Youth Hostel v Travel lodge

[Stagger]

After looking for a couple of days away at Feb half term in Cumbria prices as as fellows:-

Youth Hostels £54 to £67 family room per night

Travel lodge & Premier Inn both £29 family room per night

Why would I go in a hostel?

I think they may be losing the plot on pricing.

[DrPatrickBarry]

Does the hostel include breakfast? my guess is that it does. My family and I stayed at St Pauls down in London in the spring, it was great very happy with the price too.

[sore legs]

Does the hostel include breakfast? my guess is that it does. My family and I stayed at St Pauls down in London in the spring, it was great very happy with the price too.

There was a good central campsite at St Pauls too - excellent security.

[Hes]

I think it depends on what you want from your stay. In my experience, Travel lodges are great if you want clean basic facilities and privacy and don't mind the fact that they are often on a main road etc and, if you time it right, you can get some really good price deals. Hostels are far more sociable places, have areas to relax so you aren't stuck in your room, you can cook your own meals etc so you save money on dining out and you are more likely to meet interesting people. Both have their merits.

[Derby Tup]

I think it depends on what you want from your stay. In my experience, Travel lodges are great if you want clean basic facilities and privacy and don't mind the fact that they are often on a main road etc and, if you time it right, you can get some really good price deals. Hostels are far more sociable places, have areas to relax so you aren't stuck in your room, you can cook your own meals etc so you save money on dining out and you are more likely to meet interesting people. Both have their merits.

Hes has posted more or less what I was going to say. Travel Lodge is functional and YHA is much more likely to be 'fun', especially if you're staying alone

[Multiterrainer]

If you time it right both will have good price deals, unfortunately for Stagger on this occasion not during half-terms etc, with YHA being better value for individuals and Travelodge for families.

Even some of the Lakes hostels (Patterdale for example) had £10 a night deals midweek in Nov/Dec, as did other parts of the country - I stayed at Coalport (Ironbridge) Youth Hostel for a tenner on a Friday night en-route to South Wales the w/e before Christmas, and got a room to myself.

[cyclops]

I looked at YHA costs recently - Crowden. For the dates I put in just to check prices it was £10 per person per night....and I know that hostel has a couple of 1 bunk rooms, i.e. 2 beds. so for a couple it would be ideal. but, if you book as a male and female couple the price was £51 for the room. wheres the logic in that? I can see that hostels want to deter large groups of just males or females....but really?! And if I jumped on the equality bandwaggon how would they know if 2 females were in a 'relationship' or just friends? but that is not what this thread is about.

[gej]

For me one of the big pluses for hostels over travelodges is being able to get straight out onto the fells, rather than having to drive, find a parking place etc. I do agree though that the prices are getting a bit high - for a family of 4 going for a week it's often cheaper to hire a cottage.

[ZootHornRollo]

After looking for a couple of days away at Feb half term in Cumbria prices as as fellows:-

Youth Hostels £54 to £67 family room per night

Travel lodge & Premier Inn both £29 family room per night

Why would I go in a hostel?

I think they may be losing the plot on pricing.

The Premier Inn / Travelodge deal is obviously a special offer, not their rack rate.
YHAs don't really go in for that, so hard to compare - but I take your point, the former is likely to be more comfortable too.

I think where YHAs often have it over the competition is in their locations. Hard to beat places like the ones in Buttermere or Ennerdale or Elterwater, etc.
I have raised my eyebrows before at their prices (often now upwards of £20 for a bunk in a dorm) – but the reason they can get away with that is precisely because of the new demand from families and couples, who now use them for their holidays, and increasingly from big groups or companies or clubs on some sort of outdoors weekend away.
YHA know they can get people to pay that much. Supply, demand and the profit imperative.
It used to be schools, students, geography field trips, groups of hikers, solo hikers – and the odd cash-strapped family.
Not any more.
Much to my disappointment, as you can’t beat a bunch of noisy four-year olds running round the place to ruin the tranquillity.

[ZootHornRollo]

for a family of 4 going for a week it's often cheaper to hire a cottage.

well, there you go

they weren't really designed or intended for family holidays in the first place