Youth Hostel Association of New Zealand
The Youth Hostel Association of New Zealand (YHA NZ) was a network of youth hostels in New Zealand. It owned some hostels and others were run by franchise or associate partners. The national office was in Christchurch.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and many franchisees stopped operating hostels, with some selling their properties. In November 2021, YHA NZ announced it would close the 11 hostels it owned on 15 December due to pandemic-related financial losses. Twenty-three privately owned hostels would continue to operate, including places in Ahipara, Paihia, the Bay of Islands, National Park, Taupō, Waitomo, Whanganui, Whangārei, Arthur’s Pass, Golden Bay, Hanmer Springs, Kinloch, Nelson, Picton, Punakaiki, Springfield and Westport.
In 2022 YHA NZ sold its five remaining owned hostels (Auckland, Aoraki/Mount Cook, Franz Josef, Queenstown Lakefront and Te Anau). Four other hostels that had been sold to RPZ in 2021 and leased back were also sold to Gaw Capital Holdings Limited (Rotorua, Wellington, Lake Tekapo and Wanaka). Eight of them rejoined as YHA Associates, though Te Anau no longer used the YHA logo. The Christchurch Hereford Street lease was taken over by Gaw in 2022. The hostels were then refurbished and rebranded as Haka House.
YHA NZ went into liquidation at the end of 2024. Its website still links to five hostels: Nelson and Westport on the South Island; Taupō, Waitomo and Whanganui on the North Island.
The Sunlight League formed in 1931 in New Zealand and looked to German youth hostels for ideas. Youth hostels began in the Southern Hemisphere with YHA NZ, formed on 8 April 1932 after a meeting of nine Canterbury trampers clubs. Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson chaired the meeting and was elected President, with Sir Heaton Rhodes and professors Arnold Wall and Macmillan Brown as vice-presidents. Cora Wilding helped arrange places for trampers to stay around Banks Peninsula, with Teddington and Diamond Harbour added in 1932.
YHA NZ joined Hostelling International in 1946. It had 895 members by 1953. A national council started in 1955. By 1965 there were 39 hostels and about 7,000 members. In 1983 there were 47 hostels, 6,700 life members and 21,000 ordinary members. By April 2001, there were 57 hostels, including three in Auckland and two in Christchurch—the two largest cities in New Zealand.
In 2007 YHA NZ celebrated its 75th anniversary. The Governor-General called it a standout New Zealand organization and an iconic part of holidaying in the country. The Wellington hostel won Hostelworld’s Hoscar prize for Best Hostel in Oceania in 2007 and 2008, with Rotorua winning in 2009.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:31 (CET).