What a sharing traveller pays for the room each night, against what a solo traveller costs you. Ask hotels for a single-use rate — many give one, and every euro below the double rate comes off the supplement.
| Hotel | Sharing, per person | Alone | Extra per night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lisbon, 4★ city hotel | €90.00 | €180.00 | €90.00 |
Hotel rates are per room. When two people share, each carries half; alone, one person carries all of it. The difference is the supplement, and it belongs in the price — not in your profit and loss as a surprise.
(single-use rate − double rate ÷ 2) × nightsnet × (1 + buffer) ÷ (1 − margin) ÷ (1 − fees)The example loaded above is the one in our guide to pricing a tour package: a Lisbon hotel at €180 a night that charges the full rate for single use, three nights. €90 extra a night is €270 net; with a 3% buffer, a 25% margin and 2% card fees it comes to €378.37 — €380 rounded. Try the three-city example to see how a negotiated single rate brings it down.
Many hotels will quote a single-occupancy rate below the double rate, especially outside peak season. Every euro of that saving comes straight off the supplement, and a lower supplement is one of the few levers that makes a trip more attractive to solo travellers without touching your margin.
Pricing the rest of the trip? Use the tour price calculator, and check your percentages with the markup and margin calculator. In the Deer Track itinerary builder, a hotel can carry a single-use price for each room type; mark a room as single use and the trip’s total includes it, at the trip’s own margin.
Take the single-occupancy room rate, subtract the per-person share of a double room (half the double rate), and multiply by the number of nights. That is the net supplement; then add the same contingency, margin and card fees you use for the rest of the trip.
Hotels charge per room, not per person. Two people sharing a €180 room pay €90 each; one person alone costs the full €180. Unless the extra €90 a night is charged as a supplement, it comes straight out of the tour operator's profit.
It depends on how hotels price single use. When a hotel charges the full double rate for single use, the net supplement equals the sharing price of the room, so it can be a large share of the room cost. A negotiated single rate lowers it. Calculate it from the rates you actually have rather than a rule of thumb.
Yes, if you want the trip to earn the same margin for a solo traveller as for a couple. Apply the same multipliers you use for every other cost: contingency, then markup or margin, then card fees. Some operators waive or reduce it as a promotion — that is a pricing decision, not a calculation.
Five travellers usually means two double rooms and one single, so one person pays the supplement — or the group agrees to a triple room where hotels allow it. Decide the rule before you quote and state it in the proposal.
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