Travel: Single Supplement Charges???

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matts1w

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Scuba Instructor
Messages
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Location
Jakarta, Indonesia & Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
# of dives
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This may be the wrong forum, so moderators please feel free to move it. I did not want to go in whine and cheese as I really am seeking an answer and not complaining…. but maybe it fits best there. Anyway, maybe someone in the travel industry can answer this as it has bugged me for a very long time.

I write this sitting in a great dive resort somewhere is SE Asia. The staff is awesome and the diving everything they promised. I am having a great time. As I often do, I am traveling by myself. Most of my friends do not want to dive the same sorts of places I do. Often they want nightlife, to also surf, or they just do not have the skills and experience to take on some of the places I go. Nothing wrong with that. I cannot surf half the breaks some of them do. In turn, I love heading out by myself to enjoy remote, challenging dive locals on my own terms.

Anyway, inevitably I am always hit with a “Single Supplement’ charge. For instance, here I paying $15 Euros a night extra for a single room and meals. Ok- I am fine with that in many ways- mostly because it was never a hidden cost, clearly stated on their website, and documented on my invoice. I agreed to those terms and wired my money. I can understand why liveaboards with six cabins charge such as they may have to turn away two paying guests due to a single occupancy. Here, however, the resort is about 40% full. There is no way they are turning away anyone this week. If I were not here the room would be sitting empty.

So my question: What exactly is a single’s supplement? What am I supplementing besides the owner’s wallet? What exactly about a guest who travels alone and books in advance necessities higher costs to the resort?

Alright, I am whining a bit, but isn’t the money from singles and single travelers the same as everyone else?

Thanks, and I am looking forward to some insight from y’all.
 
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Surely it's a simple (but none the less irritating) case of: It would more economical to put 2 beds or a double bed in a room and charge 2 people. Because there is one of you, you would not want to pay for a 2 person room/A non existent person. Therefore a supplement is a s**tty middle ground.

I stay in hostels and dorms as much as possible. A lot of the time (dependent on location/time of year) I have the dorm, or section of dorm to myself. MMmm yeah, I don't stay in resorts/hotels. Thus saving even more... In SE Asia I would be paying a lot less than 15 Euro per night.

Nic
 
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Perhaps the reasoning might be that there are certain costs (e.g. maid service, electricity, &#8230:wink: that are not reduced (or certainly not reduced by half) because there is only one person in the room.
 
Consider the Philippines next time. I'm going back in April for the 3rd time and I've never stayed at a place that charges singles extra.
 
I rarely pay it..can't afford to and won't go if it means I have to. When contacting resorts state you won't pay it upfront...won't hurt to ask...and go with the one that will waive it..you'd be surprised how often it works, along with maybe other discounts you weren't expecting. This of course is not going to work at busy times with near full occupany, but at the end of the day I think most operators realize what you stated...if you weren't there the room would be sitting empty.
 
I really think it is not a cost issue. It's a revenue issue. The resort is used to having two people in the rooms, getting payment from each of them. Because there is only one payer when there is single occupancy, they are getting less for the room than their expectation (or business plan) might direct. However, they don't want to lose a booking because someone wants a private room. So they rent the room to a single person for more than one person would pay at doubles rates, but without making the "single" pay an amount equal to the total of what 2 people sharing the room would pay. Lucky for me, my wife loves to travel and dive and we get the double occupancy rate. If she does not go, I have a back up buddy who will.
DivemasterDennis
 
I agree about it being a revenue issue. Some places do this, some don't. Seems more common in upscale places. I avoid the places that charge extra, and there are usually plenty of options for so, at least in places like Indonesia, the Philippines and such.
 
Dennis has it mostly right. It's a question of setting rates based on maximum occupancy. Any resort can charge by the room (with perhaps an extra-bed charge for more than two people to cover linens, breakfast, etc.), but resorts do not typically offer discounts to the single traveler who is "paying for two". By adding a single supplement, resorts can actually reduce the rate for the entire room to something less than double. Most resorts in the region that have a single supplement charge generally waive that charge if the guest is willing for the resort to book another single traveler into the room to share; the single supplement kicks in when the guest wants the room as a single. Of course it's possible, when demand is low, for a single traveler to have a private room without paying the single supplement simply because there's nobody in need of the bed. As an aside, the same policy applies to most liveaboards in the region.
 
Thanks all; pretty much what I thought. I really need to start being more proactive and at least try to negotiate my way out of this charge. Cheers.
 
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