Travel is geared mainly to serve customers as couples. But for a variety of reasons, lots of travelers are not in a coupled relationship. In my case, I’m a widower; others include the never married, the divorced or separated, and even couples with diverse interests. Over the years, the travel business has given short shrift to these travelers, but suppliers have recently taken a closer look at what they see as a big potential source of business.
For years, some tour operators and cruise lines have been positioning themselves as “singles travel” specialists, but mostly their approach has been to match up singles into couples. True solo travel is different—true solo travelers do not what to share accommodations with strangers or even with friends who they might want to consider. They want sole occupancy of whatever arrangement they make.
If you’re traveled at all, you’ve seen that a lot of pricing is based on “per person, double occupancy,” or PPDO:
Most modern hotel rooms are designed to accommodate at least two people with two single, double, or queen beds; hotels charge the same rate for either one or two occupants.
Similarly, the vast majority of cruise cabins are set up to accommodate up to four people – two comfortably in separate small beds, combinable into a double, and two more uncomfortably in pull-down bunk beds.
Railroads charge each traveler the same for basic rail fare, but for compartments on overnight trains such as Amtrak’s long-distance trains, the price is the same for one as for two.
Although not promoted as such, rental cars are de facto PPDO: Adding a second passenger (or more) adds nothing to the daily or weekly rent.
Even with the prevalence of PPDO pricing, solo travelers have reasonable options:
Hotels. Although most new or recent hotels are designed for couples, small, older hotels in Europe often have single rooms designed for just one occupant, as do small Japanese business hotels. Daily rates are usually substantially less than but more than half the double-room rates. On my recent trips, I’ve found comfortable single rooms at small family-owned hotels in Brussels, Grindelwald, and Rothenburg ob der Tauber, as well as in Japan. But most of the time, I have to settle for the usual double rate.
Tours. Despite a growing number of self-styled “Solo” tour operators, most fall back on the formula that “we’ll match you with a suitable roommate, and we won’t charge extra if we can’t find one.” But if you really want accommodations by yourself, you pay a single supplement. What may be close to everybody’s favorite tour operator, Road Scholar ( roadscholar.org/); formerly Elderhostel but open to travelers of any age) posts a pull-down options menu that includes “solo travelers only” filter. The choices are limited, but they’re genuinely for solo travelers. Google “solo travel” to find other outfits worth a look.
Cruise. For a long time, cruise lines ignored the solo traveler, relying instead on stiff single supplements for double cabins. But some of the newer liners feature cabins designed for one person. The good folks at Cruise Critic have compiled and posted a list ( cruisecritic.com/articles/which-ships-have-solo-cabins ) of cruise lines and cruise ships with true single cabins. Norwegian leads the pack in number of rooms and number of cabins per ships, but the other lines are catching up. Carnival, the biggest player, seems to be lagging the trend, but it does have a few on Cunard. Unfortunately, other than Cunard, no high-end lines yet make the list.
Trains. I don’t know any way to hack PPDO compartment prices on Amtrak, and Amtrak seldom puts them on sale. Sorry.
No Supplement Deals. Historically, tour operators and cruise lines have charged solo travelers the dreaded “single supplement” to occupy an accommodation designed for a couple. The supplement usually ranges from 50 percent more to double the PPDO rate. They’ve catered to solo travelers mainly through occasional “no single supplement” promotions, often for departures they believe are not likely to sell out – which means the best deals are last-minute deals. You can still find those.
(Send e-mail to Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net. Also, check out Ed’s new rail travel website at www.rail-guru.com.)
