Should You Take Advantage Of Roommate Services For A Vacation Package?

A few vacation tour companies now offer roommate-finder services for solo travelers who don't want to pay extra for a room. Many tour services have solo travelers pay more because the rooms on a package trip are generally double-occupancy, so the company wants to get something for that extra bed space that now can't be booked. This extra charge has put some solo travelers off traveling with these companies, so a few have begun matching solo travelers in double rooms. This sounds good on the surface. However, how the company approaches this can have a distinct effect on how enjoyable your vacation is.

What's the Vetting Process Like?

Always ask what the vetting process is like. Are you simply matched with someone with similar interests, but you and the company have no idea if the person is trustworthy or not? Are background checks performed on anyone who opts for the roommate service? You can't assume the person will be trustworthy unless there is some sort of process to weed out those who might not be. You also have to be sure the process is one you agree with. For example, you might not care about your roommate's credit score, but you would want a criminal background check.

This is not to say that everyone else signing up for the package will be terrible. You just want to be sure that your roommate will be someone you can actually live with for a while so that you can go have fun and be relatively carefree.

What Security Services Are Offered in the Room?

Will each of you have your own safe with your own code? How do you keep your personal belongings safe? This is one of the easier questions to answer because the vacation company should know the details of each room that they make available. And again, this is all geared toward letting you relax. You want to have a good vacation, hopefully with an awesome roommate, and having a room that meets your security standards goes a long way toward a happy trip.

What Preferences Do They Take Into Account?

And how do they handle complaints? For example, will they ask if you snore and can sleep through others snoring? What happens if you ask for a non-snoring roommate and you end up with a snorer? It isn't someone's "fault" that they snore or like body washes that smell bad to you, but you need to know how the service matches people to avoid conflict, and how the service handles conflict should it spring up.

Vacation packages can make booking a vacation very simple, but you do want to be sure you're paying a fair amount and that any services you sign up for only enhance your vacation. A good roommate can make a trip much more fun, so investigate those roommate-matching services to be sure you're on board with how they work.


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