How To Make Better Hotel Rooming Lists
Overnight student trips can be magical and create life-long memories for your students. Something on the top of every overnight student trip to-do list though is: creating a rooming list. This article will share some advice on how to take that potentially daunting task and make it go as smoothly as possible.
Let Your Students Have Input
One of the few elements that can tarnish the trip for your student is if they feel like they can’t hang out with their friends. Be open to students leading the way on creating the rooming list and allowing them to tell you who’d they like to room with.
Roommate selection can be done in person or online. For in-person selection, we recommend telling students that roommate selections will be done on Thursday and Friday (select a few days in the future) and to come to class having decided who they will room with. Then, during the designated days, post a few sign-up sheets around the classroom (having more than one will make it go more quickly). Tell them to select one representative from each room to go write in the names of the four roommates who want to room together.
There will always be students who do not have all of their roommates selected. Please tell them that this is fine, and that they can sign up as a group of two or three and that the remaining bed-spaces will be assigned for them. This is a great way to make new friends.
You can also streamline the process by sending out a link to a form or a survey, to complete this process online, rather than in person. Make sure to set a clear due-date, after which the remaining bed spaces will be assigned for them.
By soliciting student input, you can make the trip more fun for your travelers and have a substantial portion of the rooming list created for you in one fell swoop.
Consider Packages
When tour operators organize student trips, students and chaperones normally have the option to select what kind of package they want to purchase. A package is mostly determined by how many people that traveler will share a hotel room with and is usually referred to as follows:
- Quad= 4 to a room
- Triple= 3 to a room
- Double= 2 to a room
- Single= 1 to a room
Typically students stay four to a room and adults often stay two per room so that they have their own bed. Occasionally, students will register for double occupancy and pay a little more to have their own bed. When this happens, we encourage them to choose a roommate who is also willing to pay the double occupancy rate.
If you create a rooming list and the occupancy does not match the package for which they signed up, don’t sweat it. Green Light will alert you to the discrepancy, and either change the package or adjust the roommates, whichever the guest preferes.
Know What Happens With Incomplete Rooms
When making a rooming list, you’ll see that it is extremely unlikely that the number of boys and girls is perfectly divisible by four. That means it's very likely that you’ll have incomplete rooms (i.e.: a room with 2 female students that paid for “quad” packages).
Some tour operators will charge those travelers more money to cover the cost of their actual accommodations. However, this can confuse and upset travelers. Green Light’s happy solution is to build a budget for incomplete rooms into the cost of the trip knowing full-well this is likely to occur, which saves you from having those awkward conversations. In short, always be aware of what the plan is in the event of incomplete rooms.
Do It On Time
Your tour operator may ask for your rooming list way before you feel it is necessary. This is so they can secure the proper number of rooms with the hotel. And, so that travelers’ tour packages can be adjusted to reflect the accurate cost before they pay in full.
We understand that teenage friendships have their ups and downs, and if a roommate swap needs to happen shortly before departure, we’ve got your back!
Avoid Pitfalls, Increase Magic.
We suggest harnessing your student’s input, remaining mindful of the packages being offered to and purchased by your travelers, knowing what will happen in the event of an incomplete room, and getting it done on time. If you can check off these items while creating your rooming list, your overnight student trip will be a powerful experience that you and your travelers will remember for life.