YHA to open ‘poshtel’ in Cardiff
YHA England and Wales will open a new 92-bedroom YHA in Cardiff in spring 2015.
The former Mercure Lodge Hotel is due to re-open in March as a YHA ‘poshtel’ following a £500,000 facelift.
Every room will have en suite facilities and there will be free wi-fi throughout the building, a secure luggage store, and free on-site parking for cars and coaches.
The hostel will also have a licensed restaurant and a self-catering kitchen, plus three fully-equipped meeting rooms for conferences and school groups.
In a first for the youth accommodation specialist, YHA will be keeping the hotel’s upper floor as premium bedrooms, featuring Queen size beds and TVs.
It says these rooms will be targeted at the weekday corporate and weekend travel market and city breakers.
"Retaining the upper floor as premium rooms will enable us to tap into a new market and maximise occupancy and revenue, allowing us to increase the valuable work YHA does to reach out to young people and provide them with new experiences," said YHA chief executive Caroline White.
Bookings are open now with prices for private ensuite double rooms starting from £39 and beds in shared rooms starting from £16.
YHA currently has a network of around 140 diverse hostels throughout England and Wales, which are open to everyone.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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