no single supplement

If you are booking air/hotel seperately and not as paackage, perhaps try contacting the hotel directly and seeing what rate they will offer you.

Good advice

drloca said:

If you are booking air/hotel seperately and not as paackage, perhaps try contacting the hotel directly and seeing what rate they will offer you.

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Not many tourists in July and the rates will probably drop - check the web pages of the resorts as you get closer to the time as they often post rates and specials there that are better than at the desk. I recently had friends who stayed at the Melia in the Capital and saved $25 a night by booking on line - and since we had found the lower rate on the internet, the hotel even let us use their business office to book it on line.

Dominicans don't really understand single travellers, since well really, why would it be that you are not going on vacation with your children, your parents, your aunt, your uncle, two cousins, your former neighbor, your ex- sister in law and your maid?

mountainannie said:

Not many tourists in July and the rates will probably drop - check the web pages of the resorts as you get closer to the time as they often post rates and specials there that are better than at the desk. I recently had friends who stayed at the Melia in the Capital and saved $25 a night by booking on line - and since we had found the lower rate on the internet, the hotel even let us use their business office to book it on line.

Dominicans don't really understand single travellers, since well really, why would it be that you are not going on vacation with your children, your parents, your aunt, your uncle, two cousins, your former neighbor, your ex- sister in law and your maid?

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Actually I made my suggestion based on my many past experiences in both the high and low tourist season. Surprisingly rates dont vary that much as it was explained how many Europeans (esp Brits) appear to travel to the DR in the summer months.

The tour operators are not at liberty to waive this fee.

All of France goes on vacation in August so that is high season here. But even though they don't lower the rates officially, the hotels here are much cheaper in the summer.

There is going to be pretty low season all year here we fear.

Your tour operators don't have any flexibility but you do if you book by yourself- but perhaps the tour will be cheaper even paying the single supplement.

And who knows, you might fall in love before summer?!?

I travel by myself all the time. I'm 40 years old with a 15 year old daughter who doesn't always want to travel with me. And my friends are usually busy with their families and I have no choice but to travel alone. It's not a big deal especially if you are a social person and even better if you have friends in the destination of your choice.

I would recommend getting in touch with your travel agent here in Canada (I'm in Toronto) and ask how much extra for a single person. You might be surprised that sometimes it is only a couple of hundred dollars extra.

When this hasn't worked out for me, I book flight and hotel separately. Check hotels.ca for the list of hotels in the area you want to be in. By the way, you usually pay the same rate a room at an all-inclusive hotel whether you are 1 person or 2. So what I have done in the past is added a friends name to the hotel reservation (dominican friend). Then again, I don't know if you have friends in the area but this is an option. After you make the reservation, call the hotel directly and have your friends name added to the reservation to make sure there are no problems when you check in. And this way, you don't have to pay extra for a day pass should that friend be joining you. They just need to check in with you or shortly after you and keep their wrist band on.

Enjoy your trip and message me if you need any help.

Most every A/I hotel WILL charge you for the extra sup, and as far as the season, they are still busy in the summer months as it's most Europeans winter, so you won't find much for deals other than the norm. Remember they include ALL you can eat and drink, so why would they NOT charge for an extra person? ....
Most A/I's are p/p and most hotels per room, p/n

Actually, if you take a look at booking the AI hotels online, you'll notice the price is the same per room whether you have 1 or 2 persons in the room. As a single person, you are paying the normal double rate. For example, Grand Paradise in Playa Dorada is charging $185 per room in July. It's the same rate per room whether you book for 1 or 2 people. That's why sometimes I will invite a friend to stay with me....the price remained the same. I figured that out the hard way one year.

I have stayed at Fun Royale a few times with no single supplement but usually it is $120-$160 extra for 1 week.

If you want to stay at an AI, get the package.
The difference between the flight alone and the AI package is usually very little.

I asked this same question on TA a few weeks back, and since have done some research. I found its cheaper to book your flight and hotel AI seperate.
Heres just one example
To book AI as a package to Barcelo ...1223 AI package based on double Occupancy.
For one its 1563. A differnce of 340 dollars.
Now book seperate.
Flight for one......606.76 return ( same dates)
Hotel AI booking 623.70
A total of 1230.46
So you will save the 340 dollars booking seperate.
If you want to book double occupancy at the hotel , if you want to bring a friend in, its still cheaper at a total of 1432.06 ( thats flight for one, and hotel AI for 2)

Hope this helps......just take some time and research different sites, as Im sure there are still better deals.

I always book last minute and the last time I went to Fun Royale in December, the flight alone was $100 less than the AI package and there was no single supplement.
The AI would have cost me another $120 US per day which at the time would have been an extra $1100 CDN for the week.
Typically the difference is around $300 which would only cover 2 days AI and a taxi to and from the airport.

lonetraveller, what province are you travelling from - there are alternatives other than travel thru YYZ depending on where you start from.

Gregg

The best and cheapest way to book your room is call them on the phone and reserve the room with your card, and pay only in CASH when leaving, as the peso can change drasticly in the 2 weeks or so before it's posted via your bank. Many people think you have to book via a tourist company or website, Travelocity, etc. Not true. One property I stay at in PC, they charge me what they call the "Dominican" price, $90 US for the A/I...... Not bad, also if a friend shows up later, he pays $90 as well weather he stays in my room or gets another.
Who knows, maybe this is just this hotels policy. I did stay at the Paradise several years ago, there were 7 of us, not sure how they charged us, other than it obviously has gone way up. We payed around $125US.

Lonetraveller, I`ve been having similar problems to yours. I`m looking at going to PP for two weeks in July as well. I`ll be flying out of Halifax, which means either catching a charter from Toronto, AirCanada in Montreal or flying through the states...I was hoping to get a decent flight price as I can stay with the lady I am going to work with for $30/day. This includes board, meals and transportation.
The problem is that right now airfare sucks!! I`m looking at about $1000. $30/day for room and board is a good deal but with the crappy exchange right now and $1000 flight it all adds up...I`ve been looking at AI`s but from NS in July the prices suck right now and there`s little availability. I could get one cheaper from Toronto but by the time you add the single supplement and airfare to and from Toronto I`m really no further ahead. I could wait for a last minute deal but I`m the type of person who likes to have everything planned in advance and my travel dates are restricted...
I`ve tried praying to the airfare gods but so far the prices went up instead of down:ermm: