July 13, 2025 by Bella DePaulo
Lately, I’ve been fantasizing about a solo trip to Hawaii toward the end of the year when, even here in sunny California, the days are not so sunny or warm. I spent some time on the Viator site, clicking various links to tours to read more about them. I love sampling different foods, so “We Go Eat – Secret Aloha Bites” was intriguing. I checked the availability for one person on four different dates in December, and I was told every time that there was nothing available.
That seemed odd. I was looking into a booking nearly 6 months in advance and not even one spot was available on any of the four days? Hmm, what if I tried to book for two? Aha! Magically, there was availability on all four days.
This was a food tour, so maybe they just don’t want empty seats, as might happen if one person sat at a table for two. Of course, another solo traveler could sit with the first one if the tour insisted on filling every seat. The no-empty-seat explanation failed another test. I tried booking for 3 people – that would leave an empty seat at a table for four. No problem! All four dates were available for a group of 3. They just don’t want solo travelers.
Five examples of ways in which solo travelers are excluded or treated unfairly
- I’ll call the food tour the first example of unfair treatment of solo travelers. BTW, I submitted a complaint about this and got this note, “Our Customer service team will get back to you as soon as possible.” It has been nearly two weeks, but still no response. I’ve also run into a similar issue trying to make a dining reservation for one using online reservation platforms. Sometimes that’s just not an option.
- I was intrigued by a headline at NPR, “Vacation days piling up? Here’s how to get the most out of a short getaway.” The story included suggestions such as “Get the whole family onboard,” “focus on deepening your ties” with your partner, and “agree on activities with your travel mates.” Travelers were quoted who referred to “my wife” and “my children.” Over the course of more than two dozen paragraphs, solo travelers were nowhere to be found. They weren’t just marginalized; they were totally excluded.
- The dreaded single supplement – solo travelers getting charged more per person for a room than travelers sharing the room – has been a topic of discussion for more than a decade. This practice is still continuing. For an example, I went to the site of one of the most popular cruise lines, the Royal Caribbean, and searched for an ocean view room for 2 on a 5-night cruise. It was $609 per person or $1,218 total. Then I asked for the same room for 1 person. The new charge was $1,265. As this shows, and others have noted, the single supplement is sometimes more than 100 percent. Solo travelers are sometimes paying more than double the standard price of an accommodation. The companies doing this aren’t just making sure they rake in the same amount of money on a room as they would get if two people shared the room; they are getting more than that.
- Solo travelers sometimes get asked to switch seats on flights so couples can sit together. Here’s a story about a solo traveler who was happy to have purchased a window seat in Economy Plus for an international flight. Before the flight took off, she was approached by a wife whose husband had a middle seat in a different row, and asked her to switch to her husband’s seat so the two of them could sit together. The wife thought that was a perfectly acceptable request, given that the woman was traveling alone and didn’t have a family. She was miffed when the woman declined.
- I’m ending on this one because it has some hints of a happy ending. In May of this year, a site called Thrifty Traveler published a report that flew off its site and landed all over the internet. Titled “New Delta Pricing Quirk Charges Solo & Business Travelers More,” it systematically documented how solo travelers were paying more for the exact same flights than travelers booking with others. The next day, they reported that the same was true for United Airlines and American Airlines. The story of this unfair practice was picked up by CNN, the Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, and many other places. The good news is that after all the bad publicity, at least one of the airlines, Delta, apparently has reversed the policy.
A stupid thing to do when solo travel is becoming more and more popular
A recent survey of 2,000 adults in the US found that 43 percent had traveled solo in the past year and planned to do so again in the coming year. Many were planning more than one solo trip. As the report noted, “In 2025, 62% of survey respondents plan to take between two to five solo trips within the next year.” Solo travelers are shelling out substantial sums of money for their experiences. It strikes me as a self-defeating business practice to treat these people badly instead of catering to them.
I’ve been highlighting ways in which solo travelers are treated unfairly, but the contemporary story of solo traveling is mostly a deeply fulfilling one. There are good reasons why so many people are traveling on their own. Many appreciate the freedom of doing what they want when they want, the peacefulness and lack of conflict, and the personal growth they experience. Not infrequently, they report that they are more likely to have interesting interactions with other people when they are on their own.
Most solo travelers are single. The single at heart may be especially appreciative of solo travel because they greatly value, rather than fear, the time they have to themselves. And yet, many married people also enjoy going off on their own.
Instead of feeling self-conscious about the trips they take alone, solo travelers are flaunting them. On Instagram, nearly 10 million posts are tagged #solotravel.
Get with it, travel industry! Enough with the singlism.
[Notes: (1) The opinions expressed here do not represent the official positions of Unmarried Equality. (2) I’ll post all these blog posts at the UE Facebook page; please join our discussions there. (3) Disclosure: Links to books may include affiliate links. (4) For links to previous columns, click here.]
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About Bella DePaulo
Bella DePaulo (PhD, Harvard), a long-time member of Unmarried Equality, is the author of Single at Heart: The Power, Freedom, and Heart-Filling Joy of Single Life and Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After. She writes the “Living Single” blog for Psychology Today. Visit her website at http://www.BellaDePaulo.com and take a look at her TEDx talk, “What no one ever told you about people who are single.”
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