In the current work we present a significant advancement in the area of hydrogen storage in clathrates: hydrogen storage from both enclathrated molecular hydrogen as well as storage from the clathrate host lattice. We have investigated the hydrogen storage potential in all of the common clathrate hydrate structures with techniques such as gas evolution, X-ray / neutron diffraction, and NMR / Raman spectroscopy. We have determined that the common clathrate structures may not suffice as H2 storage materials, although these findings will aid in the design and production of enhanced hydrogen storage materials and in the understanding of structure-stability relations of guest-host systems. In view of current storage limitations, we propose a novel chemical – clathrate hybrid hydrogen storage concept that holds great promise for future materials.