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Being a single parent is NEVER easy...I can say this because I know first hand all about being a single parent. I was a single mom for a number of years raising three kids of my own. Single parents are often called upon to do a double job of parenting and are probably the folks most desperately in need of a vacation. The problem is most hotels and resorts do not make it easy for single parents to take a vacation with their children. In fact, many hotels charge single parents extra!
When it comes to hotel pricing, have you ever read or heard the statement..."prices based on double adult occupancy"? Hotel corporate types, in their infinite wisdom, calculate the price for each hotel room based on TWO adult people sharing a hotel room together. The price of TWO adults is technically the base price for that particular hotel room. Why you ask?...it all has to do with profit formulas and cost issues. For example, hotels spend the same amount of dollars to have a housekeeper tidy a room whether one or two people are sharing that room.
As long as their are TWO adults in the room then kids are allowed to pay discounted kid rates.
So what happens when ONE single adult wants to take their kids on vacation?
Well, according to the hotel pricing rules, that ONE adult will have to either pay an additional SINGLE SUPPLEMENT FEE which usually costs anywhere from fifty to one hundred percent extra above the cost for just one person OR one of the children is forced to pay full adult fare regardless of age so that the room technically has two paying adult rates. Every hotel has their own confusing price structure but bottom line, a single parent usually ends up pay more money!
Recently hotel chains have begun to wise up about single parents...thanks to some gentle prodding from yours truely. There are more than 12 million single parent families in the U.S. alone and this number is growing every year. Hotel number crunchers are recognizing that they need to make some pricing adjustments to encourage more single parents to their properties. This is wonderful news for single parents!
I see you single parents smiling out there! Vacationkids has created a list of single parent hotels and resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico but before I send you off to those links a few additional words of advice...
1. limited availability - Often hotels will only release a very limited amount of rooms that qualify for their single parent rates. With 12 million single parents out there and just a handful of single parent hotel room rates available, these rooms are often the first to sell out. YOU NEED TO PLAN AHEAD TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE SPECIAL SINGLE PARENT DEALS! We usually recommend planning your single family vacations about 9 months in advance.
2. Seasonal offers -Please note that many single parent resort rates are only offered during specific times. Generally speaking more single parent hotel rates are available during slow season times like May, August, September and October so plan your vacation time accordingly
Passports and documentation-All U.S. citizens, adults and children, are now required to have valid passports to travel to the Caribbean and Mexico. There are also special rules that single parents need to know about obtaining passports for their children. In addition to passports, single parents traveling with minor children also have to show documentation proving they indeed have the legal right to take their children into a foreign country. Generally the accepted forms of documentation are a notorized letter of permission by the children's co-parent, custody papers proving full custody or the death certificate of the co-parent.
Changing rates and rules -Here at Vacationkids, we do our best to stay ahead of the latest travel information so that we can help our clients make informed decisions. Hotel rates and rules change several times during each year as does hotel availability.
Vacationkids family travel agents are here to help assist single parents make their vacation reservations, answer questions and offer first hand family travel advise. Our services are free and can save time and aggravation. That said, here are links to our
lists of single parent vacation deals...
SINGLE PARENT RESORTS IN MEXICO
SINGLE PARENT RESORTS IN THE CARIBBEAN
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