to ask for my own hotel room on business trip?

[Notmollybutdolly]

Hi. Work for a huge corporate company with a conference taking place in a few weeks.
travel will be the day before, by train, and staying over for training the following day travelling back that night.
work expects us to share a room with someone, and 90% sure it’ll be someone I’ve never met before. Even if it was a colleague, I still would refuse.
AIBU to have emailed them to request them to book me a separate room?
I didn’t give an excuse, only because I feel like I don’t need an excuse for my own room?

Is it Google? It’s literally the only company I’ve heard do this and only for junior ranks, eg graduates, who are used to “room mates” at university.

i would just say no without a reason but ensure you’re telling the right person. There’s no point telling the assistant who books hotels.. It needs to be management or HR

I would not stay in a hotel room of a lesser standard than I have at home. So has to be en suite and not a grubby threadbare days inn type - the smell of jeyes fluid in one near Oxford will haunt me forever, particularly as the meal service was food from the supermarket next door, which didn’t sell wine to help deaden the pain - truly awful! Being away from home for work is not exciting it’s an inconvenience being undertaken for work so you should not stay anywhere less quality than where you live.

Nobody should be sharing! This comes up on Ask A Manager occasionally and I assumed it was very much a crazy American thing.

I could not accept this under any circumstances. I'm a light sleeper and wouldn't get a wink of sleep. I also want to be able to get up in the night for a pee, put a light on to read if I can't sleep, fart freely or just be alone in silence. I have travelled extensively through my career and never been asked to share. I can't imagine a work trip that would be appealing enough that I would not refuse to go if sharing was a requirement. Please nobody accept room sharing lest it become a new norm like not paying sick or working 9-6 instead of 9-5 has.

I have never heard of a company asking colleagues to share a room on a work trip. That's insane! I wouldn't share a room with a work colleague, even one I knew well! I might share a room with a close friend, my Mum, my husband or son, but no one else. I don't think you're unreasonable at all but your employer definitely is.

Absolutely not I can’t believe this is a thing. I know independent contractors/builders share rooms but that is absolutely their choice

i complained to a regular premier inn I stayed in for work because they randomly put me in a connected room via a door with a close work mate, you could absolutely hear everything through the door. No way did I want them to hear me snoring all night

they moved me straight away, they recognised our names/company and knew we both regularly stayed there and thought we'd want to be close. Absolutely not my worst nightmare

Even my ungenerous workplace doesn't do this.

Of course adults shouldn’t be expected to share a room.

Thats bonkers.

I actually do have a medical reason not to share but even if I didn’t I’d want my own room.

How inappropriate! Sharing sleeping arrangements with colleagues is so unprofessional. I would absolutely object and refuse to go.

Absolutely not unreasonable. I wouldn't want to share a room with a stranger and probably not even a colleague I knew fairly well.

No, never heard of this on a work trip - weird! I wouldn’t fancy it either.

Don't be ridiculous. I've not shared with anyone other than my DH since my 30s and the only other person since I was 21 was my mother or sister! If I arrived at an hotel & found I was expected to share a room with a colleague, either close or a stranger, I'd be back in my car out of there quicker than blinking!

Oh hell no. I'd pay a supplement not to share if I had to. I don't even want to share with colleagues I'm close to!

Absolutely I would refuse to share a room with a collegue. Tell them to GTF unless they book you a single room.

That’s an HR nightmare waiting to happen

Don’t do this, unless you want this to be what you are know for by everyone you work with (and their friends).

I don’t even share with friends if we go away together. Absolutely non negotiable. I need my space and privacy!

I've shared a room at academic conference before. Not for many years mind.
I've also shared a bathroom (own room). This was with a senior academic at Cold Spring Harbour which had pretty limited onsite accommodation.
The only person I'd share a room with these days is my sister (only one of them!) and my sons (and only if we had to due to travel plans).

Absolutely no way.

What kind of wimp are you?
Someone has to be the one to stand up and say no, even if others are ok with it.
I'm assuming you go along with everything you don't like just because others do?

Do this. They are being completely unreasonable.

After saying that, I once went on a week's "outward bounds" type team building course with work out in the wilds, and they had us in dorms. Because there were only two women, we shared a room between two, whilst the lads probably had more to a room. I (and hope we both) really enjoyed it, it was a brilliant laugh. But I also shared a big room at University for a year, and still remember it fondly. I still have no objection sharing now really with sisters or a good friend but I can see completely why others would not want to.

Hard NO from me. Adults need their own room.

I prefer to share if it's with someone I know well and like, however for a business trip you should absolutely be given a single room, no question.

I actually think the company are taking a risk expecting you to share with someone you might not even know. Completely unacceptable.

Well, quite.

I had to do this once in the 90s with someone much more senior than me. I wasn’t keen even though I liked her and we got on well, but too junior to make a fuss. A different boss at a different company suggested it in the mid naughties to “save money”, I said no. None of the men were doing it and it was a huge company. She thought I was unreasonable but i didn’t have to share thank goodness. It hasn’t happened since.

My husband had to do this, sharing with two workmates, one of whom was my ex. Very bizarre situation, luckily the organisation are doing much better and he gets his own room now.