Travel companion cancels, I'm charged single supplement

jrossjord

Just wondered if anyone else had experience/advice...

This is on behalf of my mother, not me but anyway - she's due to go on holiday overseas in a couple of days. She travels with, and booked with a friend. Sadly friend is ill and cannot go, no problem she will get full compensation from her travel insurance. However, travel company now tells my mum she will have to pay single supplement. Why?

Surely the travel company has had the money for the holiday, they are not refunding it, the insurance company are. So have they any right to charge a supplement? What right does my mum have? (Yes, I think she could cancel and get a full refund but she'd rather go on the holiday, even on her own, but doesn't want to pay extra)

thanks!

agrinnall

One reason for the scourge of the single supplement is that hotels only make half the money spent on 'extras' (restaurant, bar, trips, etc.) if only one person stays rather than two. However, in this case when the money has already been paid for a second person to travel I wouldn't really expect the travel operator to ask for the supplement, so if there's a bit of time before the start of the holiday I would encourage your mum to complain, and if that doesn't work maybe contact someone like Simon Calder at The Independent to apply a bit of media pressure.

luci

They normally work out the cost of the "new" holiday based on one person travelling. The person cancelling should get a cancellation invoice from the holiday company only for the difference in cost between the original cost and the new cost which will be less than they paid.

If that is the case then your Mum shouldn't have to pay any more. It all hinges on how much the cancellation invoice is for. If it is for half the cost of the holiday then your Mum will have to pay the supplement. However if it is for the lesser figure then they have already retained it and she shouldn't.