Comments on: Charged under occupancy but put into single room http://www.travel-rants.com/2010/03/08/charged-occupancy-single-room/ Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:52:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Darren Cronian http://www.travel-rants.com/2010/03/08/charged-occupancy-single-room/#comment-166699 Darren Cronian Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:13:35 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5881#comment-166699 @ Lorraine, I have had the same issue but with another travel company. Hopefully they will respond to your complaint. While I don't wish to side with the travel company, it could be that they are simply the booking provider, and don't know which room they will put you in, or the hotel, charge the supplement and the company have no control over it. Let us know how you get on. @ Lorraine,

I have had the same issue but with another travel company. Hopefully they will respond to your complaint. While I don’t wish to side with the travel company, it could be that they are simply the booking provider, and don’t know which room they will put you in, or the hotel, charge the supplement and the company have no control over it.

Let us know how you get on.

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]]> By: Lorraine http://www.travel-rants.com/2010/03/08/charged-occupancy-single-room/#comment-166698 Lorraine Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:09:50 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5881#comment-166698 I booked a walking holiday with Exodus Travel and paid single supplement and was put into a small single room, I have contacted Exodus and await their reply. Its outragous that I paid more than my fellow walkers for a tiny little room and I am feeling quite annoyed at being cheated like this, after all it was not a cheap holiday, There was also a huge difference it size and luxury of all the rooms in the hotel some were lucky others definately not what a shame its down to pot luck!!! I booked a walking holiday with Exodus Travel and paid single supplement and was put into a small single room, I have contacted Exodus and await their reply. Its outragous that I paid more than my fellow walkers for a tiny little room and I am feeling quite annoyed at being cheated like this, after all it was not a cheap holiday, There was also a huge difference it size and luxury of all the rooms in the hotel some were lucky others definately not what a shame its down to pot luck!!!

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]]> By: Janice http://www.travel-rants.com/2010/03/08/charged-occupancy-single-room/#comment-161839 Janice Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:38:20 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5881#comment-161839 Well, I feel that I have to weigh in on this one. You're right Darren, in North America hotels charge per room not per person. This makes total sense to me and, certainly, charging a single supplement on a single room is simply an unconsiounable money grab. However, the single supplement for tours and special deals seems to be a universal problem. Look at the fine print of those great deals on Travel Zoo or Independent Traveler and you usually see the requirement for two people traveling. And I get it. By requiring two travelers, you double your sales and, more importantly, you double your incidental sales without any greater cost. How nice! Twenty-five years ago when I started to travel solo, I went independently (and I still do for the most part). The tours, resorts and cruises were more or less for couples. But that's no longer the case. There has been a demographic shift. People are single longer and often become single once again. Some want the tours, resorts and cruises (and hotels!) and they don't want to be charged extra or paired up with a roommate for doing so. The industry is starting to notice. It's not yet perfect but I am finding deals that waive the single supplement on a fairly regular basis now. When I find them I add them to my <a href="http://solotravelerblog.com/solo-travel-deals/" rel="nofollow">Solo Travel Deals</a> page. . I hope this service helps. Well, I feel that I have to weigh in on this one. You’re right Darren, in North America hotels charge per room not per person. This makes total sense to me and, certainly, charging a single supplement on a single room is simply an unconsiounable money grab.

However, the single supplement for tours and special deals seems to be a universal problem. Look at the fine print of those great deals on Travel Zoo or Independent Traveler and you usually see the requirement for two people traveling. And I get it. By requiring two travelers, you double your sales and, more importantly, you double your incidental sales without any greater cost. How nice!

Twenty-five years ago when I started to travel solo, I went independently (and I still do for the most part). The tours, resorts and cruises were more or less for couples. But that’s no longer the case. There has been a demographic shift. People are single longer and often become single once again. Some want the tours, resorts and cruises (and hotels!) and they don’t want to be charged extra or paired up with a roommate for doing so. The industry is starting to notice.

It’s not yet perfect but I am finding deals that waive the single supplement on a fairly regular basis now. When I find them I add them to my Solo Travel Deals page. . I hope this service helps.

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]]> By: Mark H http://www.travel-rants.com/2010/03/08/charged-occupancy-single-room/#comment-161711 Mark H Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:58:32 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5881#comment-161711 Several companies (in Australia) offer a choice of a single supplement or share with another single (of the same sex). They are up-front about it but single supplements do irritate me if that is how I am travelling. As I have typically avoided a single supplement, I can't comment on room differences but as has been indicated several times above, if you complain about such inequities, typically it is acted upon. Greatly enjoy this forum / blog and have signed up for the newsletter. Several companies (in Australia) offer a choice of a single supplement or share with another single (of the same sex). They are up-front about it but single supplements do irritate me if that is how I am travelling. As I have typically avoided a single supplement, I can’t comment on room differences but as has been indicated several times above, if you complain about such inequities, typically it is acted upon.

Greatly enjoy this forum / blog and have signed up for the newsletter.

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]]> By: Dee http://www.travel-rants.com/2010/03/08/charged-occupancy-single-room/#comment-161653 Dee Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:48:55 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5881#comment-161653 Wow, that seems really harsh with the caveat that this is a personal opinion without knowing the companies involved just going by what I've read above, it should be the same room if you're paying a single occupancy unless the operator said to you it is or would be x single occupancy (which is still less than 2 people sharing that room would pay per person) or y single occupancy (with y being less than x) if you will take a single room (as there may be other factors at play beyond pure accommodation costs). If you are paying the same as two people who are sharing a room, then you should have a lovely room to yourself! Agreed people should inform the tour op straight away, in any way you can, it may be the hotel trying to pull a fast one because of other bookings (not through the tour operator you booked with), so it's better they know and the sooner the better. As an aside, I would suspect in cases of some of the trips mentioned on the solo traveller threads, e.g. 320 pounds on one, we may be talking about trips by big tour ops who have committed to paying for lots of seats on planes, amount of money paid to hotels regardless of how many rooms actually occupied in the end, and their margins are much much slimmer than anyone outside the industry would realise, so they really have to take into account how much it costs to acquire a customer, process a booking etc. So they priced it mainly on x number of couples booking, and if they had to account for more solo travellers then the price would have to go up for everyone, hence the higher prices on the solo traveller trips people mentioned. Wow, that seems really harsh with the caveat that this is a personal opinion without knowing the companies involved just going by what I’ve read above, it should be the same room if you’re paying a single occupancy unless the operator said to you it is or would be x single occupancy (which is still less than 2 people sharing that room would pay per person) or y single occupancy (with y being less than x) if you will take a single room (as there may be other factors at play beyond pure accommodation costs). If you are paying the same as two people who are sharing a room, then you should have a lovely room to yourself!

Agreed people should inform the tour op straight away, in any way you can, it may be the hotel trying to pull a fast one because of other bookings (not through the tour operator you booked with), so it’s better they know and the sooner the better.

As an aside, I would suspect in cases of some of the trips mentioned on the solo traveller threads, e.g. 320 pounds on one, we may be talking about trips by big tour ops who have committed to paying for lots of seats on planes, amount of money paid to hotels regardless of how many rooms actually occupied in the end, and their margins are much much slimmer than anyone outside the industry would realise, so they really have to take into account how much it costs to acquire a customer, process a booking etc. So they priced it mainly on x number of couples booking, and if they had to account for more solo travellers then the price would have to go up for everyone, hence the higher prices on the solo traveller trips people mentioned.

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