Guessing here:

Say a hotel has 100 rooms in total.

Having looked at an average hotel in the Caribbean and checked the price for double occupancy and single occupancy, the difference is as follows:

double occupancy: £ 1,433.55 per person for the fortnight

single occupancy: £ 1,965.55 per person for the fortnight

If the 100 rooms were all occupied by 2 people per room, the total revenue for the fortnight would be £ 286,710

If the 100 rooms were all occupied by 1 person per room, the total revenue for the fortnight would be £ 196,555

Maybe this reasoning explains the single supplement theory. Hotels probably sell their prices on double occupancy and having single occupancy doesn't do them any favours.

Mark

My understanding is Holidays are priced per person

A couple paying £500 each (lets say AI exlcuding flights for simplicity) will pay £1000

A single person will pay £500 plus a suplement of less than the per person cost.

With AI what you are of the food an drink is probably minimal - as you can see if you compare AI prices and B&B prices for the same hotel!

The main overhead is in the cost of using the room - having it cleaned etc etc, and the shared overheads of the TO - eg coach transfers.

If the TO has 5 rooms at a hotel and they fill them with 5 couples the coach overheads are covecovered by 10 people.

TOs budget for this and so single travelers would reduce their income more than they reduce the overheads - hence single suplements

most hotels i have looked at would make a charge just for the room, regardless of occupancy, if you were to book direct with the hotel.
you should also be aware that every single traveller does not get a double room(broom closet is more likely) as most hotels do have single rooms, and getting a double room is a bonus, normally only given for good customer relations when the hotel is not full, or when the hotel have messed up the bookings.
travel costs -although i normally go to spain by coach nowadays- are the same whether you are 1 person or 5 people ie you pay for number of seats you occupy. transfers are also based on number of people not number of rooms as they would obviously have problems if they had to deal with transfers for rooms with 3 or 4 people sharing.
so i'm still left still puzzled.

travel costs -although i normally go to spain by coach nowadays- are the same whether you are 1 person or 5 people ie you pay for number of seats you occupy. transfers are also based on number of people not number of rooms as they would obviously have problems if they had to deal with transfers for rooms with 3 or 4 people sharing.

Yes but TOs base their price per person on how much it costs them to provide package holidays assuming they have full occupancy of each room.

Transfer coaches are rarely full but you still need the same number of coaches making the same journeys after each flight.

The only way to meet their budget with under occupancy is to charge suplements. Its the same if a couple take a 4 bed apartment - they have to pay the supplement.

IN reference to Single Room Supplements. In my experience, it is NOT the Hotel that imposes a surcharge on Single Rooms.

ALL Hotels by law have to display a Tariff Chart somewhere in their establishment. Now it might be a tiny plaque hidden on a wall in a corner somewhere, it might be on a large board behind the Reception, or on a chart on the wall in your room.....but wherever it is, there HAS to be one somwhere in the establishment. It is a legal requirement.

If you take a look at these boards you will see quite clearly that the Hotels are not charging any extra for Single Room Occupancy. I even asked the Hotel Director (Manager) of one Hotel In Benidorm why they charged extra for single rooms, and she said they do not. It is the British TO that impose these charges.

Therefore it HAS to be the TO's that are imposing this very unfair and outrageous supplement to boost their profits and make as many £'s out of the holidaymaker as possible.

Yes but TOs base their price per person on how much it costs them to provide package holidays assuming they have full occupancy of each room.

A single room is nine times out of ten a SINGLE room with ONE bed. And as already been mentioned is in all probabilty going to be a small tiny room, akin to a "broom cupboard"....therefore that room WILL be "full" if one person books it. How can they justify charging that single person EXTRA? Especially when that person is going to get LESS in the vast majority of situations. IE - NO Balcony, NO Sea Views, NO Shower etc etc....and yet single people have to pay MORE for LESS? Where is the logic in that?

The way I look at it is as follows:

Say a room is sold by the hotel at £ 100.00 per room. The tour operator is going to sell that room on 2 people sharing this and calculates £ 50.00 per person for that room. Multiply that by 14 and add the other cost to that (e.g. transfers, flights etc) and the price per person based on two sharing is quoted in the brochure.

If a single person then comes along, (s)he can't be expected to also pay £ 50.00 for the room per night as the hotel still charges the £ 100.00

Inferior rooms may be offered to single travellers, but these are normally not charged at the extra £ 50.00 per room per night to make it up to the £ 100.00. These are usually charged at a fraction of the differnece between two people sharing and one person having such a room to their own.

Mark