The great single room debate...

A snowHead

pam w, don't forget the towels. wink

ISTM the single-occupancy supplement whingers expect to pay less per square foot of personal space than sharers, which strikes me as special pleading.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I'm with queen bodecia, on this one - TOs do seem to see singles as an easy way to extract cash, and not just for skiing hols. Many (if not most) hotels DO have single rooms, cos there IS a demand for them - and the hotel's published rate for them is usually not too bad. Now, if you want a double/twin all to yourself - fair enough, you gotta pay for the extra space you are using, but why does a single apparently have to pay extra over and above the hotel's single room rate, when dealing with a TO, just cos he/she wants the convenience of a package? TOs seem to actively want to discourage this segment of the market - so here we are, back at the TO vs DIY argument again!

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It's because singles cause more wear and tear on the rooms than couples.

A week's worth of masturbation, self-harm and sobbing needs cleaning up by someone you know!

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I've been trying to ignore this as I don't really understand the issue. But hey, it's late.

I rent out apartments. They sleep either 6 or 8 people. Why would I want to discount my rate if someone wants to bring 5, 4, 3, 2, or even just themselves? The price is per apartment, per week.

But now I think deeper. I maybe understand and sympathise. TOs offer prices based on double (or, for US holidays, quad!) occupancy.

Easy solution Queenie,

DIY.

After all it is free · Last edited by After all it is free on Fri 19-03-10 0:25; edited 1 time in total

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I reckon requests from singles who don't want to share in any way, shape or form represent less than 1% of our enquiries.

On the rare occasion we do get such enquiries, it's inevitably a pain in the bum - we always do our best to help, but being honest, ca fait mal a la derriere....

That said, we actually do have rooms with no single supplement, ever, but they are smaller and less well-appointed.

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I go skiing on my own every year and find that Inghams have a pretty good choice of hotels with supplements of £0 - £15 a night. Where's the problem?

Going to Grindelwald next Jan for a single supplement of minus £6 a night.

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This is a particularly old thread but I wondered what more recent experiences people have had? For various reasons I have had need to book some single rooms for ski holidays in catered chalets and it is amazing the difference in response from various companies. One way or another it seems to me that it is still viewed as being 'abnormal' and therefore attracts a premium in most cases. Understandably from a business perspective but what have others found since this thread ended in 2010?

I feel that in hotels (or other accommodation) set up with double rooms it's understandable that hefty single supplements are charged. I booked a berth on a yacht in Norway last month - it cost £930 for the eight nights, full board. It was assumed that you would share a cabin - but you could pay a 50% premium to have the cabin to yourself. So, the owners lost £465. They had a very well worked out system for victualling the boat and producing excellent meals. There is absolutely no way that they would have saved £465 if catering for 7 people instead of 8 (the two owners plus six guests) if I'd opted to pay that supplement.

You know it makes sense.

I always travel alone or with @queen bodecia, at least once each season sometimes more and we always book 2 single rooms. We don't pay single supplements unless we occupy double rooms and block off one bed in high season which I think in that case it would be fair. However, if they assign me to a double room after I have booked singles, I have yet to have the supplement applied.

I make sure I book single rooms and supplements are not incurred because the rooms are singles, so how can we be be reducing earnings? Most Austrian hotels have single rooms, especially if they are Gasthöfe that are in operation all year round. They also cater for the business traveller outside of the main tourist seasons who requires a single room. By booking direct, there are no extra fees and if they do try to add them when I'm in a room with one bed, then I ask how they justify the extra costs and indicate that I will be discussing the problem with the Tourist Office. Amazingly, the very few times it has appeared on my bill, it has miraculously immediately disappeared. Toofy Grin

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

I have travelled as a single many times but never paid a supplement, either,
Booked a single room in a pension
Shared with others met on arrival or at the airport, eg birthday bash
Last minute booking, Silver Ski were going to charge me single supplement but I said I would only book at the advertised price, they could have a double room with one paying person or an empty room

A snowHead

@stoat of the dead, The sight of yer bum jiggling its way to the bathroom will haunt me to my grave Shocked

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Masque, was the stoat's bum sighted some years ago?

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@pam w, Yup, same time as the 'Kramer incident' I should imagine it has fared as badly as mine in the interim Sad

It was 'People of Walmart' back boob epic . . . though I understand the gentleman has taken to exercise and has much changed his fundament . . . photo proof required though wink

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I have looked recently a single room offers, and there does appear to be some bargains around. I do not think it is just a business issue, it probably has more to do with the shared accommodation issue. Most potential single skiers are probably male, most actual single skiers in chalets are likely to be women. Understandably, couples and people with daughters, tend not to want to sleep in a bedroom adjacent to an ageing single skier (regardless of whether he protests about his status or not) Therefore, the single skier room in a chalet, tends to be adjacent to the staff room.

In a small hotel, in places like Italy or Austria, there is more accommodation for single male skiers. Primarily the reason for this, is that in Italy and Austria, its is more common for men to stay at home with mum and dad, and for sister to leave home.

In France there is single male accommodation, but you will have to share with others. The French like it that way.

Hostels are closing down left right and centre, and starting this unusual trend of smaller numbers of beds in the room with mixed sexes. I have never booked a mixed sex 4 bed room as a single, I suspect they are meant for families.

I have booked as a single in a dorm bed for 8 males over Xmas. It was full! It was cheap. There are not many of these around, you have to be quick off the mark too...

I do not pay supplements, and I do not like expensive hotels. However, even if single accommodation is cheaper in a chalet, I may prefer to stay elsewhere due to the odd one out status in a chalet. (single rooms in a chalet tend to be the exception rather than the rule)

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Golly. Well, if we are going to resurrect such old threads, might as well go the whole hog.... wink

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@Bigtipper, what a very odd observation!

After all it is free

Haha, I'd completely forgotten how much of a hard time I used to have on here. However, this wasn't a patch on the Jade Goody thread...

For the record, I'm still single of course, and I still stay in a single room. I have discovered DIY thanks entirely to some pretty bloody fabulous people in Austria, and yes single rooms and minimal single supplements do exist there. My erstwhile bunch of ski buddies have dropped off the radar a bit due to an array of personal circumstances, but we are still in touch and hopeful one day we will ski together again.

I actually think things have changed a bit since this original post. With the popularity of accommodation booking websites people can shop around for different combinations of room arrangements and the price quoted is often per room rather than per person, which makes far more sense. TOs would do well to learn from this.

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@pam w, I thought "Understandably, couples and people with daughters, tend not to want to sleep in a bedroom adjacent to an ageing single skier (regardless of whether he protests about his status or not) Therefore, the single skier room in a chalet, tends to be adjacent to the staff room. " was particularly odd

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I also think my comments were odd.

So that is three single woman, and me who think my comments were odd. Shall we book a 4 bed mixed dorm in a hostel together?

Laughing

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@Bigtipper, I'm not a single woman!

@holidayloverxx, how did I know you would protest the loudest?

You know it makes sense.

I do love the humour on this site! I posed the (re-newed?) question and resurrected this very old thread because I wondered how things have changed over the last few years!

I have found recently, much as you would expect, that going direct to small companies or individual owners gets a much better response than any TO will give, and they are often very willing to discuss price options. I have only looked seriously in France but it is interesting that some folk on here believe other countries offer more in the way of single rooms. I shall bear that in mind, if needs be, in the future.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Coo - like Boudica, re-read this thread when it came up in my "your threads" list. My attempt at emulating the style of some of our more provocative posters meant that I did come across as a bit of an arse. 4 years older and wiser eh?

I still maintain that the benefits of single travel outweigh that of the restrictions and costs placed on family units, I'm just going to put it more politely this time around. Hopefully.

A snowHead

I have always found it a little strange when hotels charge a single supplement for a room with only one bed.

I prefer places like Ibis, Travelodge, Premier Inn and others like that. You pay for a room and it's up to you how many sleep in it.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

The issue at point here is not single supplements per se, but how rooms are marketed. If booking a hotel direct uou will almost always pay 'per room.' If you book a TO package it will mostly be 'per person'. The TO will be paying the hotel for a room so it is perfectly understandable if they levy a 'single supplement' on the per person price.

If the package included more than just 'room only' I'd expect the supplement to reflect that the hotel would not have the cost of providing the extras for an additional person.

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Even more reason to DIY-it as @under a new name and @queen bodecia said. I always book apartments and work out our budget and requirements, sometimes 2 single people have to share a twin room, sometimes we all get a room each. Never costs more than £250/£300 each for accomodation.

However, the first ski trip we did was through a TO, and the only way we could get it to work was having 3 of us squeeze in a tiny room - it was fine, but that was hard to find as most TO's (or even hotels) will do only do 2 rooms for 3 single males (twin and a single/double) which obviously bumps the cost up. I completely understand why, hence why we had to find a different way of doing it.

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As a matter of interest has anyone ever booked an apartment anywhere, because of the need for single rooms, and found the kind of social interactions you get in a catered chalet? Maybe somewhere with a large communal lounge that actually gets used, and where guests do actually mingle?

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I occasionally go skiing by myself or with friends but try to find a single room. Ski Total and Inghmas have single rooms (and local airport flights too). ClubMed can be very reasonable. Seven of us had our own massive rooms in Chamonix this year with no supplement. Aime La Plagne only has a small supplement.

Also tried the book a flight and put a thread on the Chalet Direct Solutions Room and has worked for a last minute.

After all it is free

Many of the places I deal with have a very few single rooms which cost a little more than a place in a twin/double. This is IMV is perfectly justified as a single room is usually about 70% the size of a twin, the solo has their own exclusive bath/shower, that sort of thing. Once the single rooms are gone, the surcharge for using a double as a solo is usually a bit more.

Sometimes though I'm in quite a tricky position in that, while I may technically be able to assign a double as a solo, if I assign too many, the hotel will be unhappy about the 'wastage' and this will result in a higher price for everybody the following year. Given that on the bashes, I can always find someone a room mate who needs one, there's a balance to be struck between those who really need a solo (often epic snorers) and those who would just 'quite like' one.

Some tour-ops though are just a bit silly about it. In the past, I was presented with a late deal all-in for £179 - woohoo! (U might think) However it was in a triple room and they were after 2 x single supplement of £275! Err.... naturally I pointed out that this was more than simply paying for the places and leaving them empty but I was assured that would not be accepted and that leaving the beds empty would result in an expectation of me to pay the extra rolling eyes

As it was though, I just waited them out and booked 4hrs before departure on the basis that, "Your not going to sell more than this one bed now and that's all I'm offering to buy."

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The great single room debate...

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