To 'charge' or not to 'charge'?

[chicaguapa]

A couple of weeks ago a friend who teaches English in Spain contacted us to ask if we'd be interested in having a 15 year old Spanish girl to stay in the summer as she needs to improve her English. Fast forward many emails back and forth, she is coming to stay with us next week Monday to the following Friday.

Our friend said the family is expecting to have to pay for food and accommodation and now that we have finally sorted out the dates, I know the mum is going to ask us how much we would like.

Any ideas? What would you 'charge' in those circumstances or would you just say 'send a bit to cover food and days out'? We can't really afford a guest at the moment, but I don't want to take the p*ss.

The family originally offered to exchange her DD for ours, but our DD is only 11 and we couldn't afford the last minute airfares and extra unaccompanied minor fees. But the mum has suggested that if all goes well, we can do a proper exchange next year. So there is a sense of building up a good relationship with a new family that I don't want to ruin by appearing to be moneygrabbing.

Suggestions and thoughts very welcome. Thanks.

Work out how much it would cost you and charge that.

the problem with being vague is you may think you are being polite, but you run the risk of being seriously out of pocket. Same with plucking a figure out of thin air. Far better to work out something realistic and be direct.

So how much, realistically, would it cost to feed an extra person for a week? What do you expect you would do during that week and how much would that cost? Do you think you would want to add a couple of pounds on for the extra electric, water used, etc.

I woul say that you're happy to give accommodation for free buy can you have food money and day trip money. Just charge however much extra food you will need to buy plus day trip ticket prices.

Thanks. We are going on holiday at the end of her stay, so I will ask her to send Euros with her DD so we can use it as spending money.

I will say no charge for the accommodation (she's sharing with DD) but can she send some money to cover food and days out. I will let her decide what to send so she feels happy with what it's cost her.

Tbh it's more important that it all goes well and there's somewhere DD can go next year.

Thanks for the advice.

sounds good to me.

but - if you are letting her decide, don't come on here and start a thread moaning that they only gave you ten euros for the whole week you keep it vague and you take your chances!

Just a quick point if you have planned on days out I would say in the email how much entry fee etc is.

I took my DNs out recently and was staggered at how much entry to various places was.

Even if it's just a we are planning to go to a & b here's a link

Thanks. The DD was originally planning on doing a proper immersion programme so I think the mum was expecting to spend quite a bit. DH & I were both TEFL teachers in a previous life so she knows that whilst she won't be getting official lessons, we would still be quite 'teachery'.

If she sends 10 Euros, I know that's all I'd be expected to send next year with our DD. Every cloud... I don't think days out will cost much as we won't be going anywhere expensive, but something to cover the petrol if we go somewhere especially for her would be helpful.

Will see how it all pans out.

To give you an idea, I get paid £350 for one week's English teaching in my home for 15 hours' teaching plus 3 outings per week.