We know you love the YHA - you voted it the best UK hotel in our 2014 Travel Awards. So, as the summer holidays approach, Guardian Travel has teamed up with the organisation for a fantastic reader offer. We are giving one family the chance to win not just one stay, but an entire year’s worth of holidays at selected YHA properties in England and Wales. The lucky winner (plus four guests) will be entitled to a total of 200 overnights in a private room at their choice of the organisation’s 160 hostels, including campsites. To enter, simply email your name, contact telephone number and email address to yhaprizedraw@theguardian.com. A winner will be chosen at random.
The first youth hostel in Britain opened at Pennant Hall, near Llanrwst, north Wales, in December 1930. It was closed the following year, but in 1931 another 75 hostels opened, two of which are still in use today: YHA Idwal Cottage, Snowdonia, and YHA Street, Somerset. In those early days, motorists weren’t welcome, alcohol was banned, dorms were single sex and strict curfews were imposed. Things could hardly be more different now. In place of the damp, wet-sock-smelling hostels of old are an array of comfortable, friendly hostels with en suite private rooms, bars, restaurants, glampsites and even honeymoon suites. And the organisation continues to grow. In the last five years, six new hostels have opened – Brighton, Castleton (Derbyshire), Cardiff, South Downs, Berwick and Eden, where guests stay in former shipping containers – and existing hostels have been overhauled, most recently YHA Boggle Hole in Robin Hood’s Bay, which reopened in June.
Terms and Conditions – YHA Prize Draw 2015
1. The YHA Holiday for a Year prize draw (the “Prize Draw”) is open to residents of the UK aged 18 and over.
2. The Prize Draw is not open to employees or agencies of Guardian News & Media Limited (“GNM” or the “Promoter”), their group companies or family members, freelance contributors to GNM, or anyone else connected to the Prize Draw.
3. Entrants into the Prize Draw shall be deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions.
4. To enter the Prize Draw, you must send an email to yhaprizedraw@theguardian.com with your name, telephone number and email address. No purchase is necessary. If you have any questions about how to enter or otherwise in connection with the Prize Draw, please email us at yhaprizedraw@theguardian.com with “YHA Holiday for a Year” in the subject line.
5. Only one entry per person. Entries on behalf of another person will not be accepted and joint submissions are not allowed. You are responsible for the cost (if any) of sending your Prize Draw entry to us. The winner shall be the owner of the email address from which the selected winning entry is sent.
6. GNM accepts no responsibility for entries that are lost, delayed, misdirected or incomplete, or cannot be delivered or entered for any technical or other reason. Proof of delivery of the entry is not proof of receipt by GNM.
7. The Prize Draw opens at 7am on 4 July 2015 and closes at 23:59 on 31 July 2015. Entries received outside this time period will not be considered.
8. The winner will be entitled to a total of 200 nights of accommodation to use for overnight stays at locations run by YHA (England and Wales) Ltd (“YHA”) (the “Prize”). The Prize can be redeemed between 1 September 2015 and 31 July 2016, and is subject to the following important restrictions and limitations:
a. The winner will be entitled to use the Prize to book accommodation either for themselves or for a group (a maximum of two adults and three children).
b. The winner is permitted to use the Prize to book accommodation for themselves and up to four guests (including up to one other adult, and up to three children aged 17 or under).
c. Each person who travels with the winner will count as one night’s stay out of the 200 nights which the winner can use. By way of example, a winner who books accommodation for him or herself, one other adult, and three children, and stays at a location for 2 nights, will use 10 nights of their 200-night allocation.
d. The winner is not permitted to book a stay of more than 13 nights in any one location.
e. The winner is not permitted to book more than two stays in any one location over the course of the 12-month period that the Prize is valid.
f. The winner will be contacted by phone or email and given a number to call to make the bookings. Bookings must be made in advance and are always subject to availability. If the winner’s chosen property is full, or does not have the appropriate room type available, then an alternative date or location can be offered.
g. Unfortunately, the Prize cannot be redeemed at the YHA’s Enterprise hostels.
9. Only one winner per household. GNM accepts no responsibility for any costs associated with the Prize that are not expressly included in the Prize and, in particular, GNM accepts no responsibility for the winner or their guests’ food, beverage, travel or insurance costs.
10. The winner will be selected by way of a random draw from all entries received in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. The draw will take place on or after 31 July 2015.
11. The winner will be notified by phone or email on or after 3 August 2015 and given details of how to claim their prize. If a winner does not respond to GNM within 14 days of being notified of their win, the winner’s prize will be forfeited and GNM shall be entitled to select another winner in accordance with the process described above (and that winner will have to respond to notification of their win within 14 days or else they will also forfeit their prize). If a winner rejects their prize or the entry is invalid or in breach of these terms, the winner’s prize will be forfeited and GNM shall be entitled to select another winner.
12. The name and county of the winner can be obtained after 1 September 2015 by sending a stamped addressed envelope to the following address: YHA Holiday for a Year Winner, Travel, Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU.
13. The prize is non-exchangeable, non-transferable and not redeemable for cash or any other prize.
14. GNM reserves the right to substitute the prize with an alternative prize of similar value in the event that the original prize offered is not available.
15. The winner may be required to take part in promotional activity related to the Prize Draw and the winner shall participate in such activity at the Promoter’s reasonable request. The winner consents to the use by the Promoter and its related companies, both before and after the closing date of the Prize Draw for an unlimited time, of the winner’s voice, image, photograph and name for publicity purposes (in any medium, including still photographs and films, and on the internet, including any websites hosted by the Promoter and its related companies) and in advertising, marketing or promotional material without additional compensation or prior notice and, in entering the Prize Draw, all entrants consent to the same.
16. The Promoter shall use and take care of any personal information you supply to it as described in its privacy policy, a copy of which can be seen at https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy, and in accordance with data protection legislation. By entering the Prize Draw, you agree to the collection, retention, usage and distribution of your personal information in order to process and contact you about your Prize Draw entry, and for the purposes outlined in paragraph 12 above.
17. GNM accepts no responsibility for any damage, loss, liabilities, injury or disappointment incurred or suffered by you as a result of entering the Prize Draw or accepting the prize. GNM further disclaims liability for any injury or damage to your or any other person’s computer relating to or resulting from participation in or downloading any materials in connection with the Prize Draw. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall exclude the liability of GNM under law for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for death or personal injury resulting from its negligence.
18. GNM reserves the right at any time, and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, this Prize Draw with or without prior notice due to reasons outside its reasonable control (including, without limitation, in the case of anticipated, suspected or actual fraud). The decision of GNM in all matters relating to the Prize Draw is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
19. GNM shall not be liable for any failure to comply with its obligations relating to this Prize Draw where the failure is caused by something outside its reasonable control. Such circumstances shall include, but not be limited to, weather conditions, fire, flood, hurricane, strike, industrial dispute, war, hostilities, political unrest, riots, civil commotion, inevitable accidents, supervening legislation or any other circumstances amounting to force majeure.
20. The Prize Draw and these Terms and Conditions will be governed by English law and entrants to the Prize Draw submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
21. Promoter: Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU.
