Single Supplements – Can you do this?

european58

We’ve just booked an all inclusive 1 week beach holiday with a well known tour operator for three people: a couple and an adult daughter.  The cost of a double room for the couple was just over £2000 (i.e. £1000 each).  We couldn’t have a double room for our daughter because, apparently, the hotel reserves these for couples!  So she had to have a suite at a cost of £3000 – so three times what it is costing each of us. 

It occurs to me that it would have been more sensible to have booked a fourth person, thereby getting us a second double room for £2000, saving us £1000.  Then the fourth person just doesn’t show up at the airport.  An added bonus would be to pre-book aeroplane seats for the fourth person (cost about £40), still saving us about £960, and giving us the benefit of the additional room of an empty seat for the flights.

Is this legal? Is it even unethical?  Would the company blacklist the fourth person making their future holiday plans problematic?

Ganga

Did the hotel not have any studio accommodation ? i do not know the answer to your question.

european58

Ganga - no, not an option in this case.

Flugelhorn

I doubt there would be a problem - particularly of the said person had no intention of travelling with them anyway. 

Presume the couple will nab the suite now 

IvanOpinion

If the person is a no show for the flight out then usually any return ticket will also be cancelled which means you may not get the extra space on the way back.

Westin

european58 said:

We’ve just booked an all inclusive 1 week beach holiday with a well known tour operator for three people: a couple and an adult daughter.  The cost of a double room for the couple was just over £2000 (i.e. £1000 each).  We couldn’t have a double room for our daughter because, apparently, the hotel reserves these for couples!  So she had to have a suite at a cost of £3000 – so three times what it is costing each of us. 

It occurs to me that it would have been more sensible to have booked a fourth person, thereby getting us a second double room for £2000, saving us £1000.  Then the fourth person just doesn’t show up at the airport.  An added bonus would be to pre-book aeroplane seats for the fourth person (cost about £40), still saving us about £960, and giving us the benefit of the additional room of an empty seat for the flights.

Is this legal? Is it even unethical?  Would the company blacklist the fourth person making their future holiday plans problematic?

I think more likely is that the 'double rooms' are not large enough for a 3rd adult bed. The offered suite the option for 3+ adults.

Did you ask about a double for sole occupancy room option? 

You could do as you have suggested and book for four adults/two rooms.  You may not however get the 4th seat on the aircraft as most airlines will release all available seats at check-in closure and they might use for standby, staff travel or to reaccommodate another passenger.  Very slim chance however.  I don't think the hotel would care if only your daughter in the second room.

Not blacklisting, not illegal or unethical.... 

Why not just ask about the unname tour operator requesting a single room or double for sole occupancy room for your daughter?

SiliconChip

Westin said:

european58 said:

We’ve just booked an all inclusive 1 week beach holiday with a well known tour operator for three people: a couple and an adult daughter.  The cost of a double room for the couple was just over £2000 (i.e. £1000 each).  We couldn’t have a double room for our daughter because, apparently, the hotel reserves these for couples!  So she had to have a suite at a cost of £3000 – so three times what it is costing each of us. 

It occurs to me that it would have been more sensible to have booked a fourth person, thereby getting us a second double room for £2000, saving us £1000.  Then the fourth person just doesn’t show up at the airport.  An added bonus would be to pre-book aeroplane seats for the fourth person (cost about £40), still saving us about £960, and giving us the benefit of the additional room of an empty seat for the flights.

Is this legal? Is it even unethical?  Would the company blacklist the fourth person making their future holiday plans problematic?

I think more likely is that the 'double rooms' are not large enough for a 3rd adult bed. The offered suite the option for 3+ adults.

I can't see anything in the OP to suggest that either a third bed in the double room or 3 people in the suite is something that has ever been raised - it's pretty clear that the third adult wants a separate room and that as things stand the suite would be occupied only by the third adult (although as @Flugelhorn suggests if those are the rooms that they end up with the couple may take the suite).

european58

Thanks for your thoughts.  We had been through all the options for accommodation, but if all three were in the suite, one of us is on a fold down bed (not ideal for what is meant to be a comfortable relaxing holiday), and little privacy.  Really my question was about circumventing what is essentially price discrimination against single travellers.  Annoyingly the company website showed other double rooms were available, but a call to their helpline, revealed that single travellers aren't allocated to them - the hotel keeps them for couples only.    I could understand having to pay a full room price for a second double room, so the hotel doesn't lose out on a potential booking (although being all inclusive they do save on feeding someone!), but triple the price seems to be quite discriminatory for singletons.  The flight is with the charter company so I suspect there wouldn't be standby passengers, although the booking of the 4th seat was just an afterthought really, I was just mulling the ethics - and obvious nonsense - of booking a fake passenger to save money!

Lorian

You may find the suites are in a different area of the resort?

Voyager2002

european58 said:

Thanks for your thoughts.  We had been through all the options for accommodation, but if all three were in the suite, one of us is on a fold down bed (not ideal for what is meant to be a comfortable relaxing holiday), and little privacy.  Really my question was about circumventing what is essentially price discrimination against single travellers.  Annoyingly the company website showed other double rooms were available, but a call to their helpline, revealed that single travellers aren't allocated to them - the hotel keeps them for couples only.    I could understand having to pay a full room price for a second double room, so the hotel doesn't lose out on a potential booking (although being all inclusive they do save on feeding someone!), but triple the price seems to be quite discriminatory for singletons.  The flight is with the charter company so I suspect there wouldn't be standby passengers, although the booking of the 4th seat was just an afterthought really, I was just mulling the ethics - and obvious nonsense - of booking a fake passenger to save money!

I don't see any ethical issue with booking a false passenger.

Don't waste money reserving a seat for this person: when they fail to turn up at the airport their seat becomes available to the airline and someone else might be put there.