Member (400+)
Re: Hostel numbers
Interesting point. Yes, this is against the ethos. It may be fine for couples, but it discriminates against the solo traveller. The YHA lists 7 guest houses in their index. And Abergavenny, which I have described in another thread, calls itself a hostel but is a guest house in character, its only merit is that it doesnt charge singles any more than others (but that charge is well above average for hostels!)
Member (800+)
Re: Hostel numbers
I've seen hotels as HI members both in Prague and Ljubljana...Originally Posted by Plakian
I agree that the concept is against the principles of HI, but I guess they just want to make the business a bit more profitable (despite they are non-profit!).
Last edited by aboriginalhostel; 29th November 2008 at 8:30.
Webmaster
Re: Hostel numbers
That's a very interesting find. This definitely looks like a hotel:
http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels...-023008.en.htm
(I also started a related thread about hihostels.com and hotels.)
Member (400+)
Re: Hostel numbers
They do mention dorm rooms. They quote the price as "from 21 euros". Sounds Ok at first.....
But when I pretend to book, they have nothing available (presumed closed) until Apr 28, and then they price not only a single room, but a single dorm bed, at 100 euros!!!!!!
Webmaster
Re: Hostel numbers
I missed that when I first looked. Maybe they do offer dorms. I didn't see the word "beds" at the top:
Or does HI do it like Hostelworld where hotels are listed as having "beds"? (which means you have to book all the beds in the room to make a booking)
Member (300+)
Re: Hostel numbers
At first it looked like Hostelworld were going to be helpful in supplying some numbers for hostels in Europe but I have heard nothing from them for the past 2 weeks. I have therefore tried to get a snapshot of the European hostel scene by labouriously working through the HI and HW web sites. For now I have limited myself to the 15 countries of the EU before the last two enlargements.
Code:Country Independent Hostels HI Hostels Austria 22 106 Belgium 8 30 Denmark 3 96 Finland 1 76 France 29 107 Germany 85 549 Greece 31 1 Ireland 88 27 Italy 124 109 Luxembourg 1 10 Netherlands 26 30 Portugal 31 52 Spain 90 222 Sweden 16 325 UK England & Wales 87 187 Northern Ireland 7 6 Scotland 54 62
Some notes about the above figures:
1. I have omitted all HI hostels and “hostels” with only private rooms from the independent list.
2. The list of independents is very clearly much lower than the actual number. I think that the main reason is simply my timing – many hostels have yet to put up their availability for next year. I chose to book for mid May 2009 so as to include seasonal hostels.
3. Only 3 countries appeared to include non HI hostels or other accommodation on the HI web site. France included about 10% extra, Finland about 20% extra and Greece 89% extra! The HI list has been amended accordingly.
4. I was staggered by how many HI hostels could not be booked on-line; probably around 50%. Some whole countries were in this situation.
5. Some countries were real hard work on HW. Italy, for example, has about 500 destinations that have to be clicked. Most come up with “Sorry, there is no on-line availability . . .” or just a budget hotel. I thought my “back” button was going to wear out! At the end of the day I got 124 hostels of which about half came from 3 cities; that meant well over 400 wasted clicks.
6. Only 3 countries (excluding Northern Ireland) actually have more independent hostels than HI hostels: Greece, Ireland and Italy.
I would welcome your comments and any input that you have to make the listing more accurate.
Last edited by Plakian; 14th December 2008 at 0:47. Reason: Improving the table
Webmaster
Re: Hostel numbers
Somehow I missed that detail before. Very interesting that The Pink Palace is selling beds on Hostelling International...
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