How to fairly split holiday costs

[MangoBananaSleep]

Hello,

I’m going on holiday with two friends. We are booking a two bed apartment. Two of us will be sharing a room and the other will have a room to themselves. The room costs a certain amount regardless of how many are sharing.

What is the best way of splitting the cost? Per room or per person?

My friend who will have the room to herself wants to split the room cost three ways but my other friend who will be sharing with me thinks it should be split in two with the person who gets the room to herself paying 50% of the total rate.

Who IBU?

Split per room (50/25/25pp) unless you all agree to split in half and draw for who gets the bonus of the private room.

@DramaRamaLlama what they said ^

If she wants it split 3 ways, put names into a hat who ever gets picked get the room... its only fair!

I think it depends if the one who will be on their own is demanding a private room.

I say split it 30% / 30% / 40%. That would be fair. Making her pay half is not.

Is she having a room to herself by choice? As in did you and friend agree to share a room to halve costs so she has no choice but to pay for a room to herself? If so 40/30/30 split. If she prefers the room to herself and actively planned it or asked for it 50/25/25.

Do you know what the rooms are like? Often there's one much nicer than the other. If I was the one sharing but got the nicer room I'd expect the one their own to pay more but maybe not double the price. How about a 60/40/40 compromise?

*40/30/30

It’s not fair to split it 50/25/25 as you’ll be having an equal share of the other facilities.

40/30/30 is much fairer.

Both rooms are actually really nice. My friend is insistent on having a room to herself.

Thanks - I think the 30/30/40 is quite a fair way of dealing with this

If you were in a couple, and she was single, then I would split 3 ways.
But as you're all single people and she wants a room to herself, then I think she needs to pay the premium. Go for 40-30-30 as a compromise.

Well if she’s insisting on the room to herself then she should pay a premium. I assume she’ll have the benefit of a double bed and wardrobe space all to herself?

She sounds like a CF. She should pay for her room and you and the other person sharing pay half each for your room.

Sorry I misread your OP. I thing 40/30/30 is fair if it’s an apartment!

It’s not fair to split it 50/25/25 as you’ll be having an equal share of the other facilities.

40/30/30 is much fairer.

Agreed. If it were two rooms in a hotel, 50/25/25 would be fine, but not if it's a whole apartment - it's not fair to expect her to pay half of the cost of the living room, kitchen and bathroom(s), which will presumably be used equally.

If you do expect her to pay 50% of the whole cost, be fully prepared for her to expect the same proportions when it comes to time spent in the bathroom and kitchen (or the decision on what meals you eat, if you're cooking together) and what you watch on the telly etc. She will (not unfairly) see it that she has half the say and you two together have the other half.

Having said that, though, did she outright demand her own room and/or are the two of you naturally much closer to each other than she is to either of you? Did you two offer to share or did she just expect you to? Would it have been better to find a 3-bedroom apartment, or did you really not mind sharing whereas she did?

Obviously, it's not the case here, but if there had been a lovely huge, light double room and a tiny little box room and either you two had instantly seized on the bigger one - or it had been obvious from the length/closeness of your relative relationships that you two were the natural choice for sharing, a 33/33/33 split would have been the fairest way.

I wonder what her reaction would be if either or both of you said that you also wanted a chance to have your own room and suggested drawing lots for it (with the 'winner' paying the greater share) - would she accept that?

With a lot of these accommodation-sharing scenarios, there's often a lot of deliberate blurring between what certain people need as opposed to what they want or feel that they deserve (which is often not dissimilar to what everybody else would want too). "I'll take the much bigger slice, because I really love carrot cake" - yes, because everybody else hates cake, don't they....

I think she should definitely pay more if she's insisting on her own room, but less than half to reflect that you will all be sharing the common areas equally.

40/30/30 feels fair

Definitely not between the two rooms. It’s not really anybody’s fault that there are 3 people and 2 rooms. The compromise I would suggest would be that each person gets a room to themselves for 2 nights of the holiday and you swap around, or something like 40/30/30.

My friend is insistent on having a room to herself

I already wouldn’t want to go on holiday with her!!

40:30:30 feels fair to me. My initial thought was 25:50:25 but I see the logic re the other facilities in the apartment. A third each is not fair though.

What’s the bathroom situation? If she had an en-suite and you didn’t, that would tip me closer to 50:25:25

If there's shared space you'll all be using equally you can't go 50/25/25. I'd say more like 40/30/30. If the person in the room alone doesn't want to pay extra then you should split three ways and pick straws as to who gets the extra room.

My initial thought was split 3 ways as it’s an apartment but as she is insisting on her own room then 40/30/30 sounds fair.

She's a friend, so I'd split equally between people (33/33/33). It'll make the holiday much more pleasant, assuming money is a concern you don't want her to feel excluded from activities because she had to pay 50% of the accommodation cost.

Someone was always going to get their own room in this two bedroom arrangement, perhaps there is a specific reason she'd prefer it to be her? Could be anything from PTSD nightmares to not feeling as close to the two of you.

I personally think she should pay 50% because it’s her who is adamant she has her own room, you two are happy to share.

30 30 40 is fair. If it’s 33/33/33 then I’d have names in a hat for the sole room.

if she insists on own room then 40 30 30

but guess if 2 bed and 3 of you one will have to be on own

To clarify why I think 50/25/25 I'm going to bet that "her" room is a double, whilst you're in a twin and that the double has an en-suite.

So in addition to getting a private room she also has a private bathroom and a double bed.

If that's not the case then agree 30/30/40 might be fairer.