UKH

I have great memories of hostel visits as a youf - incl Pen y Pass - and a solo ascent of Crib Goch aged 11

Do you use YHA hostels ? Do you know others who do ?

https://unherd.com/2023/08/the-lost-boys-of-englands-youth-hostels/

I was a member, pre pandemic, and used it often, kept my membership going for the first year during the pandemic but then stopped it. Had been looking forward to going back but their current policy of only renting rooms instead of single beds in the majority of their hostels means that a Travelodge is cheaper. Sad to see the YHA go this way.

I guess that’s a corona hangover? I also noticed (aside from this) that they were becoming uncompetitive on price for a few years now.

Used them a lot with young children. As a family of 5 it’s rare to get a room for 5 but YHA usually delivered at a fair price. Agree re costs during school holidays and often cheaper to stay in a hotel or self catering.

I think YHA sold off lots of hostels in the wake of the foot and mouth outbreak twenty years ago. As a teenager I used them a lot when the managers really were Wardens, jobs were compulsory and lights out at 10am so all of us happy walkers could get plenty of sleep for our trek to the next hostel. I liked to collect the hostel badges and sew them onto my canvas rucksack. As an adult I only used them occasionally - probably Greenhead up by Hadrian's Wall was the last one about ten years ago and that had already been sold to the hotel across the road by then.

Interesting article. There's more of a factual article of the youth hostel sales at https://independenthostels.co.uk/latest-yha-hostel-sale-present-a-golden-op...

I worked for YHA from 2014 to 2021 and the organisation was becoming more commercial by the year, half the senior management were drafted in from Greene King. A £40m+ super hostel project in London that never got off the ground seemed absurd and a £50m credit facility to get through COVID shows the fragility of their finances. 

I did have a great time at some amazing locations, hopefully the organisation keeps some of its identity at all. 

I'm reading this thread on the way home from three nights at The Sill YHA (near Hadrian's Wall) with my daughter. We had a lovely time. What a shame to hear of more closures. The policy of renting rooms rather than beds seems like a corona hangover? Not in place at The Sill - we had single bunks in a dorm, and it would be so sad to see that disappear.

I think they've failed miserably with their marketing over the last 20+ years. 

You can rent double and twin rooms with great facilities for far less than a B&B, out of season you can rent the whole hostel which divided among a group is incredibly cheap... they were effectively like airbnb only 15 years ago, but didn't tell anyone. 

I feel it's a great shame to see YHA selling off some of their properties. I've used many of their hostels and the history and quirkiness of them is one of the main appeals.

On previous sell-offs I've questioned how they decide which ones to sell. Selling the purpose-built, relatively modern, low maintenance Patterdale hostel while keeping the ancient, money-pit Helvellyn hostel nearby seemed a bizarre move. I'm sure there's a rationale for it, but would be fascinated to find out what it is.

Part of the late Victorian and earlier 20th century radicals' fight back against the dark satanic Mills and land enclosure grabs of the industrial and agrarian revolutions. Along with the National Trusts, CPRE, RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, Holiday Fellowship, CHA, Ramblers, BMC, climbing clubs etc. All aimed at getting the people back to their own land.

A network of cheap hostels in beautiful places,  owned and managed cooperatively. The original concept was perfect. 

Last time I was up there the Sill was still being built. Did you ever use the old Twice/Once Brewed hostel? It was OK but I preferred Greenhead as more true to the old YHA ethos. The kitchen at Twice Brewed was tiny (3 was a crowd) and the bulk of guests were buying meals from the hostel which was arguably a sign of the modern clientele being less self-sufficient/more affluent? It's ironic that in a time of economic hardship the opportunities for affordable accommodation in the countryside for young people are pretty much gone. In any case, Hadrian's Wall is still magnificent.

My personal take is that 'the rot' set in when they opted to do this kind of thing, rather than remain as dorm-only cheap-as-chips communal accommodation aimed at kids. On the other hand, society itself was evolving - people were getting better off and the basic accommodation options were less attractive so YHA followed the trend. I do wonder if there is a want nowadays for the kind of hostel I experienced first off as an independent 14-year-old. Would today's 14-year-olds even be allowed to wander over the Lakes and Dales fells for days just with a few mates?

So do I,  Glenbrittle in 1981 for 2 weeks for example. However my latest experience (Hathersage) was somewhat underwhelming and poor value. 

Demand I believe was falling 

I think social media and perceived status plays a part, people would rather sit at home for months and post pictures of one Med holiday than travel the uk staying in budget accommodation every other weekend. 

That's far too risky, imagine what the daily fail would say if they were even geographically challenged for 5 mins. 

I use the YHAs a lot, they are great! I usually go for a private room now and it’s always cheaper than any other accommodation. Out of peak season it’s normally not far off campsite fees per night either. The rooms are nice and the facilities are great. The restaurant is generally good too.

I think the Lakes hostels are better than most as they offer the full facilities and are cheap. Snowdonia ones seem more expensive and with the exception of pen y pass have no restaurant so that adds faff and expense. 

I think the cheap private rooms generate more demand for them now. When they reopened after covid it was private rooms only and since then they have a lot more private room availability. People don’t really want dorms these days, they are noisy and less secure. Small private rooms are great, you don’t have to deal with all the weirdos and it’s secure.

looking at the usual occupants at YHAs it’s always older people too, very rarely see any really young people there 

I know that "people are only motivated by wanting to look good on social media" is the default UKC explanation for literally anything these days, but the YHA have been having issues since well before Instagram and Facebook were things.

AIUI they've basically been struggling with some sort of an identity crisis since about the 60s, when a sing-song with the warden in the common room and single gender dorms and lights out at 10pm and chores before you leave all started to look a bit old fashioned and uncool for the actual youth, and they seem to have been struggling to work out what their actual proposition is ever since, with every move to offer something to a new target market making them less appealing to the old one.

BMC Take note  sustained bad management leads to ;

 The rot-setting in when they allowed cars for those that don’t remember a condition of occupancy was you walked 1 mile or cycled 3  or you didn’t get to bed   

 Life member but if I could get my money back ?

  1/ 3 of an already much  reduced stock 

Still singsongs at Black Sail in the 90s!

Sad, but I suspect it's a movement that may have run its course. Unless they can find a new direction.

I wonder if independent hostels are also struggling in the wake of campervans and Airbnb? Loads of them sprung up maybe 20 years ago but it's not on my radar now. I guess it's all about location.

I adore YHA Ambleside and try to go there once or twice a year with some friends, we get a 3-5 bed private room depending on how many of us can go. However - we only do this over winter because I find the prices double or even 4x in summer over the weekend. 

I think we can normally get a private room for about £20 per night per person if you go Thurs-Saturday in winter, but come March-October the prices rocket up to about £80 per night per person, and when you compare to £10 a night for a campsite it's suddenly not a good value proposition.

I did go there with my family (1yo + 4yo and me and my wife) earlier this year and unfortunately I can't see us going back, everything I loved about it with my friends didn't really translate ideally for taking family, it was nice having breakfast in the common room for example, but it wasn't great sleeping on a creaky bed in a single room with 2 young kids trying to get to sleep at half 7pm. What's worse is that for not much more (relative to what you get) you can get a 2 bedroom self-catering cabin style holiday less than an hour away with a swimming pool.

So overall, I'll definitely still keep going but only out of season.

Privately run hostels on the continent don't seem to have any problems selling beds in dorms.

One thing the private hostels often seem to do is have a setup that's more than just beds in a room, they do "pod" type accommodation with a curtain so you can have a little privacy.  YHA would do well to look at that for their dorms.  I wonder if an issue for them is that they're just a bit too big to innovate?  Perhaps a franchise type model is actually best?  Scout campsites for example are sort-of under one large organisation but run independently, for example.

As for private rooms I find them similarly priced to Travelodges, but a Travelodge is that bit better.  I think to an extent easily bookable budget hotels have done them some damage.

It's uk snobbery, and as cited above the over priced honey pot hostels are likely subsidising the rest. To me I just don't get it, they are often in great locations, a bed, kitchen, showers, drying room, washing facilities and more. 

They have been trying a bit with the camping pods and so forth.

Which is what, in theory, they are trying to do with these sell offs. The preferred purchaser is to run it as a hostel under the YHA banner.

I think it is social media snobbery, just listen to the drivel on Sara cox's programme, if you aren't drinking champagne in a hot tub or in a f*****g 'moho' with a stupid name then you just aren't cutting it these days. 

I don't think wanting privacy is snobbery.  Not great for sleep if someone is snoring loudly (not everyone finds ear plugs comfortable) or if they make lots of noise in the night.

TBH I'd prefer to camp in most cases if budget accommodation was what I was after.  But the use of "pod" style dorms partly mitigates it.

The other big thing they need to change is check-in times.  You're throwing away the market of people who will drive (or even train) up after work from the South to a hostel in the North or Wales (or say the North West to Scotland) on a Friday evening if you don't allow 24 hour check-in.  It seems some larger ones do, but the smaller ones need to as well - if they're single staffed it could be done by giving the door code and a code for a key box.

I stay in YHAs with my partner and son. They are usually a great cheap option in a good location. We stayed in the St Pancras one before getting the Eurostar and it was by far the best value option for a sleep before an early train.

Also we have booked out a whole YHA for the long weekend a few times with a large group of friends, which works out remarkably cheap. We had Boswinger for 4 nights with a group of 20, which was great value, lovely location, and is one being sold for not a huge amount of money, (relatively, considering the number of bedrooms!)

Just checked the Borrowdale YHA, at the cheapest I could find in the next month, I could get a weeks accommodation in Chorro for a single night in that YHA. Thats when I could find anything at all. Something is really broken

Over the years I've used plenty of hostels and bunkhouses but very rarely YHA ones. The prices always seemed too high when compared to independent hostels. The last one I used was YHA Llanddeusant (good location for some south Wales hillbagging) which was excellent, but on the whole I won't particularly feel their loss.

Digital key box with codes sent my text or email would hardly be a big leap, they could go entirely keyless, but that might just be a leap too far for them them to envisage! 

I'm not sure it works to compare different countries like that - legislation, the staffing situation and costs differ.  You can in the sense of "I'm going to go to Spain because I can get more for my money", but not really in the sense that the YHA should reduce their prices - they're not high compared to private hostels, they're largely similar.

Just having a row of normal manual key boxes of the kind you can buy for 20 quid from B&Q would be a start.  They'd only need to put the keys in for people who said they'd be arriving late, not everyone.  Could even be a case of "if you're going to arrive after reception closes please phone reception while it's still open for the code".

Yes, it could be automated and "fancified" a bit but it doesn't need to be.

Last time I used one for adult only groups they had a requirement to check ids. So could be a clash with safeguarding.

No.  It's rare to see them at parks as well.

As a parent with a young child I spend a fair amount of time at parks.  It's rare to see unsupervised young kids.  I couldn't see kids being allowed out in the hills either.

They do, but it is just their policy, not law (unless paying cash I believe).

(Safeguarding is the new "security" in terms of making excuses for all manner of unpopular policy decisions, though.  I suspect the real reason for it is to prevent some of them becoming de facto homeless shelters).

Their website claims the policy came in as a result of a Safeguarding review in 2020, but it didn't, it's been in place for far longer.

16 is the minimum age for staying at a YHA unsupervised now.

Sad news indeed. I first used them in the 60s, still a shilling a  night. Used them extensively in Scotland when ticking all the Munros. Much more atmosphere than soulless b&b's. I'll miss them . It was a special experience to go to places like Glen Affric and Loch Ossian.

TBF I've never found a hostel that won't sort something out if you contact them.and say you will be arriving late.

Usually a code for the main entrance and a key pr keycard in an envelope by the front desk.

I was 12 when I went alone for my first night in a YHA. Cycled there.

Not sure - most of the independent hostels that I've stayed in over the years still seem to be there, whereas the YHA seem to be in a permenant downward spiral.

I do think that there's been a basic problem for them in that people's options for accommodation have been steadily increasing over the years - from the growth of campsites and affordable tents to cheap flights and package holidays to airbnb and vans - but the YHA also seems to have been struggling to find its niche in a way that independent hostels maybe haven't. I'm not sure whether that's a management problem, or whether it's just the weight of the brand making them a hard sell to a lot of people (ie old people think they're for young people and young people think they're for old people).

We've hired the Littlehampton one a couple of times for extended family gatherings.

I used a couple last May on a JoGLE trip and I've stayed at the Wye Valley one a couple of times - once for my stag weekend and once when the weather really was too foul to camp!

Probably inevitable nowadays given the increased fear of danger from strangers that seems to be rife in society. As a teenager in the seventies I often think we were one of the last generations to be allowed true freedom to explore and develop without adult 'supervision'. Can you fart in the outdoors now without having to attend a course? Perhaps I exaggerate there but the Moors Murderers were still fresh in peoples' minds and, of course Sutcliffe started his depredations while I was getting into the outdoors and yet my parents weren't over protective of me. I didn't tell them about the more dangerous escapades we got up to abbing on tow ropes over the quarries or when I took up caving. Some things are best left unsaid ....

I took my Scout Patrol (without any adults) up to the Lakes when I was 15 and they would have been 12-13ish, but that was just a day trip, I don't think we'd have been allowed an overnight.  Born 79, so maybe I was the last generation to get stuff like that at all?

Perhaps ironically it'd probably be safer now with mobile phones and CCTV everywhere.

Def not snobbery IMO. I remember staying in the Grade 3 hostel in Ballater around 1990. No showers, wash yourself in a hand basin. Even then I thought this was an outdated model destined to die out. People want comfort, not always luxury. The idea was brilliant post war and into the 60's, but not anymore.

Add in modern concerns regarding all your personal stuff - phone, camera, expensive goretex etc. They also want security. I don't often stay in bothies now, and rarely stay in accommodation where I have to share with strangers.

I think they've had hot showers in most for decades.

Many have individual rooms and or places for valuables, baggage storage rooms etc.. 

How many bed and breakfasts etc.. can offer drying facilities, laundry rooms, a large lounge etc.. not many, the yha has missed a trick promoting themselves. 

Completely agree. 

Shame to hear that the YHA is having to change so much but even when I last stayed in oen (early 90s I think) they had already started to change quite a bit from when I first went hostelling in the 1970s with the Scouts, mostly cycle touring with some of the smaller simple hostels already starting to close. The SYHA seemed to stay closer to the original idea -is that still true ?

I agree SYHA had a more back-to-basics ethic for longer than YHA but they've also shut/sold quite a few hostels over the years. When I was Munro-bagging years ago we'd often stay in them (we were in Torridon YH when 9/11 occurred). Some of the ones I really wanted to stay in are gone - Glen Clova and Carbisdale Castle to name a couple. My ex (who's still bagging) has stayed in a few recently and has said they were fine - Glen Shiel and Crianlarich.

Spain: £100 on flights, Airbnb for €20 euros/person/night, and cheap beer vs

Lake District: £120 on the train, £25 for the youth hostel and at least £20 on a pub dinner if you can even find one?
 

Got to say that seems like a fairly easy choice…

Where in spain, airport connection, travel out to crags etc..? Cost? I'd be impressed if you get good airbnb with doorstep crags for 20euros.

Plus, which uk airport, how do you get there? Rail, Car parking etc.? A cheap flight looks like a bargain until you factor in everything else. 

In my youth I trained it to the lakes, bus, camped and hostelled, once there it's very easy to do everything from the hostel door and if you're in a hostel you have great self catering facilities so can cook according to your schedule. 

You need help finding a bar meal in the lakes? Really? 

Might be a little tricky if you're at Black Sail ...

Every rule has an accept, you take the pub with you! 

Sometimes the wardens can be a big negative, I stayed in the Glen Affric one a while ago and just could not get the warden to take the hint that I no longer wanted to talk to them, or more accurately be talked to by them, and unless you just go to bed you can't escape. I wouldn't stay there again unless I'd confirmed in advance that they weren't going to be on duty. Had a fairly annoying one in Shropshire as well but no as bad. And this isn't a new thing, my mum worked in one when she was young and said that all the guests hated one of the wardens which isn't a problemtgat you get in other types of accommodation. I've never had a problem with any other guests before. Probably not the main cause of the YHA's (or SYHA's) troubles though which I would put down to a cultural shift away from communal spaces and activities.

Suggestions for places which are open midweek and not fully booked out at weekends, yes please! 

(langdale excepted) 

Anywhere apart from monday, as it's staff night off and often a good evening out in many of the larger towns. I'd argue it's easier to book a table for bar meal yourself than a flight to Spain?

There are places doing food in Glenridding,  Ambleside, eskdale, boot, Loweswater, coniston, patterdale, keswick, Hawkshead etc etc.

WARNING: Long post. TLDR: YHA made a series of mistakes.

I worked in YHAs for a few years, ending about 10 years ago. I still use hostels for trips to Scotland, sometimes SYHA, sometimes independents, the cost of a dorm bed has gone up a lot in 15 years but the basic needs and standards are generally very good.

YHA England and Wales though... a total shower of mistakes obvious to anyone who spent more than a few months working there. Here are some of my observations, there are probably more but I've forgotten in the intervening years:

1) YHA is a charity and makes a big deal of helping disadvantaged young people . However the actual charity work is pretty minimal. Despite the numerous financial advantages being a charity opens up there seemed to be a constant loss in many hostels.

2) There is a sizeable head office relative to the size of the hostel network. Many of the staff at YHA HQ were perfectly pleasant to deal with on the phone but clearly had no real understanding of hostelling. This fed through to some terrible marketing promotions that were pushed onto unsuitable hostels (more on that later).

3) Despite an increasingly top down management style there was zero support from head office outside of 9-5 Monday - Friday. This impacted both customers who were directed to centralised 0845 numbers and hostel staff who were unable to sort out whatever issue couldn't be authorised by the restrictive booking system.

4) YHA membership selling was changed so that customers often turned up having to pay an extra £3pppn due to the numerous third party booking sites. This caused countless avoidable misunderstandings and aggregations at the start of guest's stays, leaving people feeling ripped off and disinclined to "join the hostelling movement". Apart from in small hostels (where the manager would be checking you in) this left largely young, minimum wage staff, often working alone or at least in isolation, unable to deal with the situation. The simple option was to just ignore the non-members supplements.

5) The YHA website was awful, clunky and too busy with random distractions deemed important by HQ. Despite being able to book multiple hostels in one go the process was bad compared to booking dot com, Hostelworld, hotels dot com etc. YHA not only lost the chance to sell membership but also pay between 5-15% commission.

6) Many long time hostel managers (few still called themselves Wardens by the 2010s) were deeply passionate about their jobs and where they lived, putting in incalculable hours of unpaid effort. They were treated like dogsh-t by HQ. Any individuality that made otherwise poor investment into buildings was stamped out by a trend of brand harmonisation. Monthly targets for overnights were largely outside of their control but were used as a beating stick. Those managers who had built long term, often personal, relationships with schools and youth groups that had returned multiple times found themselves surrendering control of those bookings to a central HQ group booking team. The results were predictably bad.

7) Food profit targets were set unrealistically high which meant corners were cut. Any progress could all be undone by a random HQ offer pushed out to some hostels offering a room, bed and breakfast for a very low price (£25 for a family of 4 was typical). These offers came at peak times when the hostel would otherwise be full rather than early or late season.

8) Outside of London and a handful of cities the marketing and costs were off-putting to backpackers who otherwise would have stayed. Independent hostels have absolutely annihilated YHA in this area for years.

9) In rural areas most of the staff were there for the outdoors lifestyle and genuinely felt part of a community of fellow hostel workers. Low pay, long antisocial hours were offset by low overheads and the work hard - play hard philosophy. First they cut the discounted food, being in rural and / or tourist hotspots it became harder to eat cheaply. Secondly they increased rents repeatedly. Lastly, they started selling off or stop renting staff houses. This had a devastating impact to staff morale and availability, without cheap rent then YHA found itself with staff unable to afford to live near the hostel, let alone work split shifts. The loss of staff housing broke the social aspects of hostel work which made it fun, inevitably recruitment took a nose dive.

I left at this point I left and clearly things haven't improved. 

If you've read this far then we'll done, hopefully this very long post gives some of the internal own goals YHA have made.

Never worked in any, but stayed in literally dozens right through the uk from Torridon southwards, as a customer over the last 30 plus years, I can only agree with what you say, having had more candid chats with a few staff and wardens i know. A shame, as it could be so much better. Sadly it's often a problem with the 'charity' type sector management, well meaning, but not necessarily skilled or competent enough to match their intentions. 

I stayed in a very nice hostel in Iceland that was a pod hostel- you could close the shutter and had your own space, it was good as kept the privacy etc. in the U.K. it’s just bunk beds

I think it depends when you book and which days. I’ve got a 4 day stay later this month, 2 days of which are a weekend and it was £150 for a private room for 4. If you go weekdays and not in school holidays it’s very cheap, as with everything.

similarly I stayed last May for a week for about the same. Far cheaper than other accommodation of the same standard and more convenient than camping 

shame the snowdonia hostels are all closed (except PyP) over the winter 

Sad to hear this too but I've long been frustrated that you have to book them so far in advance that they really don't feel like what I assume a hostel used to be - they are just filling a gap where airbnbs/etc in the national parks were even more astronomical. Rare that I've organised a trip far enough in advance to be able to book one!

Have stayed in a few over the years though and while a lot was fine there are too many niggles - and in some instances, the website just being totally wrong on what facilities were available. Eg can't access kitchens after 10pm, or dry room overnight either (more of a problem if you had an early start); random things not available as promised (eg WiFi; lockers, or any other kind of safe for valuables; coming down off the hill to find kitchens closed early - this is an issue if you don't drive!). There's a lot that does work really well, but they're not dirt cheap or easy to book at all these days so perhaps they're just falling in between the gaps? 

Needing to book in advance is just a function of how busy the parks have all become now. Over the years more people have been “encouraged” into the outdoors and then there was covid so everyone went and then there’s “influencers” so now everything is busy and you need to book. There isn’t enough capacity (for all reasonable priced accommodation) at peak times in good weather. You can usually at the very least get a bed in a dorm last minute if you’re flexible with location.

Lack of security is the nature of dorms vs private rooms, all the ones I’ve been to have storage boxes under the beds now which can be secured with a lock, but if you’re the last one in they might be taken. The wifi is always rubbish in rooms, usually good in the bar.

nothing is dirt cheap anymore and I would be quite suspicious of accommodation that is. I think they charge a reasonable price for what is offered and it’s cheaper than most alternatives. Even campsite fees are expensive now and you usually get nothing there. If you go weekdays out of school holidays it’s very cheap.

Thinking in terms of supply and demand will help. Spain is a very big country with a fairly small population which has been urbanising in recent decades, so a large supply of rural properties going cheap. A crappy economy means a large pool of cheap workers. So on the supply side, lots going for it. Yes, Spain has a lot of tourists so strong demand, but they mostly don’t want to go to the same places at the same time as climbers. Result - it’s cheap to stay there. 

Compare with the U.K., a smaller, more densely populated country with very stringent planning requirements (hence limited supply of property), a stronger labour market, the Lakes is one of our prime tourist destinations and this is high season. All of which make it expensive. 

I agree, I take my children on a walk/sleep/walk weekend with a YHA and we love it. It isn't particularly cheap but so much more convenient than other options. We have a room for 6 for £160 for next weekend, middle of the summer in a great location, so I don't think the cost is too bad. 

I am looking to do more of that sort of thing as the children get older so will hope that lots of these go independent.

There's that, but also that booking in advance is now much easier for pretty much everything so everyone does.  Applies to pretty much all tourist attractions.  When you'd have to phone up people didn't, so someone would be the last arrival and be turned away and try somewhere else instead.

Also a lot of stuff encourages booking in advance by offering cheaper prices.

That still doesn't change the fact that I can get to Spain for a bolt clipping trip for much less than the same time away in the Lakes

- Weather will be better
- Easy to find partners
- Not every place to eat will be rammed and charging £20 a meal
- Much less busy

In my yoof (thinking like 20years back) I had to save up for trips away to the continent, while I was off hosteling at least once a month. Now on a decent wedge I can't afford to go YHAing monthly - things have changed and I think its incredibly sad as all its doing is encouraging people to fly

Edit: Looking at some of the above, part of this is probably the fact I mostly travel alone so can't get group discounts - that tends to be a big cost in the UK, while on the continent its more setup for solo travellers IME. Could almost call it an ugly tax 🤣

That’s a poor comparison though, Spain is generally very cheap when you’re not in a big city. I was in Spain for a week earlier in the year we are out for all our meals often having several beers each and it was less than 10€ per person per meal. The UK is generally a more expensive place to live, especially when you go to popular tourist areas such as the lakes.

I did a trip to Greece in October and the whole thing including hire car and flights was less than an average weekend in north wales, but again Greece is a cheap place to go. 
 

For the most part the YHAs are cheaper than other accommodation options in the national parks and are often very flexible (Ambleside is 24hr check in etc) but it’s silly to expect them to be cheaper than rural areas in other countries. 
 

It’s not that the YHA is overcharging or there’s not a reasonable explanation why it’s more expensive: just objectively going to the Med is generally cheaper and often more pleasant, particularly if you’re single and don’t have a car which is a fairly large chunk of younger people. Getting to rural hostels can be eyewateringly expensive if you need to take the train.  
 

It’s not the feckless youth being snobby about holidays in the U.K…

Well, that’s what twenty years of economic growth does to a country - its inhabitants are richer at the end than the beginning. And so it’s cheaper for them to go to countries with a stagnant economy and lots of land and property than it is to holiday at home. If you went to a richer country like the US or Norway then it would probably be more expensive and you’d be remarking how cheap the U.K. is in comparison.

If you want it cheaper here then we’d probably have to build a lot more in touristy areas. 
 

Also bear in mind that when people compare costs from their dim and distant youth they are usually comparing the number without taking inflation into account. Run your costs through an inflation calculator before saying how much cheaper things were…

Inflation is not constant - there are things I could afford on a low income 40 years ago that are now out of reach or big luxuries now - this includes accommodation in Scotland. Even campsites can be a problem now.

Inflation is an increase in the overall price level - it doesn’t mean that some products or services won’t change price at a different rate. Things can increase in real terms, ie even after taking inflation into account. That’s because other factors are important too. The U.K. is short millions of houses because we’ve chosen not to build enough, so it’s no wonder that anything to do with accommodation is more expensive.
 

Sad but probably inevitable. Things just change, and what was attractive back in the early/mid twentieth century is maybe less so now.

I stayed in yha hostels as a kid on cycling trips with my parents. That was the self-catering-only days of sheet sleeping bags and old army blankets and "duties" before leaving. I enjoyed the experience, and I still have my old stamped paper membership cards somewhere. But its hard to sell even the modern yha experience now: people have more travel options, and for those who dont go abroad, there are good indie hostels. There are more/better campsites too and tents are more convenient and comfortable. I dont think its just instagram and coolness.

Stuff changes. The ones that are sold will make good independent hostels. I find it hard to feel sad about this.