Aibu to think some should pay more?

[Ohfurflipsake]

Going on holiday next summer. Group of us. 4 adults 4 kids. Kids will share rooms in 2s. Adults all need own rooms, all single women.

How do you divide the cost? Total price divided by 8 so price pp? Or should it be price per room? Rooms vary massively.... One has four poster and an en suite and another is tiny with two little single beds.

I just want it to be fair. What would be reasonable?

@ChateauMargaux

Allocate a cost to each bedroom:

Double Room with 4 poster bed and en suite: £150
Large Double Room with Double bed £130
Small Double Room with Double bed £120
Large Single room with single bed £100
Small Single room with single bed £90
Bunk Room for 2 kids - £120
Room with 2 single beds for 2 kids - £120

If everyone wants the 4 poster... then you draw straws but keep the price differential.

Whatever you decide... there will be someone who is not happy!!

This sounds like the route to a massive argument.

2 adults have 2 children each. Surely these adults pay for themselves and their own children. Why should the adults without children pay for the children ? And if there are two ensuites the adults without children get those.

@Ohfurflipsake

2 adults both have 2 kids. Other two adults have no kids.

So most people think kids pay 50% adult price and names in hat for the big room unless someone wants to pay extra for it?

I think this seems fair too.

Yes.

@notthemum

2 adults have 2 children each. Surely these adults pay for themselves and their own children. Why should the adults without children pay for the children ? And if there are two ensuites the adults without children get those.

Why are the adults without children more entitled to an ensuite room that the adults with children, or even the children? Especially since you seem to be advocating that everyone pays the same?

Either the children are charged at 50% because they are sharing the children's smaller rooms (i.e. bunks) or if they are paying full price, everyone, adults and children alike, pick a straw and get the choice of room on that basis, with adults just as likely to share as children.

Obviously, adults sharing is pretty ridiculous - so 50% cost to the kids since they are sharing.
No adult has any more entitlement than any other to a better room, so pick straws for them, with all adults paying the same, as they have equal chance of the "best" or "worst" room.

Anything else is madness!

My issue with splitting the cost 8ways is there's 6 rooms. So if I'm paying 1/8 for little Brianna she surely gets an equal go at pulling lots for the 4 poster and at some point 6 yo Eammon ends up in a bunk bed with his Mom's best friend. So you split by rooms.

Re communal space, the kids will presumably be sent off to bed so won't have equal access to the living room / kitchen etc.

I don't think you need to start worrying about which adult has which room, but if you were wanting to break it down that far I would give the adults without children the better rooms. It's purely because you might find that they have to be the most accommodating in other areas of the holiday - ie plans/meals/mealtimes will need to be child friendly.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

WTF? Unless I have misunderstood YABVU not to have agreed this already.

yes should this not be discussed and agreed before booking?

Costing is a science in itself within management accounting, where all these kinds of issue need to be considered. I.e. if you're making widgets, do you take the total costs of the factory and divide by the number of widgets you've made? Or is the cost of a single widget merely the cost of making one more (marginal costing). In a holiday home scenario, do you divide by people or by room, or do you take the marginal cost approach and, say, charge the single people the difference between the cost of a 6 bedroom home less the cost of a 5 bedroom home on the basis that if one of the single adults wasn't going, you'd only need a 5 bed costing £x less.

@SamosaSammy

I think the parents of kids also need to recognise that they're probably having a cheaper holiday than if they'd gone alone with their dc.

I've had this almost exact situation recently. 8 of us going - me, dh, our 3 dc and 3 single adults.

Dh and I paid 5/8 of the holiday, the others 1/8 each. However our cost was still significantly cheaper than if we'd had the slightly smaller, similar accommodation with just the 5 of us!

But the single people are also getting a much cheaper holiday than if they had to rent an entire holiday cottage to themselves! In fact, I'd say the savings would be just as much if not more for the single people than for a family, as there aren't many "sleeps 1" holiday cottages available, so they'd always be underoccupied, where as a family of 4/5 could completely fill a unit for best value per person.

There's no way to assess the value on a room by room basis and trying to will be difficult

Of course there is. It's exactly what people in house shares do all the time. My son is in a shared student house. Some rooms are doubles, some are singles, one is a double with en-suite. Every room is priced differently to reflect size, ensuite and even view. The student in the big front bay room with an ensuite pays more than double the price of the student in the box room with barely room to swing a cat!

I would split the cost per room… so children are effectively half price.
As someone with children I would suggest the single adults take the en suites and pray there were two bathrooms- 1 per family unit. No use mummy having the en-suite if it’s a shower and little Jonny only likes baths etc.

@user1497207191

There's no way to assess the value on a room by room basis and trying to will be difficult

Of course there is. It's exactly what people in house shares do all the time. My son is in a shared student house. Some rooms are doubles, some are singles, one is a double with en-suite. Every room is priced differently to reflect size, ensuite and even view. The student in the big front bay room with an ensuite pays more than double the price of the student in the box room with barely room to swing a cat!

The difference is if you only want a cheap room and this house has no more left, you find a new house. What if everyone wants a cheap room? You're forcing someone to pay extra for something they don't want

No one is going to fall out. We are all easy going and good friends.

The adults all need their own rooms. Unfortunately there are only 5 bedrooms and a mezzanine floor with a futon.
4 bedrooms have doubles/kind size and one has two single beds.

Thanks for all the opinions on how to split these costs. Appreciate it

@Ohfurflipsake

No one is going to fall out. We are all easy going and good friends.

The adults all need their own rooms. Unfortunately there are only 5 bedrooms and a mezzanine floor with a futon.
4 bedrooms have doubles/kind size and one has two single beds.

Thanks for all the opinions on how to split these costs. Appreciate it

Yeah, whichever adult gets a futon not in a bedroom needs to pay less...

@Ohfurflipsake

No one is going to fall out. We are all easy going and good friends.

The adults all need their own rooms. Unfortunately there are only 5 bedrooms and a mezzanine floor with a futon.
4 bedrooms have doubles/kind size and one has two single beds.

Thanks for all the opinions on how to split these costs. Appreciate it

If an adult is getting the mezzanine then they’ll have no privacy in the morning and should be paying less

Bloody hell. You need 6 rooms, there are a range of standards and prices for each room.

Baggsies for the nicest/expensive rooms or names in a hat if everyone is prepared to pay for a nicer room. Parents pay in full for the kids rooms.

If I was the single person I'd resent paying for someone else's kids, or 'paying equally' for the adult rooms when I'm in an attic room and someone's in a 4-poster suite.

Price per room used by one's own family. Each adult pays for her own single room, plus half a double-kiddie room per kid.

Futon on the mezzanine and 4 poster with an en suite both at the same price... hmm.. not sure that would be totally fair.

@SleepingStandingUp

The difference is if you only want a cheap room and this house has no more left, you find a new house. What if everyone wants a cheap room? You're forcing someone to pay extra for something they don't want

Not the case at all. My DS is sharing with his friends and they're renting a house together, to live together. They only looked at houses where they could share together, with suitable configurations, etc., It was the letting agent (university based) who gave them a scale of room charges to help them work out how to share the cost of the house, which was similar for each of the properties they viewed, i.e. single box room cheapest, largest double with ensuite most expensive, other doubles inbetween. It meant him and his friends didn't have to work it out/argue between themselves!

I'd put kids on the mezzanine floor with the futon. Assuming they are big kids not little kids of course.

And yes if there is one room (mezzanine) that is clearly less good then might offer just that one at a cheaper rate, particularly if there is someone who is likely to actively prefer a cheaper option.

But really, a holiday like this isn't about the quality of the room. It is about the whole experience/company/communal spaces. How much time will be actually be spent if your own room. If there is one lesser room and everyone still pays the same I think that is fine provided everybody has an equal chance of being "landed" with that room rather than it being forced on them.

[quote user1497207191]@SleepingStandingUp

The difference is if you only want a cheap room and this house has no more left, you find a new house. What if everyone wants a cheap room? You're forcing someone to pay extra for something they don't want

Not the case at all. My DS is sharing with his friends and they're renting a house together, to live together. They only looked at houses where they could share together, with suitable configurations, etc., It was the letting agent (university based) who gave them a scale of room charges to help them work out how to share the cost of the house, which was similar for each of the properties they viewed, i.e. single box room cheapest, largest double with ensuite most expensive, other doubles inbetween. It meant him and his friends didn't have to work it out/argue between themselves![/quote]
My point was if they all wanted rooms of less than X price, they wouldn't rent one with a big room and tell Steve he had to pay more. Theyd find a suitable house they could all afford.

Whereas here potentially someone is going to end up having a big room they don't want and having to pay for it because someone has to

I would divide it by 8, so 2 single adults pay for 1 person each, the 2 adults with 2 kids each pay for 3 people. I have 2 kids and wouldn't see any issue with that, I wouldn't want others to have to pick up the cost of my children coming.
If you do it based on room/bed size, everyone will value it differently.

@SleepingStandingUp

Same applies here though. The OP and their group could choose a different holiday home with more equally sized rooms. It's highly unlikely that there are no other 6 bed holiday homes in the area they wish to holiday. Just as it's unlikely that a group of students don't have a choice as to the size/layout of student homes in a Uni city.

[quote user1497207191]@SleepingStandingUp

Same applies here though. The OP and their group could choose a different holiday home with more equally sized rooms. It's highly unlikely that there are no other 6 bed holiday homes in the area they wish to holiday. Just as it's unlikely that a group of students don't have a choice as to the size/layout of student homes in a Uni city.[/quote]
They've ended up with one room too few, for whatever reason that doesn't sound like there's an over abundance of alt offers.

Divide the total cost by 6.

Parent one and two who have the kids pay 2/6 each.
Other single people pay 1/6 each.