Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Men coming into a family room at Youth Hostel!

64 replies

newdocket · 26/04/2017 09:57

Weekend before last we (family of 5) booked a family room at a youth hostel for two nights. Room was noisy due to generator attached so on morning after the first night we asked if we could swap rooms. Looked at other room, same problem, so took the key back to reception and told the manager we'd stay put.

Cut to second night, we're all asleep (about half 10) when a man lets himself into the room and prepares to sit down on my bed and eat a plate of sausages! DH suggests he's in the wrong room. He grunts and leaves. DH goes to reception, explains what has happened and is assured that this mix up won't happen again, they are so sorry, etc.. But lo and behold, an hour later another man lets himself in! He is mortified. DH goes to reception and they apologise (although acknowledge that the key was given to this man after they knew about the first cock up). Youngest DS is still talking about it and scared of men coming into his room at night.

Is this just 'one of those things' or am I within my rights to ask for a refund?

OP posts:
halcyondays · 26/04/2017 10:42

And only over 16s can stay in a dorm on their own, between 11 and 16, they can stay in a dorm with a parent.

FeedTheSharkAndItWIllBite · 26/04/2017 10:42

Orlantina

I've insisted on using youth hostels until (last year) we had DD...

We don't have a housing issue or drug problems. But you do tend to encounter lovely and interesting people. Some of them are looking for work (met a lovely Australian cook, for example, a few years ago).

And anyhow, in my experience the security in most youth hostels is actually really good...

(I once had something stolen in a hotel. But never in a youth hostel...)

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 26/04/2017 10:52

'I wouldn't take my family into hostels at all OP. They're not what they used to be. Once they were full of rosy cheeked hikers. Now they're often used by people with housing issues and sometimes drug problems.'

I don't know what hostels you are talking about but I can assure you that does not describe the YHA.

HerOtherHalf · 26/04/2017 10:53

It's all just part of the Youth Hostel experience. Yes, the night staff should not have given out the wrong key but it's the YHA not some international 4-star hotel chain. What galls me is not that you're miffed but that your question is should you push for a refund. All about the money!

The YHA is a fantastic resource for those who want affordable no-frills accommodation. Most people who use it accept it has limitations, indeed that is part of the charm, and are grateful it manages to keep going despite all the pressures it faces. Maybe you should stick to hotels in future, though your kids will actually be far better off in the long run if you just embrace the hostel mentality.

2014newme · 26/04/2017 10:57

Yha youth hostels ate full of middle class families, including me, boden and North Face as far as the eye can see.

You are getting mixed up with homeless hostels. Drug addicts and homeless could not afford yha, they are more expensive than premier inns!

But we love staying in unusual locations so they suit us.

In this case it was a reception error. I've been given a key to an inhabited room in a hotel before.

Kobieta · 26/04/2017 10:59

I have a gadget which I can us on any door to stop someone, even with a key, from getting in - it's marketed as useful for backpackers who don't know who might else have a key to their hostel room.

grannytomine · 26/04/2017 10:59

Happened to me but I was the one walking into someone's room and in wasn't a hostel but a hotel, well known chain. It was mortifying and scared me for life as they weren't sleeping and the man appeared to be in a man sized babygro and well I'll leave it to your imagination but after working vice squad I thought I was beyond being shocked.

Original poster
newdocket · 26/04/2017 11:03

I don't think it was possible to do anything to the lock. It was one of those doors that has a lock on the outside only and once you are in it locks iyswim, you can't do anything on the inside as it doesn't even have a lock on the inside.

I should have written things differently in my OP, it isn't about the 'men' or the 'refund' but really about the invasion of privacy and the fact that it happened twice in an hour, which felt incompetent.

OP posts:
FeedTheSharkAndItWIllBite · 26/04/2017 11:04

It's all just part of the Youth Hostel experience.

that's just not true. I currently don't want to go a youth hostel because... Idk, the whole nappy changing/high chair thing and prefer going to a hotel or renting a house/apartement.

But this is honestly not part of the YHA experience. At least not in my experience.
Not all youth hostels are family friendly (there are some that cater more to backpackers etc) but they are in my experience still clean and safe places. And something like this has never happened to me.

corythatwas · 26/04/2017 11:08

It was the kind of mistake that could equally have happened in a hotel. In fact, it has happened to me in a hotel. Also on a ferry and (in the days when you could do this) in a train sleeper carriage. Human error.

cdtaylornats · 26/04/2017 11:08

I suspect it was a communication problem, they thought you had moved rooms but as you had changed back it hadn't filtered through.

Get over it.

halcyondays · 26/04/2017 11:09

I would hope it's not all part of the experience. I would be annoyed by it happening twice. And when I looked into pricing, it was reasonable during the week but much higher at weekends, so we booked a nice B&B which was cheaper and includes breakfast (obviously)

ArtemisiaGentilleschi · 26/04/2017 11:12

Meh.
I was given the wrong key to a hotel room at Christmas and barged in on a sleeping bloke.
I went downstairs and got the right key.
Should have started a salacious thread.

5moreminutes · 26/04/2017 11:13

The youth hostel reception messed up, by all means write a polite complaint letter to ask them to be more careful in future.

We stay in youth hostel family rooms fairly often as abroad they are ensuite usually and a good option families with more than two children who don't want to split into two rooms. That has never happened to us. I think you were just unlucky.

UppityHumpty · 26/04/2017 11:15

Was it a YHA hostel? If not you get what you pay for I'm afraid.

IloveBanff · 26/04/2017 11:18

I suppose if was so dark that they couldn't see there were people in the beds, you're lucky neither of them got into bed with you or any of your family.

CountryCaterpillar · 26/04/2017 11:18

I've looked up a family room at a yha at random and it costs more than a premier Inn would. Id have been tempted to rough it if it cost less!!

5moreminutes · 26/04/2017 11:21

Youth hostels have high chairs Feed - they're really family oriented now.

They have so much more communal space than hotels - often a fully equipped kitchen you can use and playrooms full of board games and table top games, and kids under 10 generally eat free or for next to nothing. I find youth hostels less stressful than most hotels with kids. Premier inns are ok but kids have to share beds and they don't have rooms for 5 if DH is with us. More up market hotels kids have to be on such a tight reign it isn't relaxing.

Orlantina · 26/04/2017 11:25

YHA's are great - the kitchen really helps and there is a family feel to the place. You can meet loads of people and there's freedom to roam. Kids can be kids, play with other kids.

LaContessaDiPlump · 26/04/2017 11:26

Loving EVIL PENIS CREATURES Solid Grin

SameProcedureAsEveryYear · 26/04/2017 11:27

Just saying... but in a hotel a thing like this could happen too...

I was at a conference and checked into a basic business hotel near the venue. Got the key-card and went up to the room. To my big surprise there was already an unpacked bag on the bed and someone in the shower.
I left immediately and don't think whoever was in there noticed me... Reception was very apologetic and blamed a computer error. Got a better room as "compensation" but I still put a chair inside the door just in case someone ran into the same computer error.

FeedTheSharkAndItWIllBite · 26/04/2017 11:27

5more

Maybe I should reconsider.

I guess I just never thought about high chairs etc before having DD. And after DD I probably just kind of assumed they wouldn't have them... (which is probably silly).

AsthmaQ · 26/04/2017 11:34

Youth hostels are commonly used as temporary accomodation for anyone that needs it via the council. I've just lived in one for 6 weeks and I would say that there was a 40% council housed and 60% regular travellers.

I guess the bigger concern was how did they have access to your room? Had reception given them keycard access - that's a pretty stupid thing to do if so - it puts the safety of everyone at risk potentially.

Was this hotel in North London?

AsthmaQ · 26/04/2017 11:35

YHA hostels are no longer viewed as the best. There's plenty of better options including the Boutique hostels and Safestays.

Blimey01 · 26/04/2017 11:35

Yha work well for hose staying in shared dorms. I used to love going to with my family but over the last few years they have become expensive for a family room. It's a joke! £100+ for bunk beds, rubbish mattress and a crap sleep due to noisy doors, generators, toilets etc. You can stay in hotels for less and get a breakfast thrown in.
I stayed in a shared room a few months ago with some friends and the same thing happened. A girl let herself in and claimed a bed even though we had paid extra for the whole room. Just a mistake that was cleared up but i would be furious if it happened twice in one night with some bloke eating sausages!🙄 A hotel wouldn't get away with it so why should they?
I would definitely complain and ask for a partial refund.