To book a 6 person lodge for myself?

If they want the lodge to be X price for 6 people, then that should be the only price for it. They should take the hit this one time & amend their listing for future bookings.

Absolutely, but in this case the business didn't do the price correctly maybe they are new, who knows. and they realise they will make a loss. OP is not unreasonable to want the place to herself, they are not being unreasonable if they expect her to pay what you call the supplement to not make a loss.

Also I know I sound like a broken record but I think the property size is important here!
I'd think OP a bit U if she was genuinely booking a large property, one with several bedrooms.

However it's just a 2 bed cottage. With sofa beds to make 6.

If you don't want to share it's a natural 2 person place, with an extra bed shoved in to make 3.

OP has paid the fixed price for 2 people so despite what some people are claiming she hasn't bagged herself a complete bargain.

It's a two bedroom cottage, and she's paid the price for 2 guests. I'm not sure what's unreasonable about that.
Of course they can cancel the booking if they want, but it would extremely unprofessional.

Of course it’s happened before unless they are new to the market this summer. It’s very common for a single person or a couple to take a 2 bed property.

If they messed up, they take the hit not their guest, and modify their pricing going forward. Why should OP lose her booking taken in good faith at their convenience?

Because it's a business and they want to make money. OP could make up 5 friends and book for six but obviously that will come at a cost.

Wrong. It's like booking 6 rooms, paying for all 6, but then being told that you should use only one of them.

Once again for the hard of reading
a) The cottage doesn't even have that many bedrooms! Only 2.

b) The fact that 2 people are allowed to book is shown by the existence of a fixed price for 2 people, and an additional charge above that.

Also since you mention hotels , these often have a single person supplement, where a single person booking a double room has to pay a bit extra.

Nothing stopping this business from doing that.

The business owner should expect a flat rate to be paid for the cottage, but pet person, hopefully they will learn from this mistake. Making a one off bad review is probably preferential to being in debit after a single guest stay. If you are giving a scathing review expecting someone to make a big financial loss because you want a house for 6 for yourself, then they'd be better off without such a guest too.

Well then I hope they're prepared for some scathing reviews.
OP has booked at the 2 person minimum rate, what if 2 single friends had booked, would they also be expected to downsize?

They should charge per lodge, not per person.

Nothing wrong with booking a larger place. If it’s just me and my husband, we always book a ‘sleeps 6’.

It probably never happened to them before, so I'd expect them to cancel the booking and then fix the pricing. People make mistakes, business owners are no different, so don't know why they should lose money for someone else's convenience.

If u wanted a pod you would have booked one. I would not move. They should clearly state re minimum.occupancy.

October in Scotland midweek doesn't sound like a busy period to me either.

We've just booked overnight mid week September to help get DD1 back to uni and we pleasantly surprised how cheap hotel rooms were - then though first half of week in September after term school term starts and weeks before uni term starts why are we so surprised it's cheaper.

Agree - it doesn't make sense.

I call BS on it being their busy time. October is never the busy time, obviously peak holiday season is Easter or June - end of August, especially in Scotland when schools go back earlier.

They are hopeful of making more money out of the accommodation, which I get, but reality is you’ve booked it and they accepted your booking.

Enjoy your hol.

If I was booking exclusive use of a six person property, I would expect to pay the same rate as if six people were staying.

This. But it’s worth telling them that you planned to get the extras. It’s perfectly reasonable for them to want to get the best booking for them. Of course they are in it for the money. That’s literally what business is.

They should have put more thought into their pricing then shouldn't they? If they've cocked up I would expect them to suck it up and learn from it.

Why are you making this assumption?

If they don't want people under occupying in the summer then they shouldn't have that as an option. It's so rude of them to now suggest you stay in a pod instead of a lodge. Tell them you need the enclosed garden as you have a dog and want to keep the lodge.

😂 Then change the rates - they’re the ones that set them!

October is not a busy season in the U.K., outwith half term, nor is it a season for camping.

It's none of their business!

We booked our first lodge in May this year. The price was per property not per person, it slept 6, but there were 3 of us plus our dog. We got sent 13 pages of terms and conditions, which if I had received them before booking, I doubt we would have gone ahead, but we did enjoy it. Another booking where we just returned, slept 8 but there was only 4 of us. When we arrived all beds were made up but there were only 4 lots of towels. I’ve never heard of charging for additional people, once you’ve been given the price per property, bit naughty.

Imagine going to a hotel, booking 6 rooms but only paying for 1. It's kind of the same thing. If I was an owder of the place Id just cancel your booking altogether, because they are taking a massive hit on this, and many businesses still have not recovered post covid.

I totally see where they are coming from, theyd rather have money for 6 people than for 1 (or 2 if you pay a fixed rate). It's kind of cheeky to pay for one person and expect a place for 6 and to expect the owners to take a hit in the busiest season.