The Singles Center Feature

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Sample article from Singles. The Magazine for Today's Single:

Traveling Solo

From Singles, The Magazine for Today's Single

Travel, we all do it, but who’s getting the best deals? Singles often end up paying double the rate for rooms that should otherwise be shared. The dreaded single supplement charge is the culprit for all of this overcharging. Businesses argue that they only have so much space and need to charge for it at full capacity while singles counter that they are a large market, often with more time and disposable income than families or couples balancing two vacation schedules and ought to be courted with price breaks. Besides advertising for a roomie, it may be hard for those traveling solo to foot the bill.

First, destination: Cruise ships. Unlike previous generations of cruise ships, the ever larger vessels delivered in recent years have virtually no single cabins. Older cruise ships, many now facing imminent retirement were routinely outfitted with a handful of single rooms, even if they were located in the least desirable areas of the ship. If you’re flexible, many tour operators are offering double occupancy rates, often described as "guaranteed share" rates to travelers willing to be paired up with a stranger of the same gender and smoking habits. Otherwise, places like Carnival Cruise lines will charge you twice the regular rate of a seven day cruise, $1099 per person, to sail solo. If you agree to a guaranteed share program, and no roommate can be found, the line will assign you a single room for the price of a shared one.

Singles are a huge market for the cruise line industry, so why shouldn’t they be catered to? About 25 percent of today’s cruise passengers are single. While most travel with friends or relatives, about four percent travel alone. These solo travelers are finding a growing number of cruise lines which are particularly welcoming and accommodating.

James G. Godman, president of Cruise Lines International Association, the marketing organization for the cruise industry, "There’s an immediate sense of community once you step onboard which makes a cruise the ideal environment for someone who prefers to travel alone." To appeal to the passengers who prefer to travel solo, adds Godman, many CLIA member cruise lines are offering a variety of attractions including special rates and onboard social activities.

As a regular cruiser, Dr. Bedrock, a New Jersey surgeon states, "What I love most about cruising is meeting so many fantastic people (of all ages) from around the world, I also like getting involved in all the fun activities, visiting different places, and keeping within my budget." Cruising is so popular among singles because it is such an easy and natural setting in which to meet new people. From friends he’s made at sea, Dr. Bedford still receives holiday cards, invitations to visit and traveling companions for future visits.

The question behind all of this is: Is it fair for singles to be economically forced into finding a roommate for travel? Ted Marcus doesn’t think so. He writes "if cruise operators were really interested in maximizing efficiency, quad occupancy would be the standard arrangement. I’m sure some of them have thought of this, but they know most couples would find the idea of sharing their cabin with strangers unacceptable. Why should singles be any different? Perhaps if enough singles complained loudly about unfair treatment, the travel industry might have some incentive to find better options for single customers than the game of "roommate roulette."

Next stop: Hotel rooms and tour packages. The Office of Fair Trading has launched an investigation into complaints by the Single Travelers Action Group that tour operators are discriminating against solo travelers by charging excessively high supplements for single rooms. According to STAG, which was launched in March of 1995, single supplements can be as high as $50 a night, often adding 30 to 40 percent to the cost of a holiday.

Many singles are experiencing this singles supplement in full force. Jennifer Paul writes, "There is often a problem when traveling alone and taking part in hotel/resort activities. For example, I stayed at the American Club hotel in Kohler, Wis. I had always dreamed about skeet shooting, and was delighted to find it was offered. However, the price was based on two people. I offered to pay for two people and I was denied. I couldn’t believe it." Jennifer herself is happily married, but takes business and pleasure trips alone.

American Club spokesman Ed Allman later stated that hotel policy "would have allowed Jennifer to go out as a single if she paid for two people" and that he does not know why she was told otherwise. He stated that a minimum payment is needed to pay the employee who pulls the traps. This type of economic reasoning is what propels most single’s supplements. The main reason for a singles supplement in most any case is lost revenue from bar and gift excursion sales when only one person is occupying a room.

According to STAG founder Jean Jewell, "Single travelers are made to feel like second-class citizens, having to pay extra for inferior rooms. Tour operators should be putting much more pressure on hotels to supply better-quality single rooms at more reasonable rates."

The single supplement has come to be one of the most misunderstood aspects of travel today, which partly accounts for the dismay it creates in many solo travelers. The anger at the supplement is also evidence that the travel industry hasn’t fully come to grips with how best to serve large numbers of singles of all ages looking for a fair deal. The single supplement hits hardest at budget-minded travelers for whom extra cost could make a trip just about impossible to take. Even on inexpensive tours, the additional $50 a day over the per-person rate could make a trip inaccessible.

So how does one go about beating the single supplement? Roberta Rothwell says, "I’ve been quite upset for years at being ripped off and not recognized by travel outlets for wanting to go somewhere by myself whether by circumstance or desire. The way I have found to ‘even the score’ is time-shares. The initial outlay may seem high, but knowing you’re going to travel throughout your lifetime, the cost evens out. I recently purchased a second week by resale."

Other ways to defray the cost of the single supplement are

1) Whenever possible, travel through single-friendly organizations or those geared specifically for singles. Some of them are AESU Travels, Backroads, Brendan Tours, Contiki Holidays, Cosmos and Trafalgar Tours. Saga Holidays is a company specifically geared towards singles fifty and older. All of these companies sell trips through travel agents while only some of them sell only through travel agents. Saga Holidays only sells direct to consumers via its toll-free line at (800) 343-0273.

2) Singles-matching travel services—like Travel Companion Exchange (800) 392-1256 lets prospective travelers pair themselves off through newsletter listings, follow-up correspondence and phone calls. TRE charges $99 for an eight month membership (or $48 for a year’s subscription to their bi-monthly newsletter, which includes six back issues.) The company counts about 2,000 active members and 3,000 more who subscribe to the newsletter but do not list themselves in it.

3) Go Club Med--(800) 258-2633 This company has tailored many of its resorts to please families, others for couples, and still others for singles. At the 114 Club Med villages on six continents, single supplements vary from nothing to 40% depending on location and season (most resorts keep single supplements at 20% from May through mid-December). Club Med also extends a discount of $150 to travelers over 55.

4) Surf the net—Web and commercial online services offer plenty of sustenance for single travelers.

---The Thorn Tree bulletin board at Lonely Planet’s information rich Web site (http://www.lonelyplanet.com) includes separate categories for travel companions, women travelers, and gay and lesbian travelers.
---SeniorNet--(http:www.seniornet.org/)--a national nonprofit group dedicated to building a community of computer-using adults age 55 and older.
---The Singles Center has a free Travel Club as a benefit of membership. The regular membership cost of $39.95 per year also includes free membership in our new Members Personals and a monthly magazine (which you’re now viewing). Singles can sign up with a friend on a 2 for 1 promotion until January 1, 1998.

5) Rough it—Sign up for an outdoor adventure trip such as trail riding, white water rafting or backpacking—where a lodging supplement isn’t needed because everybody sleeps in individual tents.

All in all, it is still up to the single traveler to be assertive and resourceful in order to get the best deal he or she can find. While roommate options may remain slim and inconvenient sometimes it may be the only way to make a trip affordable. Singles organizations are helping ease the path for solo travelers, but until more travel resort and cruise ships open their arms to singles, those traveling alone just may end up seeing double.