Grey area of group holiday finances

So if I’m adding up right the cottage cost £688 for 3 nights. It would have been £229.33/couple but you’ve rounded down to £220/couple or £110 per person for them and you’ll pay £248 for your room. One couple only want to stay 2 nights and only want to pay £80/person. That leaves you and your partner paying £308 for your room. Or do both couples want to pay £80/person and you end up with them paying £160/couple and you £368 as a couple!? Whichever it is it’s cheaper than paying for the cottage alone.

If such accommodation is only bookable for 3 nights minimum then just you could say sorry it’s a split of the cottage for £220 for the weekend and if they’d prefer to leave it/book something else to let you know so you can offer 3rd room to someone else?

We go away every year as a group for 3 nights and pay equal amounts. If someone wants or needs to leave after 2 nights the cost remains same. But we all to agreed that beforehand.
This is a one off.
I would look at it that they are cheap skates that they are subsidising your 3 day break and smile.

Cancelling Sunday night would mean checking out 10am Sunday morning, they’d still stay Fri & Sat.

close enough to want to spend precious holiday time together

but then this?

Thankfully so far removed from how my close friendships operate

They also will benefit from not having to check out at 10am on the Sunday, which would be the case should the cottage have been booked fri and sat only

So they get to hang around on Sunday having a leisurely day before they head off, meaning whether or not they stay the Sunday night they’ve still made use of the fact you’ve paid for that night.

I’d say the price is fixed per couple unless you cancel the Sunday night and all leave 10am Sunday morning.

Although, really you should’ve got complete agreement with everyone before booking, what would you have done if they’d all said no after you’d booked?

Can you cancel the suunday so you all leave on saturday?

If you took the risk of booking it without agreement to the costs or number of nights, then I think you have to take their offer.

I don’t think it’s worth falling out over a few pounds.

Any chance you would share the figures here?

Reply:

Great, we'll leave on the Saturday afternoon too so no one's stuck doing all the cleaning alone on Sunday morning!

That's still 1/3 each couple!

100% this.

IF it was all discussed beforehand and you all agreed on venue, booking, amount then they should still pay. But you’ve booked it and then invited others, so the fairest way is just to do it per person/couple per night they stay.

Are you all attending the event or just you? What would the other couples have done if you hadn’t booked the cottage?

I think that if you book a holiday for the weekend, the price stands whether you stay for 1, 2 or 3 nights. It's up to them to leave early but they need to pay the total share.

If you had all discussed beforehand and agreed the dates and the cottage, then they should pay the full amount.

As you booked it yourselves with no agreement on the cottage or the dates, then you knew you were taking a risk, and therefore the risk is yours. I think you would need to pay the difference and not the other couple as you already told them how much it would be. The alternative is that the other couple don’t go at all and then you would have to foot the whole bill.

I’d say accept their offer. You booked the cottage without having any other couple confirmed. If this couple don’t stay with you at all, you’ll be paying more anyway.