Would you sleep with a stranger to save money?

First up, this is not about school dormitories, hospital wards or backpacker hostels. Or about dodgy blokes renting out rooms in return for “benefits”. It’s about the choice offered to adult tourists to share a hotel room or cruise-ship cabin with somebody they don’t know.

While it’s not as common as it used to be, there are still tour operators who promise to pair-up solo travellers in the same room.

Anybody who has ever been in a relationship knows that it’s hard enough to share a room with somebody you actually like, so why do it with a stranger?

Well, like many compromises you make when you travel, it comes down to money. As I have noted before, costs for solo cruise-ship passengers are unreasonably high. The same can be said for single people on package tours.

Rather than address the real problem, some tour companies offer the choice of paying a single supplement or “pairing” with a stranger.

I guess that worked a few decades ago, when people weren’t so fussy about where they slept. But the world has moved on. We all want our own space, not least for reasons of personal security.

While the sharing of rooms with somebody you don’t know is increasingly rare in the world of tourism — possibly because of the legal and insurance issues associated with “pairing” you with an axe murderer — I recently heard of a travel writer who was required to do so in Thailand.

And, on cruise lines, it’s usually the case that you will be required to pay a supplement that can range from nothing (if the sailing date is approaching and there are plenty of free cabins) to twice the price.

It could be argued that solo travellers are disadvantaged wherever they stay. When you book into a hotel, you pay for the room. While there may be an upper limit on the number of occupants, they charge singles the same price as they charge couples or small families.

Tour operators want you to travel together so they can pay for fewer rooms.

But of course, when you actually travel, by plane or train, everybody (except very small children) pays for the seat they occupy, so the rule is reversed. Unless the tour operator has paid a flat price to charter the bus, train or plane, in which case they just need to get as many people on board as they can so they can make more money.

In recent times, we’ve seen the advent of very small hotel rooms, including “capsule” hotels that cater for just one visitor. I wouldn’t (probably couldn’t) use one, but at least the option is there. 

Some cruise companies are answering the demand from the growing number of solo passengers by providing smaller “studio” rooms, and throwing in some extras — like drinks or a communal space — that are not available to other passengers.

Until more solutions are found — and I would hope that the companies involved are working on it — single tourists are just going to have to accept that they’ll be discriminated against.