(Updated and reposted, Aug 2023)

People who love to travel don’t always come in pairs, but the travel industry still favours pricing based on double occupancy. It’s been a big problem for many solo travellers, since the penalties for taking a single room can be discouragingly high and finding a travel mate to fill that second bed is often difficult.

Who Are Single/Solo Travellers?

I first encountered the singles issue working for a tour company in Calgary that catered to “seniors”. It did not take me long to learn that women were our primary market, but not why.

Many women I spoke to had lived their adult lives raising families, building careers, or both, and now wanted to see more of the world. They liked the social environment of group tours but at this stage some of the women had outlived their spouses or were divorced or, often as not, had a spouse not interested in travel. So we tried to help by making lists of “willing to share” singles, but it was not really workable. Different schedules, different interests, different budgets.

The single travel issue is not just confined to older women though. Every developed country in the world shows increasing numbers of single person households. Travel companies now have taken notice and come up with better solutions. It’s good to know there are options but it is also important to understand some of the nuances.

Solo Travel Solutions

Designated Allotments

Some companies, from tour operators to river and ocean cruises, set aside certain departures or a limited number of designated spaces having no single supplements. 

Singles travel with a regular group of people and they take part in all the activities that the program offers, but they just stay in a single room that has been allotted for a single. These are great, but limited in choice. There is no index or directory for companies offering these so your best bet is to talk to us and discuss what type of travel you are interested in we’ll check with our preferred suppliers to see who has spaces on offer.

There is a second type of tour that has all singles, no single supplements.

Tours With No Single Supplements

These singles tours don’t take any double or twin bookings at all. Everyone on the tour is travelling single with their own private room. They aren’t hook-up tours or anything weird. They are really high quality, with good priced tours and you can see a lot.

The prices of these trips vary depending on the destination and type of tour, but are can be competitive with similar quality tours at the double occupancy rate.

There’s generally more flex-time than regular tours for people to explore independently, while offering as much social time as you want. So, for example, your tour may be visiting Florence, Italy, and you have a fascination with the Borgias. The operators often do their best to facilitate your personal interests. These solo only tours are just making their way into Canada and they are very popular over seas. There are walking tours, vacation getaway trips, coach tours, and river cruises.

Roomies

The third type of single travel solution is what I term a shared room guarantee price.  The idea is very simple. The tour company offers to put you in a room with another single person of the same sex. If there isn’t another single on the trip, you stay in your own room and don’t pay the single supplement. In some places, you could be part of a triple (made of 3 singles). It’s very clean and straightforward. There are several active tour and adventure tour companies doing this, but there are a also a few escorted tour companies that offer them too.

Solo Independent Programs

If you don’t fancy group travel, the fourth type of trip is basically a customized package. These trips can be pricey, but they need not be severely expensive. Many non-North American hotels have a selection of smaller rooms for singles so pricing can come out fairly reasonably.

For example, I had one person that was very interested in Easter Island archeology and other aspects of archeology on mainland Chile. There were no tours that did exactly what was wanted, so I helped make a personal program. The client did not require a guide at all times, so I was able to use local guides and mix in existing transportation services instead of fully private ones. For accommodation, smaller family owned hotels were used but in some destinations there were guest houses, and b and b’s. It was highly satisfactory and I’ve done this type of program for singles, couples and families. The key is planning with trusted operators that we can connect you to.

Travel or Stay Home?

There’s no need to stay home anymore if you’re single and want to take a tour or vacation. There are single travel options in most price ranges and lots of destinations. If you are interested in these, explore more of this website and then contact me by phone or email.