Family membership to Youth Hostel Association reduced to £10. Would you make use of this offer and have you used family rooms in one of the hostels

[pellmell]

Sorry can't do links but copied the following from moneysavingsexpert.com top tips....................

Reduced Cost Membership

The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) is offering annual membership for for £5 per person or £10 for a family. It normally costs £16 (individual), £23 (family), or £10 (under 26).

Membership saves you paying the non-member supplement of £3 per person per night all at YHA hostels across the UK, as well as those run by its international umbrella organisation, Hostelling International.

As hostels can offer massive savings over hotel prices in the first place, this represents a brill saving.

But aren?t all hostels really grim?

No! These days it?s not all chores and cold showers, hostels are most usually clean and friendly, often with free internet access and breakfast.

Plus don?t think you?re automatically staying in a dorm bunk; many offer single, twin and double rooms. The YHA also has some rather glam new properties including converted castles and churches.

Have just looked at the YHA website and they have adventure weeks for 10 year olds - upwards to 16. They look really good, wishing I was 10 again £99 for 4 nights and 5 days and they still have places on some of the adventures with a day out to Alton Towers aswell.

Hercules, we book family rooms at short notice even in the holidays. The YHA website shows you which hostels have family rooms free in which region.

We've had some very successful stays in family YHA rooms. We find them better with 3 small children than smart hotels or B&Bs. one or two have been scruffy, but most have been really quite clean, ensuite bathrooms etc. Some have bars and local organic food in the restaurants.

We have particularly enjoyed the way the children can sprint around indoors and out without us having to worry about them knocking things over or being too noisy or being inappropriate. And the common rooms and tv rooms and self-catering kitchens are very useful.

Have just booked for 5 days for 8 of us in London hostels in August.

Thanks Pellmell off to phone now.

Right have joined for £10. Fancy the look of Woodys Place in Lincolnshire. The west end one in London is also a possibility.

Thanks again Pellmell.

I went to youth hostels with ym parents one year.
The one at Ilam and one in Hartington (derby) were gorgeous, absolutely stunning.

How do you all search for family rooms?
do you choose a hostel then check and see if it has family rooms....I've not found an easier way.
Am I doing it wrong.
Definately going to stay in the york one just not sure when

We stayed in the Lee Valley YHA (Essex/NorthLondon) at Whitsun and it was great. Family room had bunkbeds for 6 and ensuite, communal kitchen access, canteen breakfast included, just £70 a night. Absolutely spotless. DH over the moon with the concept and we are Ebaying our tent!

Pellmell: You can either choose a hostel or a region (South West, London, etc). and type in how many people and that you're a family and which nights you need and it comes up with a list of options.

It does tend to keep offering single sex rooms in dorms but also - keep scrolling down - you get to family rooms. It tells you if they are with or without ensuite.

Thanks for the info on £10.00 membership. I wonder if it applies to lapsed members? I have not been to a youth hostel for a year or two but used to use them often with my two sons. We have stayed in family rooms in about half a dozen different hostels in SE England. You get some nice families and lts of running around space inside and especially outside as IME the hostels have extensive grounds. Agree with all that roisin has said.

For me, a minor drawback is that many hostels demand you are out of the main hostel building ( nd your room) for at least a few hours in the middle of the day, so you are compelled to go out and not hang around. This can be awkward at times. But only a small quibble.

There's a brilliant-looking hostel near the Gower Peninsula in Wales. It's an old lifeboat station and leads straight onto a huge sandy beach....

Also, I have negotiated a lower price for a 4 bed family room when there is just two or three of us. As long as the reception staff feel they have the space, they won't charge the full 4 person price IME.

Ah, thanks for that fennel.

Alfriston is a good one. The hostel is a stone building with lots of character and a large garden. It's located halfway between Brighton and Eastbourne. The village of Alfriston is very pretty and the hostel is also approx 20 minute drive from Drusilla's zoo. We went back several times.

There's one just outside Margate that is opposite a big, sandy beach. I hear it's been totally revamped since we last visited. It's also near lovely Broadstairs.

About 3 years ago, we stayed in the Broadstairs YHA, now sadly closed. It was very eccentric - a large victorian terraced house with a well tended many-levelled garden. The bedroom was basic though - ancient metal bunk beds in a dim basement room with lino on the floor. Upstairs in the shared living room there was a lot of far eastern influences in furnishings - the manager was an elderly hippy travellor. In the garden were a couple of wooden chalets that you could also rent out. They looked really comfortable inside. We wanted to rent one, but the hostel closed before we had the chance.

Swanage was great - lovely beach, train to ruined castle, nice restaurant. What more can a family including boys want?

I've just bought a Family & Friends railcard for about £22 I got free family membership of the YHA as part of a special offer on the railcard. It's a great deal.

last year we stayed in a family room in YHA in Portland, Dorset and it was lovely.

Room slept 6 (4 bunk beds, 1 divan and 1 single which had been a top bunk as it had sides around it.) We had a lovely bathroom in our room too.
The food was excellent and they had a garden that we could use too although it was sloped but fine for DC to run around in. Had a TV lounge and a quiet room (which meant no TV) but it had loads of games to play. A Great time was had by all.

We (me, dp, two girls, 4 and 1) stayed at St Pancras before catching the morning train to France a few weeks ago.

Worked a treat, the station is just over the road.

Well, it's cheaper to hire a static caravan for the coast ... but it's bloody good value for london if you book a family room!

Also it's easier than booking a travelodge etc if you aren't a family of 4. There are 5 of us and when I was looking for London accommodation there were so many "family rooms" in hotels which only slept 4. YHAs are a bit more flexible.

We haven't seen any en suite facilities yet! We obviously haven't been in the right places

All the rooms have been clean and presentable though, and many have individual lights over the bunks, which is helpful.

Langdales have a treasure trail/quiz for the children to do whilst racing around exploring, which is fab.

We tend to go out anyway, but whenever we've returned, the hostel has always been open for us to use common room, drying room, s/c kitchen etc. I knew there were limited opening hours for the reception at some of them, but I wasn't aware the hostel itself closes at all..?

My directory and membership cards came today.
The directory makes it much easier to see at a glance which hostels have family rooms etc.
I think £10 is a brilliant price.
We also got a discount book for places like Millets,Blacks, National trust, hertitage. There are even discount codes (33% off) for Legoland etc

roisin, I'm sure I remember that at Arundal YHA (and I think some of the others) that we couldn't use our bedrooms after 11.00-ish and were not encouraged to hang about the place easily. The staff wanted time to clean.

I remember that my sons were having a nice time playing with some other children in the garden, but we had very limited access to the inside of the house, so it would have been hard to have stayed there all morning. It was April and warm outside, but not that warm. It wasn't a problem as we go on YHA trips in order to go out and about, but it's something to bear in mind.

Does anyone know if the £10 offer is valid if you are currently lapsed members?

How easy it is to sneak dogs into these places? couldn't go on hols without the canine members of the family.

we have been YHA members... this deal is fab!

When we arrived in London we stayed in YHA across from St Pauls... absolutely fabulous location, large family room, and generous breakfast.

Fennel... please post if you give it a go!! I'm sure ours has lapsed too. Will have to ask dh what sort of membership we had and hope we can take up the deal .

pellmell Thanks for the thread. I've just rung the yha and the lady said that I'd need to quote a reference number in order to be able to receive a discount as their system requires one. It doesn't matter that we're lapsed members she said. I can't find the relevant section on the website you mentioned so can you let me (us!) know the reference number if you know it, please? The lady said that there are special offers on but couldn't confirm any details without me giving the reference number. TIA.

We've stayed in a number of youth hostels. Some are excellent, some good, some just ok. If anyone wants to list the one(s) that they're thinking of visiting, I'd be happy to say if we've been there and what I can remember from our visit if that's any help.