Would you offer friend the money back?

[BloodyGoodRep]

Me and a friend booked a week away in the may half term for me, her, my ds and her dd. My friend is starting a new job and can no longer make that week. That’s absolutely fine, genuinely not an issue. DS didn’t know about it anyway and we have 2 weekends away booked for the following 2 weekends so loads of fun in the pipeline. Anyway I’ve just called to see what our options are and they won’t let me move it/cancel it without paying a cancellation fee which is 80% so essentially we’d get £30 each back if we don’t go so not worth it.

So I think I might just go anyway. But I’m not sure whether to offer my friend her half? The thing is splitting it into 2 made it a nice cheap little holiday and I can’t really afford to give her the other half. I could offer to give her like £20 a month but the other part of me thinks if she’s not the one coming then why should I give her the money if that makes sense?

Anyway she’s a really good mate and I’m sure she wouldn’t even expect half of the money but I didn’t know if I should just offer?

@Crockof

Hmmm, has she offered to pay you the money you are losing by cancelling? For example if you both have paid £100 and by cancelling you get £30 back you are £70 out of pocket because of her decision.

This! No one seems to see this how shitty this is for op either way. Lose out on a holiday AND money or pay more out for something out of your control.

While it would be nice for her to get some money back because she can't go, why should you have to fork out an extra £30 when it's really not your fault.

No she hasn’t! I’ve messaged her and told her what the booking company has said so I’ll wait to see what she gets back to me to say. I just feel bad but I suppose if she’s the one that can’t make it then why should I be out of pocket. I wouldn’t have booked it at the total cost but at half each it was a good price.

I would
Happily take her DC but she’s going away with her dad and his family for a few days instead due to my friend working and not being able to take the time of off the half term

If the company resell the booking are you entitled to any money back then. Half term is super in demand so worth investigating. I work in holiday leggings and if we resell we'll refund less an admin fee. Of course if we resell it for much less then a guest wouldn't get as much back, but it would prob be more than £30 each. We'd also offer to reinstate the booking if it hadn't resold too.

I do believe that legally if the company can reclaim some money by reselling then you would be entitled to some back. Worth finding out anyway!

If she’s a good friend could you explain you’d love to go but can’t afford to give her the full amount back but can give it back as and when?
If my friend said that to me I’d tell them no sweat and just call it a couple of drinks down the line.

If pushed, I'd give her the £30 she would get had you cancelled at this point.

Ultimately, it's her cancelling. You shouldn't now be expected to pay her the difference.
It would have been different if you could cancel and get most of the money back.

I wouldn't refund her,she's the one that can't go.
If you got someone to go in her place,then I'd give her the money back.

No way would I be out of pocket because of someone cancelling.

Yeah this thread took a weird turn with people telling the OP to pay out more because someone else is breaking a commitment:

The friend is the one who cancelled so her options are

a) reimburse the OP for her half of the lost money OR
b) tell the OP to go without her and have a good time

Either way the friend should be apologising and no way should the OP be subsidising the friend's decision to cancel.

If I’d cancelled I wouldn’t expect a penny back. A couple of years ago my friend and I paid £££ for gig tickets and an hour before I was due to leave for the venue, she texted to say she wasn’t up to going so I asked for my ticket money back. I was gutted about the concert and refused to be out of pocket just because she cancelled.

I think offering her £30 (if you can afford it) would be a nice gesture but morally you don’t owe her anything.

Agree that op shouldn't pay anything. Either the friend pays ops costs as she was the one who cancelled or op goes alone.

I guess if another firmed can fill the space they should pay friend their share.

Thank you for all your input! I offered my friend the money back but she insisted that she didn’t want it, she was the one cancelling and to go with DS and have a lovely time!