Travelling on your lonesome

By STEVE HART

Why are all the holiday prices advertised as twin share?" The man on the end of the phone was clearly agitated and wanted to get something off his chest.

I remained silent and moved the handset a few centimetres away from my ear. "I'm single but have to pay extra to go on holiday," he barked.

"The single supplement for hotel rooms can run to hundreds of dollars more than the package price."

Brian, I think that was his name, had a point and I shared a sympathetic ear (the good one).

"Why don't they cater for single people - why should I have to pay more just because I'm single?"

The complaint is not a new one - I have heard people bemoaning the single supplement since before I had a passport.

Options for solo travellers wanting to dodge the single supplement, a sometimes hefty add-on to compensate the hotel for losing the income of two people sharing a room, have come and gone over the years.

Once upon a time, I am told, there were firms in New Zealand whose business it was to "marry" people up to share rooms during their holidays. But many, if not all, have disappeared - some under a dark cloud of litigation as holidaymakers sued for having their holidays ruined.

Some people, says a travel agent, felt cheated after being partnered up with someone they felt was an undesirable - a snorer, a belching drinker, someone wanting a quiet bedtime read being disturbed by the other watching reruns of MacGyver.

Backpackers avoid the problem by being prepared to stay in dormitories where one pays just for the bed, not the room. But what about those who want to travel the world in comfort, stay in hotels and not be disadvantaged for being an odd number?

Trafalgar Tours is one of a handful of companies that offers its customers a "same-sex" room-mate matching service - so long as customers ask for it when they book the holiday.

For example, the single-room supplement on a 31-day tour of Europe with Trafalgar is $2220, on top of the twin share price of $7225 a person. If you opt to share a room you'll save money and if the company can't match you up it will waive the single supplement.

Brian Leeson, general manager of the coach tour company's New Zealand operation, says about 10 per cent of his 7000 customers a year are paired up. The firm doesn't go into great detail about its clients' likes, dislikes or age, so theoretically a 35-year-old could be paired with a pensioner.

"There is an element of risk," says Brian.

"One of our customers said he shared a room with a man who thought nothing of walking around their hotel room naked. But it didn't bother him.

"If a customer is unhappy, then we do everything we can to resolve it. This could include swapping people around - with everyone's agreement - or suggesting one of the people pay a little more for a single room.

"Sometimes our paired-up solo travellers are offered single rooms on arrival. It all depends how busy the hotel is - that's down to the discretion of the hotel."

Single travellers booking with the Cosmos side of tour company Globus & Cosmos are given the option of sharing with a fellow single traveller on the company's tours. More than a third of its customers travel alone and the potential saving, on the company's most expensive holiday, is $1380 on a 27-day tour of Europe that costs more than $4000.

Of course, not everybody wants to take a coach tour - especially as cruises are becoming increasingly popular with younger people.

Carnival Cruise Lines runs a "share stranger" programme that's been helping single people for more than 10 years. And with 16 ships sailing to places such as the Caribbean, Mexico and Alaska every week of the year there's plenty of scope to pair up and cut the cost.

A single person's supplement with Carnival can be 50 to 100 per cent of the normal twin-share price. A Caribbean fly-cruise with the company costs around $4500 a person, twin share.

"Any problems with incompatibility are addressed on a case-by-case basis," says Lisa Tapley-Bale, New Zealand spokeswoman for the company, "but we never guarantee to give another cabin - most of the time our ships are full.

"On the plus side there is the chance to make a new friend."

Pacific Sky, which operates out of Auckland, is the only P&O ship that caters for singles wanting to share.

A single fare on the ship is 160 per cent of the twin share price, with a four-night cruise from Auckland to Sydney priced at $1260 costing the solo holiday-maker $2016 (share cabins are on the dolphin deck, S grade). So partnering up saves $756, leaving plenty for the $400 flight home.

"Sharing is quite popular with some single people," says P&O spokesman Jo Mackie. "All shared accommodation - two- or four-berth cabins - is for people of the same gender and, if possible, of a similar age.

"Problems are minimal, but there will sometimes be personality clashes. If there is a problem we do everything we can to help and could possibly move people to different cabins."

The single supplement will always be here while hotels - floating or fixed - do their best to make each bed earn its keep in an increasingly tough market.

But for people such as Brian, and others who choose to be single, there are options that, with a bit of give and take, can reduce the cost of a holiday.

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Trafalgar Tours

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