Hello!

I have been looking for a good all round discount card to get for the many hostels we will be staying at in OZ (and perhaps it may be accepted in Asia too?) but I am at a loss to which one is more widely accepted - or is it best to get them all! Don't really want a walletful of cards so any recommendations?

Thanks

GAP

Best international card is probably YHA/HI as you find them in cities and also many country areas in Oz and NZ if you happen to be going there.
You'll not get a great deal of use of any cards in SEA as not too many YHA or VIP hostels about and there's a huge range of cheaper guesthouses/hostels so no real drama on that.
If you're sticking with mainly cities you could also consider VIP, and there's another too, can't think of it at moment.
A one off buy for NZ that you would also get good value out of is www.bbh.co.nz

I agree with gonorth--BBH is a good card to get in NZ, as many hostels take them, not just hostels in a certain chain. I got a YHA card (for free through my abroad program, probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise) this past summer (winter in Oz), and there are a lot of discounts to places in each city (some restaurants and activities, mainly), but the only accomodation you can get discounted is YHA. My problem with that is the fact that YHA cost more than most hostels to begin with. In NZ, many of the YHAs that we priced cost $3 more than any others, and the discount you got off each night with the YHA card was...$3.

- Kristin

its only worth it if you are going to be using it for numerous hostels otherwise it wont pay for itself

Hey there,

When buying a hostel card you'll want to consider the price of the card, size of the discounts, coverage across the country, price of the hostels before any discounts and, most importantly for me, the hostels that belong to the network and their quality.

In Australia your choices are VIP, HI/YHA or Nomads. I would choose VIP but here are my views on each:

YHA/HI

I've never been a fan of HI/YHA hostels that I've been to in Europe and around Australia. They're always really clean and secure, but I find them very sterile and boring. There are, no doubt, exceptions, but as a whole I prefer to stay in independant hostels with more character. But if cleanliness and security are your main concerns then I'd recommend buying a YHA membership because you'll be happy with the hostels and save a lot with the cards as the hostels are usualy pretty expensive to start.

VIP

VIP hostels have a list of rules to adhere to, just like YHA hostels, but they tend to vary more in their overall quality. While you can almost predict what a stay at a YHA hostel will be like, VIP might impress you in one city and let you down in the next. Unlike YHA though, there are often several VIP-affiliated hostels to choose from in any given city, so doing a bit of research will help avoid the bad places. Plus there are discounts given on other things like tours and transportation and you'll cover the cost of the card in no time.

Nomads

You could survive fine in Australia without joining this network as you might never even see a Nomads hostel anywhere on your travels. But if you want to get off the beaten path or work in out of the way places then it might be worth it because Nomads hostels tend to be in rural areas. I'd suggest not buying it in advance and instead getting it at the first Nomad's you come across that you want to (or have to due to no other options) stay at.

I don't think you asked about New Zealand but I agree that BBH is the only choice when it comes to buying a hostel card in NZ. The network is huge and an added bonus is that they're all reviewed and ratings for each are in the book.

Asia... not a clue!

Hope this helps, any questions feel free to give me a shout.
Kirsty

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http://www.travoholic.com/oz

VIP has been very handy so far, although it comes in more useful for cheap travel than hostels.

One card not to bother with if you're coming from the UK is the International Youth Travel Card that STA flogged to me. It is an absolutely useless piece of crap, not worth the shiny plastic it is laminated in. You will be mocked in the streets and have stones thrown in your general direction should you ever be foolish enough to actually try and save money with it.

Mark

sorry to hijack this thread with a question - but does anyone know if you have to buy the YHA/HI cards in advance in your own country or can you just show up at a hostel and get one there?

MIchelle

You can get them in Australia or maybe even over the net www.yha.com.au

Yeah, you're allowed to walk up to the hostel and ask for it. Every time I stayed in YHAs, they told me I could either pay $3 extra for the night or just buy a YHA card there.

- Kristin

G'day Gap, I'd recommend the YHA card which is associated with HI. Good clean hostels, and being YHA , they have certain standards.


Have a nice day, whistler.


If you can keep a sense of humour and see the funny side of life, you will never be old. SMC.

you can buy the card at the hostel, but it is usually cheaper to buy it in advance. In Sweden, for example, it is cheaper to join the swedish toursit organization (which comes with a free membership), then it is to join the hostel organization on its own.

I'm actually a fan of having no discount card. I found that I ended up staying at all types of hostels throughout Oz and I was glad I didn't feel tied to any one kind because of a discount card. I met some people who had YHA cards and felt obligated to stay at those just because they paid for the card, which they regretted.

Also, the YHA ones I saw tended to be very cookie cutter. I preferred some of the VIP ones since they often have more character. YHA ones are always clean, etc. but sometimes you feel like they're all exactly the same. Which, for me, takes the fun out of hosteling.

That said, if I did buy one card, I'd probably buy VIP.

No matter what, it depends how long you're staying. If it's a month or so, I doubt that it's worth it. It's better to have the freedom to stay wherever.