Single supplement rooms

My single supplement rooms with the My Way Spain tour I was on were all fine. Some may have had un-scenic views, but I was not hanging out in my room, so didn't care about its view. And of course, if the room is on a courtyard, or on a back street, it's quieter.

I have taken two tours and I thought my rooms were as good as, or better than everyone else's.

My rooms on the South of France tour were fine. One was just OK, but I didn’t spend much time in it. The others were as good if not better than I would have booked for myself.

The single supplement is so worth it if you don’t want to risk sharing a room with someone you’re not compatible with. I like my own space and have my own routine. I paid the single supplement for this June’s tour. And will for next year too. Money well spent.

I’ve been on 5 tours all with single rooms. All were very comfortable. And depending on the age of the hotel, they can be unique and somewhat unusual in their layout but that made it fun for me. Any time I was able to see other rooms they all seemed to be on par. I never felt I had the poor relation’s room tucked away out of sight.

I have been on 8 tours, 6 of them alone. I find all rooms have improved since my 1st trip in 2008. The rooms in big cities such as London are usually in larger hotels with pretty standard rooms. Last September in London they put us in a hotel in Mayfair and I had a huge room with a king bed. In smaller towns or cities if it is an old hotel which still has single rooms (probably for when ladies traveled with a maid) you can be put there and it can be very small. I have only been put in one room in all my tours that was substandard and that was in Mont San Michele in an annex. I always choose double bed vs twin bedded room in my tour profile and that may help me get larger rooms (just a guess.)

I’ve taken 15 tours, all single supplement. Rooms can vary hotel to hotel. Some were magnificent others not but overall I thought they were quite satisfactory. When on a tour, I basically use my room for sleep and taking a shower so if it’s clean, quiet and has a good mattress, I’m satisfied. The only room I did not care for was in Prague. It was very plain, sort of like a monk’s cell.

Lots of tours here and most of them single supplement. In all cases my rooms were equal to or even nicer than the doubles. I value the “quiet time” having the s/s affords me and that’s worth the cost of the supplement.

Another single supplement traveler who finds the RS rooms just fine and never felt they were inferior. Hotels/rooms do vary quite a bit over a tour, and not all hotels offer specifically single rooms, so you might be in a room very similar to those shared by 2 people.

I suspect the language you saw is directed at people who haven't travelled outside N. America, where so many hotel rooms are large enough for 2 big beds. Very unusual to find that in Europe.

"I suspect the language you saw is directed at people who haven't travelled outside N. America, where so many hotel rooms are large enough for 2 big beds. Very unusual to find that in Europe."

I think Liz is right. It's a way to get new travelers to lower their expectations.

As with many others on the thread...I've done a bunch all with the single supplement. There have been some hotels where I had a smallish room and other times where I had the same kind of room or better.

Is there a particular tour you are interested in? The hotels may vary but one of us may have been on that tour and have an idea.

The RS website seems to indicate that is the case with this type of room including rooms with poor views as well.

Where did you find that 'indication'?

Edit-- As I have not traveled as a single I had not come across ( looked at) that part of the Tour Conditions language.

Thank you all for your responses. Very helpful! I am considering the Best of Italy tour.

I would not be interested in sharing a room as some of you have also mentioned, so the single supplement is a must for me.

In the “Tour Conditions” it states that single rooms may be small and basic, but there is no mention about the view. Here’s the link:

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/tour-conditions

I have been on seven tours, paying the solo supplement on all but one. All the hotel rooms were fine. They ranged from very small (I prefer to call them “cozy”) to a suite with two rooms, two huge beds, a couch and two bathrooms (I wasn’t sure what to do in all that space!). The views also ranged from nothing to incredible. I think the guide tries to rotate the best views throughout the tour.

I would never trade my private space for a view. The supplement is worth it!

I just did the Best of Italy tour last October with a single supplement.

Here were the hotels and some comments:

Varenna: Royal Victoria - I made a tactical error here. I'd gone up 2 days early from Milan and splurged on the Balcony rooms facing the lake. It was quite a come-down to move to the tour room on the front of the hotel. I had a view of the square and the church so it wasn't viewless but nothing would have been like the balcony room, lol.

Castelrotto: Hotel Cavallino d'Oro -Oh my....the door to the room looked like a cute Hobbit hole but inside it had vaulted ceilings and was so cool! Huge bathroom as well. Some tours stay up at Compatsch at Hotel Seelaus.

Venice: Hotel Serenissima - This was the smallest room although the bathroom was fairly good-sized. It was the only room on this trip that had a single-size bed - or maybe a small double bed.

Florence: Hotel Accademia Firenze - I'd stayed here long ago on my first RS tour. My room was big and I had a huge bathroom

Cinque Terre: Albergo Pasquale - I actually stayed in the very same room as on my previous Italy tour, lol. Large room, faced the beach and sea.

Siena: Hotel Chiusarelli - I had a cute balcony in this room as did many other tour members. Room was big, bathroom was odd as is sometimes the case in a retro-fitted buildings - long and narrow.

Orvieto area agritourismo: Altarocco Wine Resort - I had a giant room here. King bed, I think, huge bathroom.

Rome: Hotel Aberdeen - Room was fair sized but bathroom was pretty tiny and shower was one of the very small corner showers that I've had before in Rome.

I'd have no problem recommending this tour for a solo traveler on a single supplement! It's a wonderful, wonderful tour! Do go to Milan a day or two before the tour starts both for jet lag, possible travel delays and to see the Last Supper and the Duomo. I also recommend staying in Rome another day or so if you can do it.

If you are interested, here is my Trip Report.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/best-of-italy-sept-30-october-16-2022

I have traveled with RS just once, the Best of Bulgaria this past September. I was traveling alone and opted for the single supplement. At the end of the day, I need my own space and some quiet time. Thus, I prefer not to share a room, especially with a person I do not know.

My experience was very pleasing. I never found the room I was given to be in any way deficient. A few nights, from what I heard and saw from others, I had a very good room. Sometimes it was fact larger than what some couples had! While I certainly cannot say my experience was the norm since this was my one and only experience with RS tours, I suspect it was not out of the ordinary either. Other solo travelers noted similar experiences on prior tours they had taken.

Bottom line, I would not in any way hesitate to book the single supplement. In fact, I just did so for a tour this coming September. Money well spent.

Four RS tours, all with single supplement. I have always had good rooms except for one night (mold issue), and a quick word with the guide got that sorted quickly. The rooms and beds, are often as large as those with double occupancy and I have had some fabulous views. I am especially thinking of the Chapel Bridge view in Luzern.

Last September, there was a communication error between RS tours and the Hotel in Mostar, Bosnia that resulted in all the RS rooms being cancelled instead of just one room. The hotel quickly tried to fix their error, but it came up short on rooms. All 7 of us on single supplements and the guide were "walked" to another hotel. That was the only moment that I ever felt I was being treated differently. At first I was a little hesitant, but soon discovered I had a comfortable room with the best air conditioning of the whole trip. At breakfast, we discovered that our tour mates who stayed in the original hotel did not have the same experience with their air conditioning. We had actually had the better experience!

Thank you Pam for such a wonderfully detailed response!! Very helpful indeed! I will definitely check out your trip report. No lake view at Lake Como is disappointing but not enough to deter me from going! Thank you again for taking the time to provide such insight into your trip experience. It was very helpful and encouraging!

I have been on several RS tours with the single supplement. I felt that I was assigned a room that was the same as the ones given to the couples. On the tours I was on none were too small. I did not think the TD assigned the rooms as someone upthread mentioned. I got the sense they were assigned by each hotel. I could be wrong.

I think rooms used to be assigned by the guides, but that this is no longer the case. That is my impression.

I believe, like kaydee and Carol, that the hotels assign the rooms. I also realized at the last hotel in Rome that the tour member list has ages on it. I had a moment of clarity at that point and realized I must have been the oldest member on the tour as I was always assigned rooms on the lower floors, lol.

I've done the single supplement and would recommend it. I have done RS with shared rooms. The 2nd time I did a RS trip with a shared room the other guy snored so loudly I was more tired at the end of the trip than I was from jetlag at the start.

So for single room experience: On the Best of Switzerland tour I felt the rooms were good. On the Best of England the rooms were uniformly poor and had no view. In York I ended up in the basement (yep, they had a room down there) and at the very last hotel in London mine was on the ground floor with a window facing the dumpsters. I'm hoping it was because the hotel doing the assignment and not the guide disliked me ;-)

My first tour was The Best of the Adriatic. On that tour I did not opt for the single supplement, but I was lucky that the only other single woman tour member, did pay for the single supplement. So because of that I was given single rooms for the entire trip. Most rooms were very nice, some were small, but still comfortable. Since then, I have taken 3 additional tours and each time paid for the single supplement. As others have committed, some rooms were small and others were large, but I was comfortable in all of them.

I've been on 3 RS tours and opted for the single supplemental on all three tours. On my first tour (Venice-Florence-Rome), I had an attic room which was probably the best and most unique room I've ever stayed in. Now that I think about it, I don't think I wasn't happy with any of the single rooms I stayed in on a RS tour.
I will never opt out of the single supplement.

I've been on 6 RS tours in solo supplement rooms. To be honest, I'm not interested in a good room. I'm interested in a good time....meeting new people, enjoying new foods....just enjoying life.

Well, in my opinion, the comfort of the room contributes to a good night's sleep and therefore my enjoyment of the trip. I am getting older and deserve at a minimum a comfortable mattress and bedding, a working shower, a locking door and safe, some climate control in the room, and a reasonable level of quiet overnight. Most of my rooms on these tours met my expectations and a few were lacking, but not enough to prevent me from going on another tour. I always hope the rooms will be good.

We also understood that it is often the hotel that assigns rooms, although the tour leader can make changes. They have purposefully rotated "good rooms" among the travelers so one couple is not always shafted.

The primary criteria that RSE uses for tours is location - proximity to sights you will visit. Since much of the sightseeing is on foot or with some public transport, they need to be central. Small budget hotels would be pricey if the view was a feature. Now we have often had some really nice hotels, but it's not a luxury tour. As a couple, we've also had our share of alley-views rooms.

From conversing with the single travelers on our RS tours, the main reason I'd pay the single supplement is snoring. Being either the perpetrator or the victim would be incentive enough.

I have not traveled as a solo, but have taken numerous tours that offer the single supplement. I have heard both positive remarks about single supplement as well as shared rooms. Most tour members expressed they liked the “down times” without a roommate. After a long day, they appreciated quiet time. As far as your question about inferior or substandard rooms, I’ve never heard any concerns. Some of the solo’s had traveled with other solo’s over the years, or made new travel friends on the tour. As a couple we’ve experienced rooms with or without views. What’s important for us is comfort, cleanliness & quiet night.

Thanks again to everyone for your comments. I agree with many of you about needing privacy and down time at the end of the day. I would not consider a shared room, just hoping that the single rooms would not be the worst either. I have been on one RS tour previously (not alone) so I am familiar with the types of hotels which are provided. I appreciate all the insight into your travel experiences as a single.

I've always had single rooms on the tours. I've had some very nice rooms. I did notice my single rooms in Rome were small rooms with a single bed :) In Florence I remember having a big iron Tuscan bed, it was nice. I don't think you can go wrong with a single, if this is what you want.

I've done three, all as a single, rooms were fine. Some were smaller with a twin bed, others bigger with a bigger bed. The hotels know our ages and I think they take that into account assigning rooms if there isn't an elevator.

I think the RS staff is trying to counter the impression that paying the supplement will get the single traveler a "better" room than otherwise. From the hotel's point of view, if they can put me in a smaller room they'll have a larger one to sell to a couple. I know that going in and it's fine with me.

Single Supplement rooms I had Best of Scotland (Inverness, Loch Ronnach, Edinburgh) and in Best of Paris were 1st world terrific. They were modern, fairly large--2 could have easily & comfortably shared them. Traveled 6/22 & 2/23.

I didn't spend too much time in these rooms. Travel calls for a clean bathroom, decent bed, convenient storage---a place to relax before the next adventure. RS point about single rooms should not be a concern. ab

I had a moment of clarity at that point and realized I must have been the oldest member on the tour as I was always assigned rooms on the lower floors, lol.

Ha ha ha, Pam!!! Maybe you should try adding 10 years to your age - they might bring you breakfast in bed!

Seriously, this is all good stuff to read - I still have yet to take a RS tour but just from all the comments I've heard both here and in other posts makes me think that it would really be fun and wonderful!

The accommodations for my tour, the 21 days best of Europe last September, were single supplement. Our guide told us that some hotels elect to assign rooms, those that did not he assigned. All were comfortable and only in Venice was the bed a twin and bathroom exceptionally small - needed some flexibility with the front of toilet inches away from the wall. Although this hotel's location and amazing breakfast more than made up for the tight bathroom accommodation. With the exception of Venice, my rooms were equally as nice as the couples and sometimes my room was even larger or had better views. I had a 2 room suite in Beaune, a gorgeous large corner room in Bacharach with a balcony and a spectacular mountain view room in Switzerland. Some of my favorite stays were hotels on this trip. RS did a great job assigning rooms so everyone had some amazing rooms with views, lower floors when there were no elevators and larger rooms. Overall the single supplement rooms were wonderful and far exceeded my expectations. As others have noted, you are so busy, very little time is spent in your room but the single supplement for me was worth it for the privacy and convenience of having the bathroom to myself in the morning. Always rushing in the morning after sleeping in until the last minute.

Our experience matches that of njkirkwood11, in relation to how the rooms are assigned. Usually the guide assigned the room, but occasionally the hotel did. Most of our RS guides have made a point of saying they try to make sure everyone has the same level of room experience, over the course of the tour. (We're talking bus tours here of course, not city tours on which the group stays in one hotel the entire time.)

At least twice, a guide has said "The hotel assigned the rooms here; I had no input."

I don't know if the 21 Day Best of Europe still stays in that quirky tower hotel in Bacharach, but the rooms were so creatively (even weirdly) decorated that our guide suggested we all view each other's rooms. At least one was so tiny there was no space at all between the single bed and the walls!