Why the price is for your own room

We sell the Southern France trip this piece uses as its example, so read it with that in mind. The question is a simple one: why is the headline price on a scheduled Guideless trip for one person in their own room?

The short answer is that we wanted the price to describe the trip most people take, without a penalty attached to the way they travel. This piece covers the scheduled trips only. Custom trips work differently, and we come back to that at the end.

The default: your own room

On a scheduled trip, the default price is per person with your own room. Pick a hotel level, and the price you see is what one traveler pays for that level, in a room that is theirs.

On Southern France that means eight nights: three in Nice, two in Avignon and three in Paris, with breakfast included, plus the reserved-seat trains from Nice to Avignon and on to Paris. The trip's from price is $2,615. The days are the same at every level. The hotel is the only thing the price changes.

We chose this default for a plain reason. A trip with a group and no tour guide suits people who want their own days. Having their own room fits the same idea. You come back to a door that is yours, whoever you spent the afternoon with.

Sharing is a choice, not a fee you pay to avoid

Many travel prices are built the other way round. They quote a low figure for two people in a room, then add a supplement for anyone who wants to be alone. The solo traveler is charged for not sharing.

We do not price it that way. Your own room is the starting point, and nothing is added to it for being on your own. If you want to know whether any other charge applies, the FAQ answers the booking fee and single supplement question in one place.

Sharing is the exception you choose. On a scheduled trip, at most two travelers on the same booking may share one room, and when they do, the current sharing discount applies. It is an option you take up, not a condition you have to meet.

The two-person limit is for scheduled trips only. It does not apply to custom trips.

What two travelers sharing pay instead

Two travelers on the same booking who choose to share pay the shared price each, instead of the own-room price. Here is each hotel level on Southern France, with both figures read live when you open the page.

We do not describe the sharing price as simply the room cost divided by two. The figure you see on the page is the one that applies, and the final amount is confirmed when you check out.

What the levels mean is covered in the FAQ, so we will not repeat it here.

Why we do not oversell sharing either

Sharing is not a guarantee that any particular room will fit you. Whether two people can share depends on the current party, the capacity of the room chosen and the recheck at checkout. Those remain the authority, not a figure on a page.

A party of three has two sensible ways to book. They can choose a sharing pair and a separate room for the third traveler, or take three own rooms. The guide on room sharing for three goes through it.

What does not change either way

Whichever room arrangement you choose, the rest of the trip stays the same.

• Your Guide is the digital itinerary in the app. It holds Your Route, maps, recommendations, Your Group chat and a human on support. It is not a person.
• The trains are the same reserved seats, with tickets in your app.
• The Live Moments are free and optional: a morning jog on the Promenade, sunset at Castle Hill, the ramparts after dinner in Avignon, a run along the Seine. They are how a group that booked different rooms ends up on the same trip.
• There is no tour guide on a Guideless trip: nobody from the company travels with the group, and nothing about your day is decided for you.

On the first evening in Nice there is an optional meet-up at 8 pm at a bar in the old town. It is unhosted and not included. Come and go as you like.

A Guideless trip runs even if you are the only person on it, there is no guide and no group cost to reach, so your trip going ahead is never a question of whether enough strangers book it. That is one more reason the room price stands alone: it is not subsidised by, or dependent on, who else books.

Extras are separate, and priced separately

Nothing beyond the hotel level you chose and the trains the route needs is included, apart from the app and the group. Everything else is an optional extra you add or skip, and each is priced on its own.

• Boat day along the Riviera, priced for your group as one unit: $1,345
• Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine afternoon, per person: $110
• Private airport transfer, priced for your group as one unit: $45
• Dinner at L'Ambassade d'Auvergne, per person: $43
• Extra night in Paris, per person: $355

These are optional extras. Flights, most meals, museum tickets and travel insurance are not included either. Insurance is covered on the travel insurance page, and what you get back if you cancel is on the cancellation page.

Custom trips are different

The two-person room limit above belongs to scheduled trips. Custom trips are handled another way. Room groups there are adult-only requests, and final occupancy, room type, price and availability depend on the reviewed proposal and on capacity and terms confirmed by the supplier. A request is not an offer, a reservation or a payable booking.

Where to go next

If you want to see the room prices against the real route, the Southern France trip page has them, and the guides hold the rest.