How would you split the holiday costs

Pay per person, perhaps count the two younger kids as 1 person for the food…depends on whether they are big eaters or eat lots of snacks

Of course it's fait, family 1 are having 3 rooms and other 2 families only having 2 rooms each. 3/7, 2/7 and 2/7 is fair. Family 1 should pay more for food too with 3 teens to feed. If these families were staying in a hotel they would be paying for more rooms.

I’d be fine with either an even split or the bigger family paying a little more for the accommodation, regardless of which family I was part of. But I could never get resentful or expect people with older children who might eat more to pay more for food, it is supposed to be a joyful holiday and I would want to be having fun with everyone there not nit picking about food costs.

Exactly how I feel.
If people are going to be monitoring food consumption etc, the holiday will be ruined and relationships will fester

If it must be split other than 1:1:1, then I'd say 5:4:4, but with the caveat that the child not sharing a room gets the single/smallest room.

Accommodation 3:2:2

Food 4:3:3

A third each. Couldn’t be arsed splitting any other way for the sake of one extra person.

But it's not a hotel, it's a holiday rental. It's unlikely that all the bedrooms will be the same. Why should the kid stuck in a box room sharing a bathroom pay double the price of an adult sharing an ensuite king with their partner. Similarly they won't be using twice the amount of communal space as an adult - but they are paying for it.

Of course it’s fair, it’s based on the number of bedrooms they’re using. Just like a hotel.

Amazed at the number of people saying family 1 should pay 3/7. Assume the house costs £4900 then family 1 end up paying £2100 whilst family 2&3 pay £1400 each. Does that seriously sound fair?? Genuine question...we have that same situation and I'd never ask that the bigger family pay proportionally that much more.

Split house 3:2:2 so 3/7 and 2/7 share.

Split food as those over 10 = adults full share
those under 10 = child half share

so room 1 = 5 full shares
room 2 = 3.5 shares
room 3 = 2 plus 2 x 0.5 = 3 shares

So food is 5/11. , 3.5/11.5 and 3/11.5

I put it into ChatGpt and got some good answers, OP. Too long to paste in here, though. Give it a go?

If I like them enough to go on holiday with them, I'd just split in 3rds.

FWIW, I actually think teens will be cheaper to feed (at holiday home) than the younger children, as they'll likely just eat what the adults are eating, rather than being in the fussy eating stage and expecting special, expensive kid friendly snacks and meals to be bought and prepared.

When eating out, I'd expect each family to order and pay for their own.

Split by room. Family having three rooms pays more.

For food, each family pays X amount PP towards a shopping budget.

There are no really young kids who wouldn’t be eating much at all and any kid over 5 can eat just as much some times even more than an adult!

Equally 3 ways. If you care enough about these people to be sharing your holiday with them, you’ll be happy that there is likely to be some give and take. Older teens may eat more, but can help out with the younger ones etc.

We do A LOT of group holidays, and we’ve always just split the cost equally - getting a bigger house is cheaper than each family having an individual house, you usually get better amenities for the price, so all in, it’s pretty good value.

3:2:2

by rooms for hire of accom. very differently for food. family one will eat like adults, family 3 will probably hardly consume anything and i probably wouldn't even count them, or at least minimally.

By room so divide by 7, same with food.

I would just split it all equally, maybe with family 1 putting in slightly more for the food shop.

Has the accommodation been booked/paid for? If so, was the method for splitting the costs discussed in advance/factored into the booking?

Seems fairest/most pragmatic to split all costs per person, otherwise you could (depending on the types of people involved) descend into a never ending tit-for-tat.

House: Divide by 7, pay for the number of rooms.
Food: agree on an adult price and child price. All kids over the age of 11 or 12 are counted as adults (because they will eat as adults).

It depends who it was to be honest. The fairest way is by room, and that's what I'd do if I was going away with friends (providing we'd chosen somewhere with that number of rooms because they'd said they needed the extra space, if they were just making use of a spare room I wouldn't mind at all).

If it was very close friends or family, we'd just split by family.

Were I family one I would offer to pay more, but were I family 2 or 3, I would suggest a three way split. I’ve never done this, either we have treated adult children (now they split or treat us sometimes) or when DC was young have met up with friends abroad but each paid for own accommodation. They key point is not to ruin your friendship through lack of clarity, pettiness or resentment.

If it was a groups of close friends/family I’d just split the cost in 3. The food is swings and roundabouts. Even though we are a small family we like our food/wine so would definitely get our share of whatever we paid even if it was more than another family.

I'd do 3:2:2 for the rooms but more on food for the family with teens - they eat more than adults!