How would you split the cost of a holiday cottage for family. Per person or room.

[MeMyselfAndIris]

I’m looking at potential holiday rentals for family get together. Do you split the cost per person or per room. For example a single person in one single room V 2 parents and one child in one triple room. Also single adult in double room. The party is made up of 3 single adults all wanting own room, couple with child (who would also like own room but tricky due to expense) and another couple.

I'd split it per adult but I would consider other people's finances and be open to what others want. So if I found a house with 10 bedrooms and a single person said it was too expensive I'd probably suggest one with less rooms but people share rooms and pay price per room. If a couple were struggling with the amount (paying for 2 adults) I might then suggest pay per room instead of per adult.

No one has said they get the biggest room for the same price as a standard double. Where have you got that from?

Everybody pays for the room they want, splitting the room cost between the people staying in the room.

So if the ensuite king is £150, then that is the price split between the people in the room.
If a standard double is £100, then that is the price split between the people in the room. If a single room is £50, that's the price for the person in the single. That's fair. What is not fair is a standard double costing £100 if one person has it all to themselves, but costing £200 if two people share it. Basically non sharers expecting a 50% discount subsidised by sharers.

So imagine a 6 bed property with 2 en suite rooms costing £2000.
That’s £333 per room, but I’d weight it for the en-suite rooms - £300 for 4 bedrooms (£1200) and £400 per en-suite room. If I were a solo person I’d happily pay more for a bigger en-suite room!
Each singleton pays £333, each couple gets the en-suites, pay £400, plus an additional £333 for the 16 year old.
If it’s shared equally, that would work out that each singleton pays £250, one couple pays couple pays £500 and the other with their DC pays £750

I would charge it per bed space for the adults.

So if it was a house that has 4 doubles and a single and house was £900 the doubles are £200 each and the single £100.

If the singles want a big double for themselves they pay for the extra room. Or they can share. Teenager doesn't pay if they're sharing with parents, if they want a single room its single room rate.

Because the couples chose to share a room.

And I'm not a dickhead who expects my single friends and relatives to share a room. As adults, they're entitled to their own space.

I have always split by person when I organise group outings now we're all mature adults. No one has ever complained.

And if I was the single friend, I'd appreciate being treated with consideration in the same way.

And sometimes those friends end up in the double room because me and DH can't share a bed smaller than a king so we'll often take the twin room. The horror!!!!

It's not treating the couples with consideration to expect them to pay double in order to subsidise the single person. It just isn't. And honestly, I think for the same price most couples would rather have 2 rooms between them than just one (even if they stayed overnight in the same bed).

I think we might have got our wires crossed. I said I didn’t know there was a sixteen year old when I wrote that, but the sixteen year old should have their own room. Therefore the couple with a teenager would be paying per adult but have two rooms (couple pays for each of them, the child gets their own room and doesn’t pay, so three people over two rooms).

I don’t think it is fair for aunty margarita to have to share a room with their 20yr old nephew (or whatever the combo would be). The couple get to basically have a home from home experience and everyone else has to individually pay more and be in a worse position than they are at home. Everyone gets full advantage of the living areas, so I think it evens it out. As someone with a partner and children, this wouldn’t sit well with me and I’d want my family to have a comfortable time away. It’s very different if you are putting people up over Christmas and they’re not paying for anything.

I think this is where you and I differ.

I don't think the couples are subsidising anyone in this situation.

Yes you may need 1 or 2 more rooms, but what often comes with that is more/better facilities that everyone can use in a rental cottage. A bigger kitchen, more sofas, better outdoor space, a mud room, whatever.

Sometimes the smaller property isn't as nice and feels more of a squash and less like a fun holiday.

Most couples in their own home share a bedroom and bed.

The idea most couples would want two rooms in a holiday home is simply untrue, because that’s not how most people’s houses are arranged.

I see it completely the opposite, the single person asked to pay per room is paying double for the privilege of having the same sleeping arrangements as they’d have at home and subsidising a couple who usually each have their own income.

The couple would also expect the bigger/better room with an en-suite etc for the same price and expect the single person to take the smaller room without extra facilities- doubt they’d be happy drawing lots and ending up with a small twin room.

Why should a single adult have to share a room on their holiday? I doubt a couple would want to share their room with another adult so why should a singleton have to.

Fairest payment is per person. Singles shouldn't subsidise people's children or have to pay more because they aren't in a relationship.

''The couple would also expect the bigger/better room with an en-suite etc for the same price and expect the single person to take the smaller room.''

God so true. I've lost count of how many times I've been stuck in a shitty box room with a tiny bed and no ensuite while friends or family have a king sized bed, plenty space for luggage and ensuite. It feels infantalising.

Totally agree, all the people saying singles can just share I’m sure wouldn’t be happy if they were given a quad room with another couple or a triple with space for a random single in the same room.

per room
ypu’re a xouple so you split the cost between you anyway

why should their holiday be ruined by not having private space?

such an odd suggestion

I’d say per room for accommodation, per person for food.

I think you book a 6 bedroom house, and do some sort of adjusted charge per room.

E.g. it costs £2400

If it's all rooms then:

Singles pay £400
Couples pay £400
Couple with 16 year old pay £800

Or half by room and half by person:

£1200 is room cost (£200 per room)
£1200 is person cost (£150 per person)

Singles pay £350
Couples pay £500
Couple with child would pay £850 though, so that might be a lot for them...

Or all per person:

Singles pay £300
Couples pay £600
Couple with 16 year old pay £900

So looking at that, if the 16 year old gets the worst room, and one of the couples will get the best room, I would probably think the middle way feels best.

Similarly, if there's a 5 bed house, I would want to be giving a discount to someone sharing 3 to a room as that's really rough compared to singles on their own in a room.

If you charge per person then I'd expect to have 3 rooms if I was the 3 person family. It would be really unfair for them to have to squash 3 people into one room but pay the same as people getting a room each.

The reality is that the family rooms are typically much larger and the single rooms can often be box rooms.

It doesn't have to be. They singles can pay for a whole double room to themselves if they'd prefer. What's unrasonable is them expecting 3 people squeezed into a double to subsidise them having the luxury of a double to themselves.

The only fair way is to split per room, with rooms breing charged at a rate that reflects their size/facilities.

And yet it seems perfectly fine for singles to subsidise people's children.

Yes, a large triple room should be charged at more than a single. But regardless, the occupant(s) of the room need to cover the full cost of their room. If a single person is in a double room by themselves they need to pay the same amount for that room as a couple would pay for that room. Singles expecting couples to constantly subsidise them needs to stop.

These things are always difficult. I would say per room unless you find somewhere with a box room for the teen to sleep in in which case they should pay something like 25% of a room share for that.
My SIL told us that if their DS had a separate room for his two DC he should only pay 50% of the room cost for it. After years of overpaying when DS was younger as ostensibly we had more income, I fundamentally disagree with that. DCs are free if they share a room with you.But if you get your own space and so do they, well it needs to be paid for.

Does it? Where can I collect my child subsidy? I've always paid per room, which means as a family of 4 we're paying for 2 rooms as we're using 2 rooms. No one is subsidising me! We're paying, in full, for what we use.

Inspired. Saving this for future holidays.

You can't see the difference between a couple sharing a room and 2 individuals sharing a room?

Imagine the outcry if the whole bedroom allocation was sorted randomly? Couples being split and shared around the available double rooms mixed with the singles?

Couples don't understand how much more expensive life is as a single person on holiday and how lots of people seem to dismiss their perfectly understandable wish not to share a room.

In this situation, I would suggest a slightly adapted pricing system depending on the actual accommodation of the rooms in the property (en suite, etc)

ETA just seen @FourSevenFive 's suggestion which looks great