To want a female only dorm in a bunkhouse?

[Firefightress1]

Im doing a long walk next month in the highlands of scotland. Accomodation is limited to hostels and bunkhouses in some locations. Apparently they are no longer able to ask your gender so all rooms in the bunkhouse I am staying are unisex.

I've asked to be put in with another female and been told the other bunk is booked but because of gdpr they can't tell me if I am sharing with a male or female.

Is this not completely bonkers? Am I being unreasonable to want to know who is going to be in the same room as me while im sleeping or is this just normal and the risk you take?

I'm perplexed and a bit stressed about it.

Bunkhouses being mixed sex long precedes any gender woo. One aspect of bunkhouses is that they’re usually in remote locations and often used informally by hikers who may have planned to sleep elsewhere but have reached their limit / acquired an injury / been caught by bad weather and desperately need somewhere to stay. Bunkhouses don’t like to turn people in those circumstances away as it can be fatal, so it’s pragmatic that all bunkrooms are mixed sex and any spare beds can be given to either sex.

The GDPR excuse is bollocks. They don't need to tell you anything about the other person that would be identifying or personal, they can simply tell you that the room will be mixed or single sex. They can ask for sex when they collect data from bookings, as it's a reasonable use of that data to use it to allocate rooms according to mixed/single sex preferences.

"...because of gdpr they can't tell me if I am sharing with a male or female."

I call bullshit. Giving that info out in no way identifies the individual concerned.

A unisex bunkroom containing lots of people is completely different from one with only 2 people.

I have stayed in mixed hostel rooms all over the world but would not want to share a room with a man I don't know and no one else.

Tbf they are being very clear they could be mixed sex so you either stay or choose alternative accommodation

This is what's annoying! The next nearest place is 20 miles away and I'm hiking so they have me over a barrel. I'd have to cancel my full 4 day trip or walk the extra 20 miles x

The person could have booked under the name of Jennifer. How does the person taking the booking tell whether Jennifer was born female and named Jennifer by her parents, or born James but changed his name?

The world’s gone mad. Although if they could disclose that information to you (for example, if they had permission from the other occupant), you can bet you’d get told the gender they identify as, rather the actually body they happen to have, which wouldn’t necessarily be much help anyway.

Totally agree. Bonkers

I agree and have stayed in bunkhouses for years but there's a difference between a 12 bed dorm and a 2 bed room

So you need to find an alternative! The bunkhouse is unisex, if you aren’t willing to stay somewhere unisex then you need to go somewhere else. I imagine part of the reason the bunkhouse won’t tell you who you’re sharing with is because for all they know the current person booked in will cancel and then someone else will book in who could be of a different sex. They won’t want to tell you something that isn’t guaranteed and then have you complain on arrival. If staying somewhere single sex is a dealbreaker for you then this isn’t going to be suitable accommodation.

Thanks but if you've read my previous posts you will see one no other option unless I want to walk anotherm20 miles after an already 20 mile hiking day.

I genuinely can’t see they are doing anything wrong. They advertise the bunk room for 2 people as unisex - you yourself said that you used it as such when you shared with your husband. So this is nothing to do with protection of single sex spaces (which I fully support).

I agree, I emailed straight after booking to ask of I could buy the other bunk but they said it was already allocated. The risk you take but I still don't agree with not being able to disclose who you are sharing a room with!

Unfortunately not, it's literally the middle of nowhere.”

(completely missing point ….. ) It’s not Luibeilt, is it? 👻

What's the place called?

I dont understand what you mean

I get that there’s no other solution, I just don’t see what your complaint is. It’s like me wanting McDonalds but being annoyed that the only fast food place in my town is KFC or wanting to buy Tesco brand bread but only having an Aldi locally. It’s a shame that the only option is unisex because you want single sex, but no business is obliged to cater for everyone or change their policies for one person’s needs. If you don’t want to stay somewhere unisex the only solution is not to stay there!

Kingshouse Hotel on the west highland way

Kingshouse?

I stayed in one of the rooms for two with my son (my choice!) and the bunks are like little cubby pods rather than the YHA sort of bunks. There’s a bit more privacy than you might expect, though I appreciate it might not allay the fears.

The other option would be the pods at the Glencoe mountain resort which are 1.5 miles away

This is horrible. Women are far less safe now. I would be terrified if I were a young solo traveller at the prospect of sharing a room with random male strangers. The new legislation and way of the world has made the world so much smaller for women and girls.

How ridiculous, you are not being unreasonable at all OP

Maybe because they haven’t allocated all of the guests to specific rooms and so don’t know exactly who will share with who yet.

Maybe because the person currently booked in could cancel meaning you would stay with someone else.

Maybe because they are very remote and so if a stalker knew their stalkee was in the area they could work out it was the most likely hostel and seek to find out the person was there by asking for names.

Maybe because name doesn’t always easily indicate sex/ gender.

Maybe for some other reason, ultimately it is their policy not to give out the names of guests to other people. It’s a very reasonable policy and I don’t understand why you are getting so worked up over it.

id have to stay elsewhere or not go. How very shit for women!

No availability at glencoe, I looked there first