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good morning everyone okay so we are back at it with another travel updates now this time I want to focus on hostels my god it's boiling today now as we know every country's in a very different stage but I do know that some hostels are looking to reopen their doors to the general public again in July in the UK so I found a few large hostel chains in the UK and Europe that have put forward a statement or during interviews about how they're going to reopen and the kind of safety measures they are going to be putting in place and all the crap behind me not a great amount of information just yet but I will be keeping everyone updated within this series as time goes by but this is what some of the big
chains have said and some of the things you might expect if you're planning on staying in a hostel so yha I think the longest standing hostel chain and everyone knows them probably every frequent traveler has stayed in them as some points have made a very large statement online and there's a lot of information I'll be linking down any article or website I can dive used as sources down below if you want to read a little bit more itare planning a phased reopen from the 17th of July in the UK I said they'll be cleaning a lot more regularly and have a lot of contactless like check-in and things like that and promoting social distancing within the hostels now they are putting in quite a nice little
guarantee for you if you do decide to book with them they say if you are unable to proceed with your booking duty UK government restrictions which prevent you from traveling to one of our host hostels in England or Wales such as travel bans are enforced to self isolation or your accommodation is unavailable for any reason you'll be able to choose from one of the following options transfer booking to a later date to an alternative hostel or you get a full refund I was really happy to see that and I'm really glad they are going ahead and just give a traveller their peace of mind because I think people are just worried about booking at the moment he also stated once you've checked into
your room and no one will enter that room so your room will not be cleaned during your stay in the only time they said that someone will come in is for essential maintenance that is obviously absolutely necessary and I'm sure you would be informed as to the room while they came in other than that as soon as you check in that's your room no one's gonna come in and clean it and it's all yours said keeping communal spaces such as self catering kitchens dining areas laundry facilities locker room drying rooms and languages closed for the time being also removing non-essential and difficult to clean items from room and public areas including seating and most storage lockers in bedrooms South catering kitchens will be closed and shared
cooking areas so that is definitely going to be a hit on budget travelers moving forward staying in a yha property but of course at the time makes complete sense so that will probably either mean eating out or getting singing you don't need to cook for your dinner or lunch also a lager have mentioned about social communal areas now I did get some stories from you lot over on Instagram thank you so much I couldn't get through all of them I'm sure I've missed a couple and but I'll read them out at the end of people who have stayed in a hostel during the lockdown and when lockdown just began a lot of them from New Zealand I think about a couple from Australia they shared their stories I'll
be reading them at the end but here like I said every country is different every hostel is gonna be different reopening already open what's going on of course very different all over the world but those they're gonna start reopening with no communal areas it's gonna be I just think a completely different vibe in a hostel because the hostel experience is all about you know everyone cooking together then everyone singing together meeting each other mingling and that's just gonna be struck off the cards for the time being by the looks of it AJ will also be offering food and drink takeaway service instead of the shared dining and bar facilities that's if they have you know already like a cafe or
restaurant on site they'll be take away only also this is another big one hostels remaining hostels opening for recreational bookings are operating with private rooms only either ensuite or with the sole use of an allocated toilet or shower dorm rooms will remain unavailable for booking at this time that's think I've seen pop-up and it said there really made me think of why I want to do this video dorm rooms you gonna show the eight strangers in it together by the looks of it'll be private rooms only with an ensuite if you are staying in a room that does not have an answer you'll be allocated a shower and toilet which will be yours to use throughout the day I think we're dorm rooms I pretty sure that if you are going there
family group of three four then you can go into a dorm room but they have to be private within your group or on your own my goodness you also put I found this under their FAQ and on check out you will need to strip your bedding and leave it in the designated area for laundry this has reduced the risk to our housekeeping staff it's not that unusual there are hostels I have asked you to bring your sheets - strip your bed throw them in the laundry basket we need to let them know when you've checked out by text or email and you also need to leave the windows in that room open for ventilation before you leave we also got another statement from ano hostels which have locations in Berlin Venice Amsterdam Copenhagen
Budapest and they said the rooms will operate at half capacity or a maximum of four people within the first few months of their reopening when they say half for four people I'm guessing that they need strangers they didn't say from the same group guessing an eight-bed dorm they might allow for people in now they did discuss dining areas and they look like they'll still be open allocated breakfast times I plan to limit the number of guests sharing the dining space at one time within a distance of 1.5 meters between chairs and dining areas so as we can see it's gonna differ every hostel whether independent or a chain are gonna have different procedures in place for what they feel
is best with wherever they are in the world and moving forward now it's safe stay what a name for branding to have at this time very huge hostel chain they came out and said check-in will be completed via what's up hand sanitizer gel masks and gloves will be made available common rooms including the restaurant areas will be closed and breakfast will be instead served in boxes so again safe stay have said that common areas and restaurants will be closed and not available also again we're seeing a really common thread here no shared rooms will be sold instead rooms will be sold to individuals or groups who unknown to each other again we're seeing that pop up a lot which makes me then wonder is this going to
affect you know a big reason other than the socializing and all of that stuff people stay in hostels because it's cheaper you know if you won't stay in a dorm room it's so much cheaper linking a private room or a hotel or even an air being being pickup chief dorm beds now if they are selling them privately know from firsthand experience all over the world the normally a private room in a hostel is more expensive than a private room in a hotel and it's just ludicrous prices but then you do get the benefits of all the facilities in the hostel and it's way more social well if I can do back in day used to me remember when is real social and hostels so are we gonna see a massive price hike now because all the
rooms are private and will this discourage and budget travelers for the time being while they're not allowing people to stay in the same dorm just so interesting I saw from safe stay and they said bosses also said the destruction of the hospitality sector from the lockdown could prove beneficial to safe stay with opportunities to buy distressed independent hostels that could go bust see that's some really interesting to think about because I was thinking you've got you big hostel chains which will probably survive this fine and we'll pull through the other end and you know they'll take a big hit but they'll recover eventually when you've got so many little independent hostels just one somewhere really
beautiful not that big and you go you have the best days very welcoming very family-like are they gonna go bus now and when massive chains hostel chain see that as is that they're distressed independent businesses will they barge in and go will buy from you add it to our chain so again it's gonna be the big ones getting bigger small ones going bust which would be so horrible to see but it's sink I think we all had a lot of discussions about you know mom and pops and you know independent coffee shops and little independent boutique hotels going completely bust because they don't have the capital or the support the resources to share holders any access for that kind of funding and
they'll just be gobbled up in you know from the big boys so I did get some more is nothing no get some stories through on Instagram let me go find my thing so I'm just gonna read out some of the stories that you sent me of people who were staying in hostels during at the beginning of lockdown or after just so I could share some of the experience of what it was like I was on a working holiday in New Zealand and I stayed in a hostel in Auckland after I had finished traveling and I started looking for jobs luckily I got a flight home to Dublin so I didn't stay too long but they asked for proof of when we came into the country to make sure we didn't eat yourself isolate later on in the stay they stopped
accepting new bookings and the hostel started to empty out the owner said that the hostel would stay open for anyone who was currently staying through the pandemic response from Daniella she's a on his ground my vegan travel she's really funny I really love her to go and check around Instagram if you want she said she should her story and I'll be following her anyway so right when the lockdown started here in Bulgaria I was the last guest and I was on my own at the hostel the day after I arrived Bulgaria banned tourists says so hostels closed down for bookings I was only allowed to stay because I arrived before the restrictions I said how long did you have to say there didn't you get that
Airbnb after so yes had said five days but it was so weird not even staff was there I was completely on my own that's not uncommon a few of the people I'm sure have mentioned but even staff weren't coming into the hostels when lockdown was announced but anyone who was there beforehand were allowed to stay just on your own in the hostel thought I'd give you my experience is this a bit unique we were staying in Noah's hostel in Bondi Beach Sydney at the start at the start the hostel tried to implicate social distancing rules but they were almost impossible giving that it's a hostel soon later when the virus got bad and Sydney and mainly Bondi the media needed someone to pick on so they
chose us there was many false articles written about all of the supported Kate supposed cases and our hostel even though we were the only hustle in Bondi without a case and we all got tested it ended up being a flurry of reporters being outside the hostel and even going as far as flying drones over the hostel and taking pictures from neighboring buildings and a complete breach of privacy one day the hostel decided that it was closing and gave us three hours notice to pack our things and get out no refunds and we were told that we couldn't go to any other hostel the government ended up stepping in and try and find a place for us all after a number of ideas they decided to put us all up in a hotel
three for two nights with the chance of it being extended ended up getting a week there but every third morning we'd have to wake up go downstairs and see whether we could extend for free I'll get put on the streets I ended up getting an apartment soon after this and it worked out but a lot of people ended up panicking and booking flights home the hostel decided to close on such short notice ruin so many people strips to Australia and wasted a lot of people's working holiday visas thing yeah I did not even think about that you imagine going out you've just got your working holiday visa you know your once-in-a-lifetime working holiday visa and you have to book a fly home and it's
gone it's wasted you can never get that again man oh I'd be heartbroken I'd be deaf I didn't even think by working holiday visas thought this might be interesting because it's the only time I've heard of it happening but for now those of us who stuck it out have been doing good and they're using this such as diyaa farm work done so we can get a second year visa to finally explore this country properly Oh what I'm really glad for those who worked I fought I do not blame anyone at all you just probably got free time scared and just booked a fly home but then the visa that's it's done imagine being right the Stars while I'm not seeing any of the country spending all that money
going and even if you could claim something back and gain the flight home it's that once-in-a-lifetime visa I think that would sting me the most not so much yeah the flight to Australia and back is horrific but it's more like you know that's your opportunity gone like yeah working there it's like if someone steals your camera all right you piss because they stole your camera but they could have left the memory card you more annoyed that you had so many photos you know what I mean yeah okay it's annoying I lost the money on the camera but I've lost all the photos and that upsets me even more mm God that sucks and yes someone else said and I've been locked down in a hostel New Zealand since it all started still
trying to get back to UK I hadn't uh let me know what else they said um basically their social distanced us as much as possible we were still sharing dorms but they stopped taking bookings so there were less people around it didn't really as I'm sure you can imagine the staff stopped coming to work so it pretty much became a free-for-all it was pretty weird but we all became super close and we all look out for each other so yeah let's end on that note you've made some definite friends for life if you had to be stuck in a hostile during lockdown abroad no staff there just fending for yourselves so yes but that is all we have at the moment on hostels if you have a story have you stayed in
hospital during lockdown did you get kicked out were you there at the beginning pens do fly home what did you do I would love to hear your stories down below and just yeah let's all have a chat I hope you enjoyed this update will be doing plenty more if it's any area you'd like me to look into as things progress within the travel sphere then please let me know more than happy love reading about it and I can do a number 4 video in this series yeah I'm going to go and enjoy the Sun a little bit so I will see you all later defecates subscribe hit the bow Facebook Twitter Instagram actor in this grandma sphere and yeah loving leaving shutting up see tomorrow see you tomorrow no I'm
not gonna see you tomorrow I will no let's be real um I'm not double dying I'll see you wanna see alright
