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Travel is geared mainly to serve customers as couples. But for a variety of reasons, many travelers are not in a couple.

In my case, I’m a widower; others include the never- married, divorced or separated; and some couples have diverse interests, so they don’t travel together.

Over the years, the travel business has given short shrift to these travelers, but suppliers have recently taken a closer look at what they see as a big potential source of business.

For years, some tour operators and cruise lines have been positioning themselves as “singles travel” specialists, but mostly their approach has been to match up singles into couples.

True solo travel is different. True solo travelers do not want to share accommodations with strangers or even with friends. They want sole occupancy of whatever arrangement they make.

The “double occupancy” trap

If you’ve traveled at all, you’ve seen that a lot of pricing is based on “per person, double occupancy,” or PPDO.

Most modern hotel rooms are designed to accommodate at least two people with two single, double or queen beds. These hotels charge the same rate for either one or two occupants.

Similarly, the vast majority of cruise cabins are set up to accommodate up to four people — two comfortably in separate small beds, combinable into a double, and two more uncomfortably in pull-down bunk beds.

Railroads charge each traveler the same for basic rail fare, but for compartments on overnight trains such as Amtrak’s long-distance trains, the price is the same for one as for two.

Even with the prevalence of PPDO pricing, solo travelers have a few reasonable options:

Hotels: Although most new or recent hotels are designed for couples, small, older hotels in Europe often have single rooms designed for just one occupant, as do Japanese business hotels. Daily rates are usually substantially less than, but more than half, the double-room rates.

On my recent trips, I’ve found comfortable single rooms at small family-owned hotels in Belgium, Switzerland and Germany, as well as in Japan. But most of the time, I have to settle for the usual double rate.

Tours: Despite a growing number of self-styled “solo” tour operators, most fall back on the idea that, “We’ll match you with a suitable roommate, and we won’t charge extra if we can’t find one.”

But if you really want accommodations by yourself, you pay a fee known as a “single supplement,” usually to occupy an accommodation designed for a couple. The supplement usually ranges from 50 percent more to double the PPDO rate.

However, what may be close to everybody’s favorite tour operator, Road Scholar (roadscholar.org, formerly Elderhostel but open to travelers of any age), posts a pull-down options menu on its website that includes “solo travelers only” filter. The choices are limited, but they’re genuinely for solo travelers. Google “solo travel” to find other outfits worth a look.

Cruises: For a long time, cruise lines ignored the solo traveler, relying instead on stiff single supplements for double cabins.

But some of the newer liners feature cabins designed for one person. The good folks at Cruise Critic have compiled and posted a list of cruise lines and cruise ships with true single cabins (cruisecritic.com/articles/which-ships-have-solo-cabins).

Norwegian leads the pack in number of rooms and cabins per ship, but the other lines are catching up.

Carnival, the biggest player among cruise lines, seems to be lagging the trend, but it does have a few on Cunard. Unfortunately, other than Cunard, no high-end lines yet make the “solo traveler” list.

Trains: I don’t know any way to hack the PPDO compartment prices on Amtrak, and Amtrak seldom puts them on sale. Sorry.

Keep a lookout for deals. Occasionally, tour operators and cruise lines have catered to solo travelers, mainly through “no single supplement” promotions, often for departures they believe are not likely to sell out — which means the best deals are last-minute deals. You can still find those.

Email Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net or visit his rail travel website at rail-guru.com.

© 2024 Ed Perkins. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.