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| From NMT Images |
Stop Slamming The Single Traveler
Why should a single traveler have to pay the same price that a couple pays for a hotel room?
There’s two of them and only one of you, so as a single traveler you’re being penalized for going solo by paying double the cost.
A room price is almost always based on “Double Occupancy,” the travel industry standard.
But if there’s only one of you traveling, why should you, the single traveler, pay the double occupancy rate of, say, $200.00?
Worse, some hotels, cruise ships and resorts actually charge a “Single Supplement” fee which can be as high as 150% of the rack rate, meaning you’re paying the “double occupancy rate” plus being charged for traveling alone.
Travel Mole, a respected travel industry news source, confirmed that travel industry officials insist their single-supplement policy is fair by saying that a room rate is a room rate, and since they can’t sell a half room, they feel no obligation to cut solo travelers a break.
Travel professionals I talked to about this agreed, saying that a hotel room charge is a hotel room charge. “You wouldn’t ask to buy half a loaf of bread, would you?” one travel agent asked.
The argument like the math is deceptively simple.
The stated policy of hotels, inns, cruise lines is “Double Occupancy.”
But loaves of bread come in different sizes with related cost. Not so hotel rooms. All of them are priced based on the two people sharing the room, regardless of location, size or amenities.
And if you luck out and get a sympathetic hotel manager who ays he/she has rooms for singles, count on it being by the elevator, above the kitchen or in some other way, inferior.
We think the travel industry can do better.
It’s time for a policy change.
Noah may have had it right, but unless you’re on an ark, traveling in pairs shouldn’t have to be the only way to go.
In this faltering economy, we think solo travelers should ask for a reduced rate or even half the rate for a quality room. After all, a room not sold, is revenue lost forever and hotels will negotiate their prices.
It’s time stop slamming single travelers for traveling solo.
Comments
Stay in toch and thanks for writing in.
Cheers
Kaleel
You're absolutely right, Kaleel,
I like traveling alone and don't share well -- especially in a cramped liveaboard dive boat -- with someone I don't know. I shouldn't be penalized for this preference.
Denise
You know, singles' rooms in Europe and indeed most European rooms are very different from those here in the States. But even so, the question seems to be should a room's price be absolutely reflective of the number of people paying for it. A 200$ a nite room, within the context of a published "Double Occupancy Rate', ought to be cut in half for a single traveler, especially if it looks like that room won't be sold. Or make good single rooms available and not in the basement
Thanks for writing in, David
Bumming round Europe I found rooms for singles. Why don't smart hotel companies make them here.