place for two weeks, just because you need so much stuff for them and they are still zero help with packing or carrying the stuff.

When they are bigger i figure rural hostels are a good option, too. There are very few of these here though.

Mind though, hostels are a well-known accomodation type in the UK, but not on the continent. Even most young people here don´t know independent hostels exist (YHI has a pretty bad reputation here) and even if they do most would never consider to stay in one. Germans really take their privacy seriously. Hence, older folks seem to be a hopeless target group IMHO.

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aboriginalhostel

16 years

IMHO, family hostels are not a potential market group yet.

Families DO REQUIRE a lot of privacy, the kids are sensitive for any noisy environment and it could only work in a private, ensuite setup. It is hard to set up in a (youth) hostel, where all the young crowd (the mainstream) stays. A guesthouse would be a better option for families, although nothing is impossible. ;)

For example, all our private rooms are apartments in the same building, which offers more privacy and makes less involved with the crowd, but still you can reach the hostel facilities anytime. I've also seen some interesting setups at Sir Toby's and Ruthensteiner's, where actually the private rooms are making a complete wing of the hostel.

This is whats called: Feeding the goat but saving the cabbage! ;)

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Scotch Argus

16 years

I can totally see the point about attracting families if you're in a major European city - they certainly aren't going to interact with a party crowd. If you're in a place that doesn't attract the young party types you might have to spread your net a bit wider though. Maybe get a couple of goats.

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