GeneralAviation

Any company that requires employees of the opposite sex
to share a hotel room is run by clueless, insane fools. Between
jealous, angry spouses, real or contrived sexual harassment charges
which would lead to litigation against the company, unwanted sexual advances, and a whole myriad of potential problems, I would have little faith or trust in a company who had such a policy. I would question their judgement in all aspects of their business as a result. What a can
of worms this policy would open!

SJC1K

An employer I worked for 20 years ago had this policy. I had to share a room once with my boss, who was not only a twit but snored unbelievably loudly.

I'd never do it again. I live where I want to, with the partner I want to live with. Just taking me away from the comfort of that is already an imposition. Taking away my privacy 24 hours a day is out of the question. I want to go to bed when I choose, get up when I choose, call my partner when I choose and speak freely about whatever I choose, watch what I choose on TV, have silent surroundings when I choose, and wear what I choose to bed, none of which I can do if I'm sharing a room with a colleague.

drbond

I have travelled and shared a room and don't have a problem with it. I have shared barracks and tents too in the military and the scouts. I have not had the opportunity to share a room with an unknown female, but if she was attractive or at least not ugly, I could get used to it. I also don't think it unreasonable to set a per deim or require sharing of rooms. If you don't want to share, get your own room and pay the difference would be reasonable. I would think anyway. YMMV

forecheck

Have to do it on occasion and hate it. Like others have said, when your day is filled with work and nights company dinners, it is nice to get some alone time in between.

iCorpRoadie

I have it in my contact that I will not share rooms with anyone, and if there is a problem with it it can be arranged on a case by case basis. Over the past four years I have only had to share a room twice, so it pays to have that in my contract. Bost those cases was because rooms were 2500 a night and the end client ended up overbooking the hotel.

AX9465

Well - I guess that would be oversimplification. there may be indeed cases (e.g. non-profit) where for the common good people would be asked to share hotel rooms. the litmus test for that would be to understand how high this policy go. if all employees are in same situation, I guess that would be fine with me. If, on other hand, employees have to double whereas managers stay in singles, this is absolute bull***t - next thing they will ask for is to share meal and then to share airline seat.

Lesson learned: before this thread it would never appear to me to ask are people required to share rooms

if anyone is interested - my current employer have one person - one room - one car policy. you MAY elect to stay wherever you want (sharing the room for example)... in such situation you are entitled to $25 compensation.
AX

dcpatti

The company I work for actually has the reverse as a policy. It's written into our travel regulations that we are NOT allowed to share rooms, ever. This came up because I used to date a co-worker and we ended up on a number of trips together; we offered to double-up to save the company some money (the hotel selected for the business trip was a very expensive property in NYC, around $550/night) and were told that they did not care where we slept but each one of us was required to reserve and expense a room. They also have an unwritten policy that, if the closest/main/company preferred hotel nearest to the meeting/event/convention is sold out and not everyone in the company can stay there, the females get first pick of the rooms at that hotel while the males have to walk/cab/subway to their hotels.

For what it's worth, I've travelled socially with the same set of co-workers (including the ex once he was promoted to ex) and we'll often share rooms.

yosithezet

About a year and a half ago we were kicking off a project in Delhi. The prices of hotel rooms in Delhi in November-December are even more ridiculous than the rest of the year. I think we were being quoted USD 450 for a room I'd stayed in during March for USD 180. Our travel coordinator got permission to offer to nearly double my per diem if I'd be willing to share a room with someone for one night. I'm in Sales, he's a Project Manager. Since he's judged on bringing the project in on budget he had absolutely no problem with it. I agreed so as to not feel that I wasn't a team player. Luckily business took me to a different city so I never had to spend the night sharing the room.

jimbo99

An EU company that implements a policy based on sharing according to gender (being the same or otherwise) risks a discrimination action...

My Vietnamese friends told me they prefer to share rooms because they feel its safer from (1) strangers walking in and (2) ghosts. They never seem to fear the colleagues. In one case, two females I know always get a room each from their company (because of seniority) but always share one room and cancel/leave the other one empty.

And on a company trip... many brought along husbands/wives. But the husbands didn't share with the wives - the wives tended to share rooms as did the husbands. One guy told me "I get to sleep with her enough as it is".

Green Dragon

I have mostly worked for small companies, without a lot of travel. However, I worked for one small CPA firm where my boss and I were attending an out-of-town IRS conference together. We shared a room, and it was very awkward. I let her know ahead of time that I sometimes snore, and I brought my own earplugs because I'm a very light sleeper. I normally sleep au naturel, so I had to buy a new nightie (which I don't think I've used since). There was also no alone time during the three-day conference - meals, evenings, were all with her. Luckily, during the conference itself we signed up for different courses going at the same time, so I got some escape.

She is a very 'proper' lady, so I constantly felt unwashed and sloppy in her presence.

nd_eric_77

This is still the most intriguing reply to the thread. I keep wanting to ask a followup question but then thinking better of it. So I won't ask the question which I am sure I am not the only person wondering.

Anyhoo, I avoid any and all situations in which sharing rooms is even a consideration. I don't even like to share cars, but am willing to be more flexible there. As others have stated, I get to be around coworkers most of the day and most meals - and thats quite enough. The only time when I was required to either share a room or pony up the difference to get a single was when the large software company I worked for would have an annual consultants' conference (global conference in vegas the first yr; regional in Miami the second; regional at Lake Lanier, GA the third; then crappy webexes thereafter) over a weekend. Sharing rooms was required, but I would share with a friend so it was no big deal (also, that was my first job out of college, so I hardly knew any better).

jimbo99

I ended up sharing a room with a female Taiwanese supplier in Paris. Only one bed - yes and we shared that too... Though we were forced into it, it worked out fine. Since then we've resolved to do it again whenever the chance arises in order to either stay in a better hotel or save some cash. Got banned by my SO though....

Such a kind comment deserves a response....

Shortly afterwards, the woman resigned her job and set up her own company as I had just done. I later met a girl who became my Taiwanese girlfriend. I introduced them to each other "this is my first Taiwanese girlfriend, and this the first Taiwanese girl I ever slept with". Much high-speed Chinese followed and all seemed fine.

Later my girlfriend asked me not to do it again, so I said OK. She later changed her mind - and really my ex-supplier prefers girls to boys anyway so its not a threat. We have shared a room a couple of times since and because of that original event (about 5 years ago now) we've got to know each other well and often help each other out in business. I feel we're very close, but at the same time there is a healthy distance.

So you guessed it... the answer is no (not that you asked!)

MollyNYC

I worked for a company about 15 years ago that had meetings 4 times a year in their home town of Portland, Oregon.

They requested that everyone double up on rooms and since it was the same group of people, most of us chose roommates and kept the same ones for years.
It was a very friendly group and not too many minded. The few that did mind could get a room of their own and pay for half of it while the company paid the other half. The company got corporate rates and so it wasn't a very high tab for the individual.

I was very young at the time and roomed with a girl from another state that I became good friends with so neither of us minded.

At this point in time I wouldn't do it, I need more alone time than I did then.
Fortunately, no other company has ever asked this of me since then.

BearX220

In my experience the execs at the C-levels of non-profit orgs are well compensated, usually very well compensated. If a non-profit with a gurgling brook in its marble lobby and vast well-appointed offices for its executive leadership told me to share a hotel room to "economize," my answer would be an even bigger NO. Talk about misplaced priorities.

huts

Count me in with the group of people who would not even consider sharing a room for business travel. Fortunately, my current employer's travel policy makes this a non-issue.