Should petrol money and accommodation be charged?

Depends on the wording of the invite:

Ie: ’so sorry you’re down. We’ve booked a place for xdates and have plenty of room, why don’t you tag along?’ Probably not reasonable to ask unless money/costs were part of that conversation.

They could talk to person C and say that when the offer was made, the assumption was that the cost would be split 3 ways and they’re sorry if that wasn’t clear - do they still want to come, but the cost is xx?

Person c should pay their third, or A could cover 2/3s if they want to subsidise C

@Slaapje Ha ha! No problem, I used them as fake names as I'm not keen on the A and B thing. It gets too confusing sometimes!

We also took Beth for a "cheer up" holiday, she'd been through a rough time. And she did offer extra payment when she got some more money, but we wouldn't hear of it.
I'd have thought that's what friends/family do when times are tough. The villa was only a two bedroom, but as Beth was my oldest friend and we'd done it countless times before, she slept in with me. One more person didn't impact on the holiday at all. But I suppose that also depends if you all get on well!

So the payment arrangements would have been cleared up at this point then, before person C was actually invited?

Absolutely C should pay their way. Why should others foot the bill to provide C with a free holiday.

Agree Cindy should pay 1/3 of both transportation and accommodations with cash or picking up the equivalent at dinner out.

I’d also be side eying the arrangement of everyone bringing their own food. I’ve seen that go horribly wrong. (One person eating caviar and filets and other eating bread and water).

@PinkStarAtNight are you A, B or even C , @PinkStarAtNight ?? do you think C should also share costs??? does A think C should share costs also?? does B think C should share costs?? does C think she should be getting a free holiday???

I would expect costs to be shared between people attending ie C should pay

But, if a close friend of mine wanted to bring their sister and I knew they were struggling financially, I might be generous and suggest another arrangement

Yes, A asked B and B is fine with C attending.

Did A confirm with B that B was happy for C to join for free?

Why not?
Bethany was planning a fun weekend piss up with her friend Alice, and then Alice invited Cindy who is going through a rough time and is going to spend the weekend crying into her Prosecco and rehashing her painful breakup with a Ted. Instead of a fun weekend, Bethany is now stuck in a moan-fest-caravan and is not even going to be compensated for the pleasure?

Yes, C should pay (or at least offer to pay).

@PinkStarAtNight So much depends on the exact scenario here, which we don't know. Is there any more you can add to the following?

We don't know how happy 'B' is about person C coming, or whether they felt they HAD to say yes and are secretly somewhat dismayed that a third person is now coming to change the dynamics.

Did they say it was ok before or after the invitation was given to 'C'?

How big is the caravan and how many bathrooms/toilets does it have?

What are the sleeping arrangements? How many bedrooms and beds does it have?

We don't know if person 'C' is 'struggling' financially or whether she is just finding life hard currently for other reasons.

We also don't know exactly how the offer from 'A' to 'C' for 'C' to join the holiday was actually worded to 'C' when it was given

My answers would be different depending on the answers to the above questions

.

1/3 each unless there's specific reasons to waive it

This should have been discussed at the time of invite. If B expected C to be paying 1/3 when agreeing to it then it’s a bit late to now say actually C won’t pay. Equally if C expected the trip to be free then it’s a bit late to suddenly say there’s a cost.

However, I do think whilst accommodation costs might be a bit of a grey area as it’s already been paid C should 100% pay towards the petrol on the day alongside the others, it would be very rude for anybody to expect a totally free trip.

If I was B I'd be worried this was going to become more expensive than planned and corralled by A and C... 'oh don't you worry C, we'll get this' 'should we get some drinks for the caravan, don't worry C, this is on us'..

If Person A invited person C and person C can’t pay then person A should pay their share.
Really it shouldn’t impact on Person B financially unless there was an agreement prior.

Did this get discussed before the invite went ahead ?

If person C is broke, I'd say tag along, we've already budgeted the holiday - but they need to pay their way for food etc.

If they're not broke, then they should pay 1/3. Bit petty but a heavier car load eats more petrol, if utilities are metered at holiday place - showers and cooking will be more. And check holiday company is okay with a third person joining - they may ask more to cover cost of laundry and cleaning.

Each person pays a third

E

Hang on, A & B "invited C to tag along" on a tip they'd already bought and paid for.

Did they actually say "Hey, C, why not come with us? It'll only cost you [a third of holiday price]"

Or did they say "We've already got this booked, an extra bed won't cost us any more so why don't you come along?"

The second invite sounds very much like they only expect C to pay whatever extra costs she incurs - her flights, a third of the food & drinks, etc. And that's what "tag along" sounds like to me. C's had no input to the choice of holiday or dates, which she'd have been entitled to as a full paying member of the party.

If I were B I may be too polite to say I didn’t want C to come - but I would be very pissed off. If I wanted to go away with C I would have suggested it in the first place.
The only thing that might make it better would be if C coughed up, sure as hell wouldn’t subsidise someone’s else’s relatives holiday.

True, A could pay two thirds for everything and B one third of everything.

Of course person C should pay their way. It's immaterial that Person C is tagging along.

If both A and B were happy to treat C then that's one thing but if person A is saying C should come for free as they are not costing extra then that's completely unreasonable.

I agree clearly B isn’t actually happy they are effectively subbing A’s family member a freebie otherwise this thread wouldn’t exist.

Not even the offer of paying for a meal from the responses either. It’s taking food from
home and all paying their own when they do eat out.

So sounds like A and B were already doing this on a shoelace. Half their payment towards the caravan could make quite the difference to B and A can always suck up not getting half of what they paid back.

That’s without the fact that technically a heavier car will use more fuel too as it’s got to move a bigger weight of an extra person and their food/luggage. Yeah maybe not a lot in the grand scheme but if B is feeling mugged off already it’s all going to add to a tipping point.