Although I'm not familiar with this company, I have found Travelsphere UK provides single rooms but their prices seem high to me. I am planning on using them for Italy this fall. I've also found Allsingles travel but he doesn't have much left for the fall...no single supplements there.

dublinohmom, thank you for your feedback. Could you please let me know the websites for Travelsphere UK and Allsingles travel.

Cheers,

Partyon

Grand Circle Travel (www.gct.com) has a wonderful and relatively inexpensive trip to La Costa del Sol in Spain in the fall with no single supplement. Although their tours appeal to senior travelers, the program last December included parents with their two college kids and participants in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. The program included a stay in a studio apartment, daily buffet breakfast, a dine-around program with meal vouchers, and several excursions. You can opt to take other excursions with the group or on your own or with local tours. I had a wonderful time and highly recommend it.

I will be taking my first tour with Intrepid Travel, which has a sister company Gap Adventures. They do not charge a single supplement- in fact, all of their prices are listed for single travelers and it appears that couples and groups are the exception to the rule.

travelsphere.co.uk. Their trips leave from the UK, so you need to meet up with them there. The other one is allsinglestravel.com. I haven't used either so can't give a reference. The folks that answer the phones sound informed.. thats all I can tell you, sorry. I'm about to book one so can let you know in November how it was. Good luck.

Anyone tried 'easyhotel.com'? Owned by the same guy who runs easyjet, and easycruise.com
I read no single supplements are charged, even for the cruise, but prices are low because it's for the room only, and little else.

i just did a singles tour with allsinglestravel to the greek islands and only AFTER they collected all the monies from me did the changes on the package start happening...they switched the hotel in santorini to one which was much farther from the village than the one we were supposed to be at so it required taking taxis all the time...then they switched the cruise ship we were supposed to be taking to a horrible ship called the hellenic calypso!! which was awful and you couldnt even have a conversation in the dining room as it was so noisy due to the motors or something mechanical...and then we were supposed to fly home from santorini to athens and have a last enjoyable nite in athens and they switched it to some ship that stopped at every port and it took over 8 hours to get to athens and we were forced to sit on hard wooden cafeteria chairs the entire trip and we did not get into athens exhausted and frustrated until midnite!!!!!!!so we lost our entire day in santorini and our final evening in athens...beware!!!!!!!their policy is no cancellations or you lose your money if you cancel in the last 90 days before the departure...but the changes were not made orwere we notified until the last 2 weeks before departure for one stupid reason or another so ..be careful...their trip was over 2500.00 for 9 or 10 days and it wasnt really 10 days and that is 250.00 a day!!and i shared the room with another female....there are lots of packages out there for alot less...you can get a two week pkge for less than that just keep looking...grand circle and polo cruises and princess on sale during the last 3 weeks before she leaves the prices are cut in half.....i dislike bait and switch tour operators and never before have i ever had this happen to me and on so many items and the most important items...like my cruise ship....my hotel and my flight....i can tell you more but it takes too long budget travelo always has super specials as does johnnyjohnny .com devon....

I've taken 2 tours thru Grand Circle Travel--Mexico (Copper Canyon) and Thailand--and, since the cost was pretty reasonable, I paid the ss for the tours (about $250).
When I'm thinking about doing a tour, I go with a big well known company. I try and get lots of information to avoid a horror story like what happened to DevonLauren.
Itinerary always comes first with me. I'd suggest, to travel less expensively, go to places where the $ goes far. Just my thoughts...
Faith

DevonLauren, sorry to hear about what happened to you. Did you or any others try to get money back from allsingles travel? I was actually planning on booking a spot for myself for the Italy trip this yr, but will not now. Are travel groups allowed to make so many changes to hotel and cruises as part of the overall vacation? All advice is appreciated as I very much want to book a few trips for myself through singletravel groups.

I went on the Greek trip as DevonLauren. What a waste of money with AllSinglesTravel! I tried to get my money back but with little success! Eric, the guy who's in charge, wasn't forthcoming and it wasn't long before I realized I'd never see my $ again. this year I've decided to use try FriendlyPlanet.com for the Pyramid trip. Allsingles had a Egypt trip that would've cost me over $3000.00. FriendlyPlanet saved me $1000.00 and I'll see more, still do the Nile cruise and get to see Abu Simbel. yes there is a single supplement, but what can you do?

I have taken many (about 6) tours with Cosmos.com and they have a guarenteed share situation. If you are willing to share (with the same sex) a room, no single supplement. If one one wants to share, you get the room to yourself with no supplement. I got luckly and had my own room five of the six times.

www.ricksteves.com..been on 2 trips..no single supplement if you are willing to share..

Sorry, but a "share arrangement" isn't waiving the single penalty. The companies that offer it do deserve half a mark for at least acknowledging the existence of solo travelers and attempting to accommodate them, albeit strictly within the constraints of their "Noah's Ark" business model.

They're still penalizing singles, but they're offering a choice of penalties. You can either take the financial penalty and pay a lot more than everyone else. Or you can choose the alternative penalty of sharing accommodations with an unknown stranger, with all the associated difficulties and stresses. Either way, you've still got a burdensome supplement, not a waiver.

That said, the share arrangement may be a good thing if your instinctive reaction to it is "Great! What a wonderful opportunity to make a new friend! Where do I sign up?" Or even you're not fortunate enough to possess such a cheerfully optimistic view of life, being able to afford a trip that would be unaffordable with the single-occupancy penalty may be worth enduring the roommate from Hell.

But for most people, having that sort of Hobson's choice is not a desirable thing. If you check with Google, you'll find a few tour operators (mostly in Europe) that have figured out that solo travelers are good customers rather than troublesome exceptions to their business model. There are also a few travel agents that specialize in finding decent deals for singles (which is something different from selling singles cruises or tours that offer share arrangements). Neither are easy to find, but the effort may be worthwhile.

I don't think Travelsphere uk charges high for the single supplement. I am booked to an Austrian Lakes tour with them next September and I am paying only 80 pounds more for the single suplement.
In trips to Asia their single suplement is around 180 pounds.In fact, I found it one of the tour agencies thatr provide the best prices and the lower single suplements, and , believe me, I've checked them all

www.markwarner.co.uk do it and the ski companies like Crystal offer hotels where there is no single supplement - especially in Austria

AdventuresAbroad also has a policy that if you are willing to share they will give you a roomate and if not you get a single room at no additional price. I did this on 2 trips and they worked out ok. I am still friends with the lady I shared a room in the Greek Isles.

Any other suggestions?

I totally agree with JBHapgood above. A "share arrangement" is NOT waiving the single supplement. The single supplement is a crock and NONE of these companies WAIVE the single supplement EXCEPT Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) and Grand Circle Travel (GCT). Trust me I know, I've researched them all.

All others offer a "share arrangemnent" which allows you to roll the dice with a roomate and possibly end up with someone you don't know, have nothing in common with, who ruins your trip or whom you are not compatible with. Then there are those whom you can't trust with your valuables, those who smoke or drink too much, snore etc. etc. Not acceptable when you are investing 3 to 5 K per pop per trip.

So singles, demand respect and invest your money in a company that respects you as a single and designs its business model around accomodating you as a single/solo. OAT/GCT now puts aside 2 spaces/rooms per trip for solos with NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT IN THEIR OWN ROOM at no extra cost. NONE, ZIP, ZERO, NADA with the exception of their river cruises (and then their supplement is minimal). Although I've avoided them because they do have the supplement.

If anyone knows of any other travel company that does the same, please let me know. As far as I'm concerned, Globus, Cosmos, All Singles, Intrepid, Friendly Planet, Gate 1 etc. have a business model that CATERS TO COUPLES and are not SOLO friendly. I'm done "being flexible" and don't think the Single Supplement is necessary.

Are you being reimbursed for the second meal you didn't consume, the second side trip you didn't take, the second set of towels you didn't use, etc. etc.??

Age range is 50's up, but that doesn't mean the 40's crowd should avoid this company at all. Nice groups with PHENOMENAL guides who really know their stuff - no burn outs in this company. These guides are top notch, educated, and know their countries. Nice little loyalty and referral program too. Check them out on their website.

Interesting post from a first-timer after so many complaints about OAT on Fodor's and elsewhere.

And six years after the previous posting?

I had heard these rumors that OAT accommodates singles but it really isn't true, since they only set aside a few spaces per tour and not for their tours which include cruises.

It is just better to book your own trip and find group tours to attractions that charge on a per person rate. Many hotels overseas charge less for a single room than a double occupancy.

Grand Circle Travel frequently waives single supplement. I have traveled with them several times, twice as a single. Both times I traveled as a single, were trips the supplement was waived. There was never a difference in the rooms I had versus the rooms that couples had. I felt well taken care of. I love GCT and have NEVER had a problem with them.

Ah, another shill for GCT. I wouldn't travel with GCT or OAT if they paid me. Once was more than enough.

Interesting posts from newly registered people. On a thread that is 7 years old!

thursday - what tours have you taken and liked and why did you like them? Why don't you like GCT?

Tour companies I have used:

Smithsonian (China) - very comfortable, good food, very good leader, but I felt like I was in a cocoon and the group was 30+.

Geographic Expeditions (Bhutan) - another comfortable cocoon, and very expensive.

Intrepid (China + Pakistan, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Morocco) - excellent itineraries, small groups (12 and under), variable leaders, accommodation can be basic (especially at the Basix level), more "local" feel.

Rick Steves (France, Turkey, Greece, Sicily, Bulgaria) - good itineraries, excellent guides, comfortable accommodation, good food, but the price has gone up and the groups have gotten bigger.

Explore! (Jordan) - disappointing, the group was bigger than I expected, and the local agent rude.

Gate1 (Egypt) - good guide, small group.

OAT (Thailand) - disaster. The guide seemed bored with his job, and his English would desert him when he didn't want to answer a question. The hotels were out of town. The food was incredibly bad and dumbed-down-for-foreigners until some of us complained, and not a whole lot better thereafter. The itinerary was badly planned: we were on AC buses in the cooler mornings and outdoors sightseeing in the hotter afternoons. Too many shopping opportunities. A bad, exploitative elephant viewing. A bad visit to a Lao village where we were expected to hand out candy. The paid-for business class upgrades turned out to be stand-by and were not confirmed until right before the flights left.

I took the OAT tour some time back, but a friend took it more recently (she didn't talk to me first) and said she had similar complaints.

I hope all these members of the GCT/OAT cult understand they are only scaring folks AWAY from booking w/ them.

Every one of them on every thread about these companies is a first time/only time poster never to be heard from again.

It must be that GCT/OAT asks them to 'spread the word'. ugh!

Thanks thursday - good info!

janisj - I've been on GCT trips and have mentioned that in posts and I'm not a newbie nor a member of any particular tour cult. I doubt that GCT asks anyone to spread the word; I've never been asked to do that. I've enjoyed the GCT trips I've taken but don't have much comparison.

I did one Globus tour (my first tour) and would never never take another from that company and one tour in Turkey with Pacha which I enjoyed - very knowledgeable guide and a small group (although the small group was not planned for).

I have issues with Rick Steves tours because they're very expensive and since he is a self proclaimed "budget" travel guy I wonder how he justifies the pricey tours.

Some other companies I haven't used but would consider:

Imaginative Traveller, Peregrine/Gecko - similar to Intrepid.

Adventures Abroad - a bit pricier, but still small groups.

Bestways - for west and central Asia.

I would never use Trafalgar or Globus.

Thanks again thursday. You've given me a great resource list!

I crossed paths with a Gecko tour group in Bolivia. There were a few singles with them. They liked that you could mix and match your destinations and felt that it was a good option for singles.

It was not an upmarket tour. They were using public transportation including the bus ride from hell that I took from Uyuni to Potosi. But the guide was influential in getting the bus driver to pull over and wait for a replacement bus, and his group seemed to like him a lot.

Sorry to jump in late here but I just came across this message. I have traveled with a company called Elder Treks (Burma a few years ago and more recently to the Caucasus this past fall) and I went both times as a single traveler. For Burma they could not match me up so I got my own room (at no extra price) and in the Caucasus I shared with another male. We actually got along quite fine, had a lot in common etc. We had small groups both times and the guides they used were good as well. Their tours are not fancy by any stretch but good value. They offer pretty extensive programs to their destinations. I understand the feelings about paying or not paying a single supplement but Elder Trek's policy seemed fair to me.