Who should pay this extra holiday charge?

[Hobbyholidaydilemma]

Brief background: some members of a hobby group decided to visit an event abroad. It’s also a holiday destination, and it evolved to a 10 days stay because of a second, vaguely related, event.

The group members are friendly, but no close friendships.

It was planned to book 8 rooms, plus flight, with most people sharing the twin rooms.

One man wanted to bring his teenage son and the son’s friend.

Due to needing an adult on each booking the son’s friend was shown on the booking as sharing with an unrelated man from the group, but the intention was that he would actually share a bed with his friend ( hotel didn’t allow 3 people to book into twin room).

All was booked and paid in full months ago.

Unfortunately the man with whom the teenager is shown to share a room suffered a tragic and life altering event, and it is impossible for him to attend. His finances are also badly affected. It’s very sad.

This means that the teenager will on paper be the only occupant of the twin room, and the holiday company requires an adult in each room.

Cancellation charges are around 75%.

It’s possible to change the name on the booking to one of the other adults attending, but it costs a lot: it’s not much less than the full cost at around £600.

There has been much discussion how this should be funded. Legally as it appears that each of the room bookings have been made separately, it is the sole responsibility of the teenager; but that seems so unfair, he saved and paid for this trip and can’t afford to pay more.

The majority of people had to make sacrifices to be able to pay. There are only maybe 3 people within the whole group who are ‘comfortable’.

If everyone contributed ( including the 2 teenagers) it would work out around £50 each; but several people have already said they can’t manage even that.

This teenager is only known to 2 of the people attending, and isn’t part of the hobby group, so some people are simply saying they can’t help.

Along with a couple of others my position is somewhere in the middle, and I would probably try to pay the £50, but currently that won’t solve the problem.

The holiday company is making NO allowances for the circumstances.

I don’t see an easy solution to this and I suppose am asking for any ideas, or at least to gauge what others feel would be a reasonable course of action.

This scheme was doomed from the start. What adult man thinks it’s a good idea to actively claim he’s sharing a room with an unrelated teenager?! It was a stupid idea before you even get to what happens after this accident.

OP - you and the rest of your group need to stay well out of this. Don’t get caught up in this fudging of the rules - and certainly don’t contribute financially towards making it happen. It beggars belief that this man would ask you.

The teen / his parents need to pay. They took the risk, not the group.

If cancelled man paid 70% for the room.and random boy paid the organisers 30% to book his room, if the insurance for cancelled man has paid for the room random boy should receive 30% and cancelled man 70%.
Obviously the insurance payout is likely to be less than the actual.cost , but random boy should get the 30% of the payout

No one else is responsible for returning random boy the money he has already paid for his 'room'.

I don’t have direct access to their booking, or full details of insurance. I don’t think the claim has been decided yet but I have been told that the payment will be for 50% of the cost. I hope that isn’t correct as that means the man who cancelled will get back less than he paid. He would have got the full amount, or much closer to it if he hadn’t agreed to do a favour for the Dad/ teen.
I’ve not heard anything further from the Dad, so maybe he’s been able to negotiate with the holiday company.

Even if you manage to sort this all out do you not think the atmosphere with all that has happened/been said is going to be awful?

What kind of hobby are you all into anyway? Is it cycling?

The father who invited his son and sons friend needs to pay.

Also to think they could top and tail is ridiculous, does this boys family know. I would never have agreed to any of this for my teenager. Their son was listed as sharing a room with an unknown male.

This is on the dad who invited the boy, seriously. If you’re not going to be responsible for minors don’t invite them on holiday.

Did you get anywhere with cheeky dad @Hobbyholidaydilemma ? Hope he has accepted it is not your collective problem.

It has been sorted out and as far as I am aware no one else contributed.
The Dad isn’t giving away any details though - which is a bit frustrating!
Maybe least said soonest mended though.

Good result then, I'm pleased your holiday is back on track. Thanks for indulging my nosiness!