Single Rooms

NickyBat

We are booked to go on holiday in 3 weeks and BIL has decided to try and join us if poss. I have been looking on all the different websites and can book him a double room (at double prices) but cannot book a single room.
I wonder how other single people go on booking holidays....or is just he's left it too late.
Nightmare.

Doshwaster

When I travel alone I always prefer a double bed and so do most other travellers. I don't sleep in a single bed at home so why should I on holiday?

There's not that much demand for single rooms so most hotels don't have many of them as they are less flexible - they don't take much much less space and you can put one person in a double room but you can't put two people in a single room.

Even if you do find hotel booking sites which offer "single rooms" you will usually find that it is actually a double or a twin.

Voyager2002

Very few package holidays are available to single people...

Try explaining your issue to your travel agent and see if they can find a way of adding him to your booking for a reasonable price. Otherwise, I suggest he goes "flight only" and just looks round for a place to stay once you arrive: that is what I usually do and have never had any particular difficulty.

kuepper

As a single had to put up with this sort of discrimination for 35 yrs! He's lucky to get a room at all, there are many hols I'd love to go on but they won't take singles

Doshwaster

kuepper wrote: »

As a single had to put up with this sort of discrimination for 35 yrs! He's lucky to get a room at all, there are many hols I'd love to go on but they won't take singles

Not this again.

There are an unlimited number of holidays a single person can go on. You just have to stay away from the package tour companies who just cater for couples and families. Book your flights and accommodation separately and you can go wherever you want. It's the people who book packages holidays who have the limited options as they are restricted to what is in the brochure.

I've been all over the world on my own and have never felt discriminated against,

budgetflyer

Doshwaster wrote: »

Not this again.

There are an unlimited number of holidays a single person can go on. You just have to stay away from the package tour companies who just cater for couples and families. Book your flights and accommodation separately and you can go wherever you want. It's the people who book packages holidays who have the limited options as they are restricted to what is in the brochure.

I've been all over the world on my own and have never felt discriminated against,

Yes. Its a room. thats what is paid for. 1 person in it, pays full price. 2 persons in it = half price each.

Coraline

It depends what sort of holiday this is, as doshwater says. If it's on a cruiseship or package holiday with hotel rooms it's hard to get around.

But when I was single, or when I travel solo now, the solution was getting a single private room at a hostel, or private renting a small studio flat in the city I was traveling too. There are many options out there.

More current example, I'm going to Hong Kong for 3 weeks soon and I am staying in a small single room in the thick of it for £35/night.

Sites like booking.com are pretty good at searching for these types of things I've found.

Doshwaster

budgetflyer wrote: »

Yes. Its a room. thats what is paid for. 1 person in it, pays full price. 2 persons in it = half price each.

Exactly. You are paying for the room. You shouldn't expect a 50% discount just because you don't have anyone to share it with. You wouldn't expect a taxi fare to be half price when you travel alone.

When you book direct, most hotels don't care if there is one, two (or sometimes more) people in the room as long as they get the room rate. It's only package holiday companies which have these silly single person supplements.

Yes, when you travel alone some things are more expensive than for a couple but that's just life. At least going on holiday alone is much cheaper than taking a family with you.

kuepper

Doshwaster wrote: »

Not this again.

There are an unlimited number of holidays a single person can go on. You just have to stay away from the package tour companies who just cater for couples and families. Book your flights and accommodation separately and you can go wherever you want. It's the people who book packages holidays who have the limited options as they are restricted to what is in the brochure.

I've been all over the world on my own and have never felt discriminated against,

I'd love to go on a cruise or organised tours but the single supplement can easily be £1500+. It's not just package holidays who penalise single people, have you never been to a hotel ? plus there are many cities i've been to where local tours won't run unless there's at least 2 ppl so I couldn't fo them, so there is not an 'unlimited' no of holidays for single ppl

InsideInsurance

NickyBat wrote: »

We are booked to go on holiday in 3 weeks and BIL has decided to try and join us if poss. I have been looking on all the different websites and can book him a double room (at double prices) but cannot book a single room.
I wonder how other single people go on booking holidays....or is just he's left it too late.
Nightmare.

In most hotels you simply book a room, a room has a maximum capacity but no minimum.

When we stayed in Dubai we got a free bump to a double bedroom room which was 335 m2 (yes about 3 times the size of our home) and that was the same price if there is 1-4 adults and 0-2 children (or the 30 or so people you easily could sleep in it if you wanted to).

Some hotels have tiny little rooms that they sell with a capacity of 1 person but these are rarely that much cheaper than a double room.

In some places at least the size of rooms contributes to their star rating and so having little single rooms can pull down their grade and some have closed these rooms as it means they get a higher star rating so can charge more and that more than makes up for the loss of a box room (or at least according to one old episode of some "hotel inspector" type program I watched once)