I don't think RS is "taking advantage" of ANYBODY with his tour pricing. There is actually good value in his tours vis-a-vis other commercial tours. RS's tours are operated in an ethical way -- NO kickbacks to tour guides from stores, NO tipping the RS tour guides, and you get what you are promised. (The tours do NOT have a shopping focus, unlike many of the mainstream competitors.)

Also, some "extras" are thrown in -- free travel insurance that covers most of the tour fee if you have to cancel due to illness or emergency, for example. (That would cost a pretty penny to buy separately!)

Another thing is that solo travelers don't need to buy up to a single room -- they can share a room with another solo traveler of the same gender. So, no single supplement is necessary, provided you're willing to share with a stranger.

Finally, you seem not to have noticed that he offers hefty discounts to repeat tour customers. Each prior RS tour you have taken gets you $50 off the cost of one tour (discount use limited to once per year). So for example, someone who has taken five RS tours in the past can get a $250 discount on one tour this year. Even before he ever offered this discount (which he started doing several years ago), he had NUMEROUS repeat tour-takers. Therefore he really didn't NEED to offer such a discount. But he did, and still does.