Beijing hostels cause online stir with age caps

Youth hostels in Beijing have stirred up debate after they capped their customers' age and will shun those who are older than 35, Chongqing-based Shangyou News reported.

A customer surnamed Li told Shangyou when he visited Beijing in late June he reached out to several youth hostels on a travel platform, and all of them said they don't accept customers who are older than 35. When asked about the reason, an owner told Li the policy "is for safety concerns", as older people "may have problems climbing up and down the upper bunk".

Like their global counterparts, youth hostels in China offer a variety of rooms, usually consisting of several bunk beds that can accommodate four, six or eight people per room. But Li believed the "safety concern" was just an excuse. "I can do 50 push-ups, run 5 kilometers and climb over a 2-meter wall, and I don't get how climbing up and down bunk beds is dangerous," he said, adding many youth hostels in other places in China do not have such a policy.

Shangyou found there are indeed a lot of hostels with an age cap, although the cap is 40 or 45 in some locations. When asked about the reason, many said in addition to safety concerns, older customers usually have different daily habits and schedules from younger people, which tend to create problems in management.

Some netizens believe such age ceilings are unreasonable. "As long as the person don't cause trouble, what's the difference if they are older or younger?" one commenter said, receiving more than 400 likes.

But others said these lodgings are called "youth" hostels for a reason, and setting conditions can promote bonding among customers. "Generally we choose youth hostels because we like being around people our age so we have similar experiences to share," another netizen said, adding it's a pity that some only consider youth hostels as cheap places to stay.

Yin Chen, CEO of Youth Hostel Association China, told Hangzhou-based Tide News any member of the YHA China shouldn't have such a policy, as they follow the International Youth Hostel Federation's policy of opening to anyone young at heart, although they generally avoid assigning bunk beds to older customers.

Fu Jian, director of the Henan Zejin law firm, told Shangyou putting customers of similar ages in one room is at the discretion of the hostel, and restricting age does not "go beyond reasonable limits", so he doesn't consider it a violation of regulations.

Fu added on the other hand, customers have the right of choice, and hostels should inform customers of their policies beforehand to avoid conflicts.